Apple TV's Nocturne streams from 30 October, with Stephen Graham's serial killer praised by critics

The series and its premise

Nocturne adapts Lars Kepler's novels Lazarus and The Sandman, two books in the Joona Linna series, and moves the story from Scandinavia to the fictional town of Fairhaven in western Pennsylvania. Liev Schreiber plays Jonah Lynn, a former homicide detective who left the big city for a quiet life. Stephen Graham plays Jurek Walter, a manipulative serial killer held in isolation in a secure psychiatric hospital when the story opens. Three years earlier, Jurek terrorised the town and sometimes buried his victims alive.

The story restarts when a boy presumed to be one of Jurek's final victims walks out of nearby woodland, half-starved and mute with shock. The boy is Michael Frost, who has been missing for three years along with his sister Felicia. Jonah, who had retired from active duty, returns to the case and assists the FBI in the search for Felicia and for the accomplice or accomplices Jurek has outside the hospital. Jonah's surrogate daughter, FBI agent Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), volunteers to pose as a patient in the hospital that holds Jurek in order to find out where Felicia is being held.

Launch and schedule

The premiere was set for 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, 29 October in the United States, and the first two episodes were streaming from Friday, 30 October. Apple says new episodes will air every Friday through 25 December. The episode list published by TechRadar runs from Episode 3 on 6 November to Episode 7 on 4 December.

Nocturne is exclusive to Apple TV, which costs $14.99 per month or comes as part of the Apple One bundle.

Critical reception

Early reviews are largely positive, with praise focused on Graham's performance as the serial killer. The Independent reports that every review praised Graham, even where the overall verdict was mixed. The Guardian gave the series four stars and Digital Spy gave it five, while the Radio Times gave it two, arguing that multiple characters, timelines and plotlines get in each other's way. The Radio Times still called Graham the main attraction. Some critics found the early episodes too slow.

Graham prepared for the role by watching true-crime documentaries about serial killers. Speaking to The Times, he said:

“What I learnt through studying all those documentaries is the manipulation they're capable of.”

The Los Angeles Times compared his Jurek Walter to Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, and reviewers repeatedly singled out his unsettling laugh and sing-song voice as the reason to watch.