Sarah Perry’s award-winning novel gets the big-budget treatment in the latest Apple TV Plus drama. Starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston, The Essex Serpent explores the evolving romantic tension between a widow and a vicar as rumours of a mythical beast tear through a small village. Scroll down to find out how to watch The Essex Serpent online from anywhere.
- Watch The Essex Serpent FREE: Sign up to the Apple TV Plus 7-day FREE trial
Premiere date: Friday, May 13
New episodes: every Friday at 12am midnight PT / 3am ET / 8am BST
Cast: Claire Danes, Tom Hiddleston, Frank Dillane, Hayley Squires, Clémence Poésy, Jamael Westman
Watch now: Apple TV Plus with a 7-day FREE trial
Set in Victorian England, science, faith, love and fear converge to form a potent brew of romance and dread. Cora Seaborne (Danes) is thrilled to leave her suffocating London life behind when her abusive husband dies, finding herself drawn to Essex after reading about multiple sightings of a legendary sea-creature.
On relocating to Aldwater she befriends the local vicar Will Ransome (Hiddleston), who is charmed by her scientific curiosity, although her empirical methods challenge his own beliefs. She appears to have a transformative effect. It’s not long before Will is wrestling with adulterous urgings, and the village children have succumbed to a powerful mania for which Cora is blamed.
Prepare for a gripping gothic tale and emotional rollercoaster ride, as below we break down how to watch The Essex Serpent online with new customers benefitting from an Apple TV Plus free trial.
How to watch The Essex Serpent online from anywhere
Where is Apple TV Plus available?
Now available in over 100 countries, including the United States, the UK, mainland Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India, Apple TV Plus is Apple's very own exclusive subscription streaming service.
You can sign up and watch Apple TV Plus content through Apple’s TV app, which is available on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac computers, some supported third-party smart TVs from Samsung, LG and Sony. You can also get Apple TV Plus on Chromecast or Apple TV Plus on Roku, in addition to Fire TV devices, plus PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles.
Alternatively, you could also watch Apple TV Plus on a browser like Google Chrome.
What else should I know about Apple TV Plus?
While Apple's answer to Netflix has a comparatively small library of films and shows to get stuck into – just over 100 and counting – what's available is top-notch, well-produced fare with little in the way of filler.
The Morning Show was the calling card for Apple TV Plus at launch, costing $15 million per episode and is one of the best Apple TV shows on the platform. It was complemented by the epic sci-fi drama See starring Jason Momoa, space drama For All Mankind, and period comedy Dickinson. Severance is one of the more recent hits.
Of course, the service's breakout success has been the Jason Sudeikis comedy Ted Lasso. It's earned an army of fans and an impressive amount of awards attention, netting 20 Primetime Emmy nominations in 2021 – a record for a freshman series.
The small but great library is set to grow at a steady pace and Apple TV Plus looks to have a pretty strong-looking upcoming schedule of new exclusive content.
Prehistoric Planet comes stomping onto the platform on May 23, a docuseries produced by Jon Favreau, narrated by David Attenborough, and with a sweeping score by Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Hannibal). "Travel back 66 million years to when majestic dinosaurs and extraordinary creatures roamed the lands, seas and skies.” Yes please! It sounds like an incredible experience.
Following a little later on June 17 is the highly-anticipated dramedy Cha Cha Real Smooth, a film which bagged the Audience Award at Sundance and stars the excellent Dakota Johnson. And finally, at some unknown time in 2022, subscribers will be able to see Killers of the Flower Moon , Martin Scorsese's 'large-scale Western' featuring Hollywood big guns Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.
