Best dramas on Apple TV+

Given recent indictments of the Metropolitan Police, it would be naive for TV dramas to now portray all serving officers in the traditional manner as our saviours and protectors. So, I suspect the examination of prejudice within the force that we see in Criminal Record will be the first of many. But writer Paul Rutman (whose previous screen credits include Indian Summers and Next of Kin) has undoubtedly set the bar high with his urgent state-of-the-Met thriller, which pits a detective fresh to CID (played by Cush Jumbo) against a seasoned veteran (Peter Capaldi) who’s determined to protect his legacy.

The catalyst for bringing the pair into each other’s orbit is a desperate anonymous phone call that is soon found to have links to an old murder case. But with this discovery come questions about institutional failings, as well as crackling tension between the two series leads. DAVID BROWN

This stylish psychological thriller is in the business of disrupting lives of seeming perfection, specifically the one being led by Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), an acclaimed TV documentarian famous for exposing misdeeds who discovers she’s the lead character in a novel that reveals her own dark secrets. The publication is an act of revenge on the part of a former teacher (played by Kevin Kline) who blames Catherine for his unhappy lot. But does he have the right target in his sights? The fallout explores the potent themes of guilt and public shaming. DAVID BROWN

Don’t you hate it when this happens? You and your ruthless crew have meticulously planned your gunpoint hijack of an airplane full of British TV character actors, but it turns out there’s one guy on board with a particular set of skills… Idris Elba is that man in a thriller that has enough smarts in its scripting and direction (by the versatile George Kay and Jim Field Smith, who also did Litvinenko, Criminal and Stag) to overcome the cliches of the genre, and which heightens the enveloping tension of the story by telling it in real time. So what exactly are those skills that Sam Nelson (Elba) has, which might foil the plans of a gang of criminals led by a typically intense Neil Maskell? Finding out will make you want to crash straight on into episode two. JACK SEALE

Abraham Lincoln is one of American history’s most high-profile casualties, his killer John Wilkes Booth a name synonymous with assassination. What isn’t as well known is the story of the 12-day chase that followed the murder of the president, but this fast-paced seven-parter reveals what happened after the shooting.

On one side, there’s Anthony Boyle as the fugitive Booth, and on the other, Lincoln (Hamish Linklater) and his friend and war secretary Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), who personifies the pursuit. Swirling between them is the grim possibility of the Civil War reigniting… DAVID BUTCHER

Chocks are finally away on this epic drama that began shooting in 2021 and is rumoured to be among the most expensive ever made. Based on Donald L Miller’s book, it follows the men of the American Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group as they embark on some of the most dangerous bombing raids of the Second World War, hitting targets in Nazi Germany in broad daylight.

Like a lot of war epics, the opening episodes introduce a bewildering array of characters, but the cast — including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Ncuti Gatwa and Barry Keoghan, some of whom are rather more famous now than they were when this was filmed — soon make us care about their fates. The aerial scenes, and the location shots, are spectacular. And for further viewing, don't miss documentary film The Bloody Hundredth about the people Masters of the Air was based on. JACK SEALE

The experiences of Koreans who moved to Japan when their country was under Japanese colonial rule are the starting point for a sweeping historical drama. Sunja, played by Minha Kim as the young woman and Yuh-Jung Youn as the old, faces a lifelong struggle for prosperity and contentment, as she and her family deal with two wars and the endless difficulty of being outsiders in Japanese society. Told across several timelines, it's both epic in scope and intimate in its understanding of human nature. JACK SEALE

These days, we tend to think of John Grisham as the king of the legal thriller, but back in the 1980s it was Scott Turow who ruled the courtroom, thanks to the suspenseful bestseller Presumed Innocent. Its story of a prosecutor put on trial for the killing of his mistress has made it to the screen before, in a rather dry 1990 movie starring Harrison Ford. But this new version, with Jake Gyllenhaal as brooding lawyer Rusty Sabich, has more emotional depth, as the first two episodes feel like a spiralling mid-life crisis wrapped in a gripping murder mystery and the suspense level remains high throughout. DAVID BROWN

What if you really could find a work/life balance? In this thriller, office workers undergo a surgical procedure where work and personal lives are kept mentally separate — until they start questioning what they actually do at their mysterious jobs. Directed by comedy actor Ben Stiller, it’s naturally funny, but also increasingly inventive — with a frantic finale that perfectly sets up the next series. LAURA RUTKOWSKI

Slow Horses has been a slow burn, achieving what many streaming series can only dream of: there it is on AppleTV+, waiting for people to discover it, and gradually they have. Based on books by Mick Herron, it’s a spy drama that is set in an MI5 shadow office — Slough House — full of rejects and troubled spooks, led by the physically disgusting but mentally sharp Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). The likes of Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden, Jonathan Pryce, Saskia Reeves and Sophie Okonedo lend weight to an impressive supporting cast across the three series — with more green-lit to come — as the show positions itself as a laconically savvy take on classic espionage drama. JACK SEALE