Christmas can be a stressful time of year for a multitude of reasons – whether you’re plagued by hosting or cooking responsibilities, long-winded travel or the tidal wave of pressure to have a good time.
One thing that shouldn’t be stressful, though, is deciding what to spend your time watching on TV. Thankfully, Apple TV+ has seriously upped its game when it comes to its drama offering in the last few years, but with so much offer, deciding which show to binge from your sofa, surrounded by bare cheese boards, empty plates of leftovers and chocolate wrappers, can feel utterly overwhelming.
Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a list of the best dramas to watch this Christmas on the platform.
Disclaimer
The names involved in making this three-part thriller make it more than worthy of a watch (it stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline and is directed by Gravity and Roma’s Alfonso Cuarón), but there’s so much more to the lauded miniseries than that.
There’s the captivating storyline, which follows celebrated journalist Catherine (Blanchett) as she receives a mysterious book – written by an unknown author – at her home. But to her surprise, the book stars Catherine herself, and tells the story of a secret she’s kept hidden for years. If it couldn’t get any better, the cinematography of the show is incredibly pleasing on the eye.
It’s gripping, slick and short – a recipe for a perfect drama to watch in the limbo period between Christmas and New Years Eve.
Hijack
The second series of this high-octane drama was announced at the beginning of this year, with Idris Elba set to return as both an executive producer and business negotiator turned hijacking peacemaker Sam Nelson. It’s little surprise the first series quickly became one of the streamer’s most popular: Elba’s Heathrow-bound flight has been hijacked and he has to hold intense negotiations to save the lives of his fellow 200 passengers.
The plot is nail-biting and Elba is clearly in his element – so you won’t mind spending the cold, dark late-December days inside glued to your screen (maybe have some Bailey’s on hand to take the edge off, though).
Bad Sisters
Five sisters, the death of one’s abusive husband and the messy life insurance investigation that follows it. That’s the setup for series one of Bad Sisters, the Irish black comedy thriller which picked up a British Academy Television and a Peabody Award last year.
The stellar performances of the sisters (who include Shameless’s Anne Marie Duff, Eve Hewson and the series creator Sharon Horgan) continue into its follow-up series, the finale of which conveniently arrives on Christmas Day. Both series spark a mix of laughter, shock and a reminder of family loyalty – which makes for ideal Christmas viewing.
Severance
Existing fans of Severance feel like they’ve been waiting an eternity for the thriller’s second series, and unfortunately, they’ll have to wait a smidge longer (until the end of January). But those who haven’t encountered the acclaimed, Emmy-winning dystopian series yet are in for a treat. Produced by Ben Stiller, essentially, the show revolves around a fictional biotech company called Lumon Industries and the lives of its employees.
The suits, ties and unflattering office lighting are just like real life, but there’s a marked difference: employees are implemented with a chip which separates their work-related and personal memories. It means that two different lives, personalities and motivations are born for the same person - their ‘Innie’ (at work) side and their ‘Outie’ (outside of work) side. It’s brilliant, must-watch TV.
Pachinko
Based on Min Jin Lee’s novel of the same name, Pachinko is an incredibly stirring, four-generation tale of a Korean family living in Japan from 1910 up until the present day. With an array of actors portraying its characters at different stages of their lives and a narrative that jumps between the years, it sounds like a chaotic watch – but the Critics’ Choice Award pick for Best Foreign Language Series (its script includes English, Japanese and Korean) is far from it, chronicling the lives of its characters amid the racist treatment of Korean immigrants by Japanese colonisers.
Our review of the 2022 series – the follow-up of which aired earlier this year – hailed it as “beautiful and brutal”.
Slow Horses
What else would you rather spend the festive season enthralled in than a homegrown spy thriller? But Slow Horses isn’t just any spy series – it’s fronted by Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas and its spies are MI5 misfits, who find themselves investigating a heap of the UK’s most complex cases.
An adaptation of the Slough House novel series by Mick Herron, the show’s four seasons don’t waver in their suspense or dark humour – both of which handed the show’s creator Will Smith a Primetime Emmy Award earlier this year and viewers at home with some top-quality entertainment this Christmas.
Sunny
It’s an outright shame that this part-black comedy, part-sci-fi thriller and part-mystery drama was cancelled after one series in November – but despite its short life, you should wholeheartedly believe the glowing reviews you’ll find concerning it.
Rashida Jones plays Suzie, a mourning widow and mother who, when her husband and son are believed dead in a plane crash, receives a domestic robot from her husband’s robotics company. While at first she rejects Sunny the robot, the pair’s relationship eventually blossoms, with the robot helping Suzie to unveil secrets from her husband’s past. Its ten episodes are tongue-in-cheek in some moments and delicately deal with the impacts of grief and loneliness in others.
Masters of the Air
The product of a dream team of producers, Masters of the Air sees the reunion of Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman in this World War II drama which accompanies their past collaboration, 2001’s Band of Brothers and 2010’s The Pacific. Depicting the US’ 100th Bomb Group as they embark on missions to destroy targets in German-occupied Europe, the nine-part series employs a stellar cast of A-list names: Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner and Ncuti Gawa to name a few.
Unsurprisingly, the series is action-packed, high-energy and at times, bloody, so it’s the perfect remedy to alleviate your Christmas lunch (or Quality Street) induced food coma.
Drops of God
Whether you enjoy the sparkling, mulled or classic variety at this time of year, wine is a staple of the Christmas period. It’s also the central theme of Drops of God, which sees Camille, the daughter of the owner of the world’s largest wine collection, take on her father’s extraordinary sommelier student to win her late father’s collection worth $148 million. The cutthroat competition sees the pair go head-to-head in heated rounds of sommelier challenges, and good news – in May it was renewed for a second series.
Ted Lasso
It’s difficult to recommend Apple TV+ series without giving Ted Lasso a mention. The beloved, Emmy-winning series may have concluded after three series last year, but Christmas downtime provides the optimum opportunity for viewers to introduce (or reintroduce) themselves to the football-themed comedy-drama. Jason Sudeikis plays the lovable titular character, a college football coach from Kansas who is recruited by Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) to lead her Richmond football team (first into the gutter, then to victory).
Not only will viewers enjoy the series' feel-good energy, but there’s a hoard of cameos from the football universe – including Gary Lineker, Ian Wright, Seema Jaswal and Thierry Henry – if that’s your thing, too.
