First Look: The Essex Serpent

Apple TV+ will launch gothic drama The Essex Serpent with two episodes on May 13.

The six-part adaptation of Sarah Perry’s award-winning Victorian novel stars Claire Danes, Tom Hiddleston, Frank Dillane, Clémence Poésy and Hayley Squires.

It follows London widow Cora Seaborne (Danes) who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent.

She forms an unlikely bond with the village vicar (Hiddleston), but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.

Perry’s “compulsive novel of ideas … crammed with incident, character and plot” (The Guardian) was adapted by Anna Symon (Mrs Wilson) and directed by Dark River’s Clio Barnard.

It’s part of what Apple TV+ dubs an “expanding line-up” of series that includes WeCrashed (today), Pachinko (March 25), Slow Horses (April 1), Shining Girls (April 29) and Now and Then (May 20).