Breaking Bad meets Buns of Steel? That’s probably how show creator Annie Weisman (Desperate Housewives) pitched this Lycra-clad dark comedy to Apple TV Plus. It’s a 10-part series set in San Diego, starring Rose Byrne as a beleaguered housewife turned business mogul thanks to the 1980s aerobic workout boom. You can watch Physical online and stream new episodes weekly, as we’ll explain further below.
Premiere date: Friday, June 18 2021
New episodes: every Friday at 12am PT / 3am ET / 8am BST
Cast: Rose Byrne, Rory Scovel, Paul Sparks, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ashley Liao.
Watch now: stream Physical on Apple TV Plus for $4.99 / £4.99 / AU$7.99 per month (opens in new tab).
Byrne plays Sheila Rubin. She’s a domestic doormat, a dutiful wife and mother whose needs come second to her husband’s political aspirations. While her face is a mask of contentment, beneath she’s a complex of resentments and neuroses, her scathing internal monologue relayed to the viewer in voiceover. However, on discovering the cathartic world of aerobics, she's transformed from submissive spouse to entrepreneur as she capitalizes on the fitness craze to build a business empire.
Talent drips from every pore of Physical. Byrne cut her teeth on dramas like The Goddess of 1967, a movie earning her the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, before she became known for sterling work in comedy films like Bridesmaids and Neighbors. Meanwhile the show has a bevy of high-profile film and television directors attached, with Craig Gillespie (I Tonya, Disney’s Cruella) producing the pilot, and Liza Johnson (Dead to Me) and Stephanie Laing (Veep, Mixed-ish) each helming a handful of episodes.
Also featuring Rory Scovel, The Morning Show’s Ian Gomez, and Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story: 1984), this excellent dramedy is available to stream on Apple TV Plus. If you’re ready to feel the burn, then below we explain how to watch Physical online from anywhere now.
- Also on Apple TV Plus: best Apple TV shows to watch
How to watch Physical online from anywhere
What else should I know about Apple TV Plus?
While Apple's answer to Netflix has a comparatively tiny library of films and shows to get stuck into – 60 and counting – what's available is top-notch, well-produced fare with little in the way of filler.
The service's launch calling card was The Morning Show, a drama starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, which was complemented by See - an epic sci-fi drama starring Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard, as well as M. Night Shyamalan’s horror series, Servant.
The service's surprise big breakout show so far has been the Jason Sudeikis comedy Ted Lasso, which follows an American football coach hired to coach a Premier League football team, which has earned an army of fans and a sizeable amount of gongs during this year's awards season.
The small but great library is set to grow at a steady pace - alongside incoming second seasons of Ted Lasso and The Morning Show, Apple TV Plus looks to have a pretty strong-looking upcoming schedule of new exclusive content.
The Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon, promises a 'large-scale Western' that stars big guns Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.
The Shrink Next Door, meanwhile, is a new comedy series based on the 2019 podcast of the same name, that is set to bring together Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, while Foundation is a much-anticipated sci-fi series based on the books by Isaac Asimov, and starring Chernobyl's Jared Harris and Lee Pace.
Read more:
- How to get Apple TV Plus on Roku
- Read our Apple TV Plus review
- Want something else to watch? Why not try out HBO Max