Apple TV's 6-Part Spy Thriller With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Is The Ideal One-Night Binge

Published Oct 27, 2026, 5:05 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Apple TV has one of the best spy thriller series on streaming, and this first season perfectly sets up a phenomenal run, serving as a potent one-night binge for new viewers for a few different reasons. Apple TV's roster of shows is one of the most exciting when it comes to the many streaming services out there, as it has carved a specific spot for it. Just like HBO has become known as a destination for prestige TV shows on linear, Apple TV is becoming just that for the streaming world. Instead of canceling several projects in their first seasons, Apple TV has a packed library of multi-season series, many of which are both expensive to produce and come with creative setups. Parallel to that, several exciting spy thriller series have risen over the last few years. This rings true for many streaming services, with Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, and more getting into the spy race. However, it is one of Apple TV's best TV shows that has mastered the art of turning up universally acclaimed seasons and doing so on an annual basis. The TV show in question is Slow Horses, the British spy thriller series on Apple TV that is led by industry icon Gary Oldman as the charismatic Jackson Lamb. While the espionage TV show has gone on for many seasons, Slow Horses season 1 remains one of its very best, and for those interested in jumping into this immersive world, the spy thriller's first season makes for a perfect one-night binge. Slow Horses Season 1 Sets Up One Of The Best Spy Thriller Series Ever Slow Horses as a whole, counting the spy thriller's six seasons released thus far, boasts a near-perfect 97% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and an excellent 87% audience score. When it comes to just Slow Horses season 1, the Apple TV series stands at a very similar combo of a stellar 95% critics' score based on 60 reviews and a powerful 89% audience score. The show starts on the right foot, and with only six episodes, the same as subsequent seasons, Slow Horses season 1 has a total runtime of roughly 4.7 hours, making it perfect for a one-night binge on Apple TV. Slow Horses season 1 introduces viewers to a gritty world where Oldman's Jackson Lamb runs Slough House, an MI5 unit where agents who have committed major mistakes just short of being fired are sent. In theory, they will do the work no one wants to and rot, eventually resigning. However, when the team tackles a conspiracy within MI5 itself, the disgraced spies get a chance to prove their worth. Slow Horses season 1 is incredibly engaging, with a focus on both character development and action. Besides Oldman, major players in season 1 include Jack Lowden, Jonathan Pryce, Kristin Scott Thomas, Olivia Cooke, and more. Slow Horses Is Still Going Strong 6 Seasons Later Apple TV+ / Courtesy Everett Collection Slow Horses season 1 was entirely released on Apple TV throughout April 2022. Now, over four years later, the Apple TV spy thriller series recently dropped the curtain on season 6, which concluded with a shocking finale on October 21. Slow Horses continues to be as strong as it was when season 1 was released all those years ago. On Rotten Tomatoes, Slow Horses season 6 stands at an impressive 98% critics' score, with the gritty spy thriller series also holding a solid 80% audience score for its latest season. Slow Horses remains a universally beloved series. Based on Mick Herron's Slough House series of novels, Apple TV has already renewed Slow Horses for seasons 7 and 8, which will adapt the books Bad Actors and Clown Town, respectively. This shows how the streaming service is incredibly confident in the spy series. There are no signs that Slow Horses will slow down anytime soon, and with River Cartwright star Lowden reportedly among the final candidates for the biggest spy of all time, James Bond, Slow Horses season 1 becomes a must-binge for any fan of the genre. Release Date April 1, 2022 Network Apple TV+ Showrunner Douglas Urbanski Cast Jack Lowden River Cartwright Directors Adam Randall, James Hawes, Jeremy Lovering, Saul Metzstein Writers Mark Denton, Jonny Stockwood