I finally binged an Apple TV Plus thriller with 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I regret waiting for the free trial

Over the past weekend, Apple TV Plus made itself totally free to watch for anyone who owned a device with a screen — you didn't need to put in payment details, commit to a future subscription, or even buy one of its devices. The free Preview Weekend made its entire library readily available to watch.

As I wrote during the weekend, my focus for the Apple TV Plus free weekend was to watch all of its movies I hadn't seen yet, and with a workout injury ensuring that a sofa-based weekend was on the books, I quickly caught up on five of the streamer's movies I hadn't seen yet. But after one particularly lackluster offering put me off watching movies, I decided to try out a few Apple shows that I hadn't seen yet — and ended up binging one show for hours afterwards.

This show, as fans will be able to recognize from the image at the top of the article, is Slow Horses, a spy thriller series with 98% overall on Rotten Tomatoes. It's about a branch of MI5 that all the has-beens, mistake-makers or generally incompetent agents go to, helmed by Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb. Each season is a new story with the same characters, and they're based on novels by Mick Herron.

Slow Horses celebrated its fourth season in 2024, with a season five on the way and a sixth being worked on. I only got through half of season one before the free trial weekend ended (boo!) and I regret waiting for a free preview weekend to watch the series.

I'm not always a fan of espionage thriller TV shows, preferring film for the same reason as I prefer movies overall: almost always, shows feel unnecessarily drawn out in length, and that's a real issue when tension and pacing is vital like in a thriller. In fact, it's why I didn't get around to watching Slow Horses before. But the show felt a lot quicker-paced, something which I appreciated.

I also thought it was really smart how the show's makers kept subtly hinting at details — we're misled on the identity of a kidnapping victim, as well as a double agent, without ever being explicitly lied to. Plus, as a London resident, I always like seeing the city on-screen when you can tell it was actually filmed here — some scenes in episode 2 were shot about 100 meters from the What to Watch office!

After I finished episode 3 of Slow Horses, the auto-play pop-up didn't work, and that's because Apple's free preview weekend had ended. I'm genuinely considering signing up just to watch the rest of the series, because I enjoyed spending time with the characters and want to see how the story wraps up. Then maybe I'll dive into the remaining three seasons (or more, depending on how long I take). I just regret waiting this long to try it out!

People who haven't watched Apple TV Plus yet might take this opportunity to break the emergency glass of the Apple TV Plus free trial, which lets you stream for a while without paying. Don't let me know if you do though, because I'll be too jealous.