Limited Series for APPLE TV+. Launched May 2022. Nominated for 3x BAFTAs. Winner of BAFTA for Best Costume Design; and Royal Television Society Award.

Directed by: Clio Barnard

Produced by: Andrea Cornwell

Series adapted by Anna Symon

Exec Producers: Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Ian Canning, Emile Sherman, Patrick Walters, Clio Barnard, Anna Symon

Starring: Claire Danes, Tom Hiddleston, Frank Dillane, Hayley Squires, Clemence Poesy, Jamael Westman, Dixie Egerickx and Lily-Rose Aslandogdu.

“The Essex Serpent” follows newly widowed Cora who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area. Based on the acclaimed novel by Sarah Perry, the series is adapted for television by Anna Symon and directed by Clio Barnard (Ali & Ava, The Selfish Giant).

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ "a gripping gothic drama" - Financial Times

“The Essex Serpent conjures a seductively dark, mysterious mood, with even a few scares that wouldn’t feel out of place in an A24 thriller.” - The Hollywood Reporter

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ "an engrossing adaptation that does justice to an already fantastically sumptuous book" - i News

“Director Clio Barnard makes the most of filming on location, capturing the town’s often oppressive atmosphere with gorgeous, eerie shots of the undulating water teasing everyone’s imaginations…. Even at its most unnerving, the series is impossible not to absorb like a humid fog permeating the skin.” - Variety

“It’s the series’ slow-burning, philosophically profound and sensuously-infused study of science, faith, love, and longing in late Victorian England that makes it so gripping…. Danes and Hiddleston’s chemistry is palpable, and Barnard’s characteristically sensual direction captures it swooningly…. Clio Barnard’s first foray into the world of TV is ultimately every bit as enthralling, meticulously detailed, and beautifully human as any of her big screen offerings.” - Empire

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ "Huge credit goes to cinematographer David Raedeker, whose astoundingly beautiful and haunting images of marshy Essex coastline form their own eloquent commentary on the themes of science, modernity and social change as they clash with tradition, superstition and late-Victorian faith” - The Arts Desk

"fabulously moody and evocative" - The Times

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ "eminently watchable, star-studded cast and gorgeous costumes” - Metro UK

"Gorgeous, moody six-part adaptation" - The New York Times

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ - "Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston’s new Gothic ghost story will bewitch you" - Sydney Morning Herald

“a tense and heartfelt exploration of grief and belief” - The Verge

"delivers in just about every facet. From performances by Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes that are infused with a delicious note of inward yearning that slowly displays itself on the outside to the fog-blanketed marshes of the Essex village in which the bulk of the story is set, the resulting product is an atmospheric, Gothic romance that doesn’t retreat from indulging in its initial foreboding" - Collider

"Apple TV+ is on a roll" - Heat

"stars, beauty, brains, a transportive atmosphere and a quasi-hypnotic pull” - Den of Geek

“Filmmaker Clio Barnard directs, and imbues the setting with a misty edge of danger, as if something just off-screen is about to strike. Word of the monster sets the town into a frenzy, and strange elements - a suddenly mute girl, a class full of kids falling into fits - begin to stack up. Barnard shoots the series as both a dread-building horror fable and a barely-restrained romance, but never lets any shot fall flat. Bathed in pale sunlight and filmed with the snake-like surrounding waterscape always in mind, the series is eerily beautiful. A gorgeous string-heavy score by composers Dustin O’Halloran and Herdis Stefansdottir accompanies the series, and comes to a marvelous heaving crescendo in the show’s penultimate episode… The Essex Serpent is a beast that’s worth hunting down.” - Slashfilm

“Claire Danes & Tom Hiddleston Are Superb” - The Playlist

“Danes defines the role of the newly widowed Cora Seaborne with intellectual rigour, romantic stirrings and an explorer’s passion. As a woman embracing her second chance, Danes is magnetic on the screen.” - The Monthly

“I have awaited Apple TV+’s mini-series adaptation with bated breath. Dear reader, I am overjoyed to report it is sublime.” - Geek Vibes Nation

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ “Magnificently realized” - Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (Germany)

“exceptional limited series.. as original as it is moving” - Le Parisien (France)

“aided by a terrific supporting ensemble that also includes Hayley Squires and Clemence Poesy, Hiddleston and Danes are just magnificent” - The Dominion Post (New Zealand)

"The ripples in the brackish waters of Essex are a stylish creepy element in the stunning landscape shots by director Clio Barnard." - Suddeutssche Zeitung (Germany)

"… a visually sophisticated, original and exciting production. Everything, initially, indicates that "The Essex Serpent" is venturing down the tortured path of the gothic thriller. The opening scene, absolutely magnificent, bathes in the fog and mud of the English countryside…. Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston are both at the top of their game. But it would be unfair not to pay tribute to Frank Dillane, who plays Luke as brilliant as he is annoying, and Clémence Poesy, delicate and scary in the role of Stella. All of them carry the series and allow the love story with real intelligence.” - Blick (Switzerland)

—"There isn’t one shot that doesn’t not evoke Constable’s painting of a chapter of one of the Bronte sister’s novels." - Le Figaro (France)

“a tense and heartfelt exploration of grief, self-trust and belief” - China Times

"a marvelous series in every way… The production is impeccable. It recreates the period in detail and builds the perfect atmosphere… Clio Barnard...demonstrates sensitivity but also a perfect command of narrative and tension.” - Reforma (Mexico)

"Clio Barnard’s directing patiently clears through the banks of mist to rigorously reveal each character’s truth (…) without ever exaggerating" - Le Monde (France)

“this must-see miniseries from Apple TV+… Exquisitely played by Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston” - Observatorio da TV (Brazil)

“Screenwriter Anna Symon understands that setting a story in the Victorian era does not mean giving up building an imaginary world of her own, and she has the ability to convey the complexity of the historical context, of the characters, and of the thematic struggles she wants to address. … The Essex Serpent is becoming an exhilarating work that any lover of good stories should see.“ - La Vanguardia (Spain)

“The elements of ‘The Essex Serpent’ move like a living tapestry, or perhaps like the mystical serpent itself… Jane Petrie’s costumes are architectural masterworks of cloth and thread, with puffed sleeves and sweeping coats that trail across the landscape.” - The Young Folks