In 2025, Stephen Graham scored a generational hit with Adolescence, where he played the father of a young son who commits murder. Graham was already a name, having appeared in movies and shows like Gangs of New York and Boardwalk Empire, but Adolescence put the spotlight on him in a way most audiences weren’t used to, at least outside the U.K.

Graham is now back in a new TV series, and his character couldn’t be more different.

Nocturne has broken out on Apple TV

Everyone loves a serial killer

Nocturne is a new detective show airing on Apple TV, where it has quickly become the streamer’s most-watched series. Set in the Pennsylvania town of Fairhaven, it stars Liev Schreiber as Jonah Lynn, a former homicide detective who’s called back to duty when a teenager who’d been missing for three years suddenly turns up alive. It’s theorized that his sister, who vanished with him, might also be alright, and this cold case turns hot.

Jonah suspects that Jurek Walter, a serial killer spending his time in solitary confinement in the bowls of the Riverside Psychiatric Hospital, is somehow behind everything. Walter is played by Stephen Graham, who is a million miles from the well-meaning father he played in Adolescence. Jurek is cold and calculating; in the first episode, he convinces a fellow patient to bash his own head against the wall, killing him, establishing himself as an almost supernaturally competent manipulator.

Rounding out the trio of main characters is Jonah’s goddaughter Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), an FBI agent who volunteers to go undercover as a patient at Riverside Psychiatric Hospital so she can get close to Jurek and figure out how and whether he’s influencing things from behind the walls of his cell. Between Graham, Schreiber, and Beetz, Nocturne has a lot of star power, but that’s typical for a high-end Apple TV production.

Come for the vibes, stay for the performances

And maybe keep an open mind about the plot

Those actors are one of the best reasons to watch Nocturne. Schreiber is contained but powerful, and far more expressive than you’d expect from a man who seems so closed off. Saga tries to live up to the example set by her godfather, but Beetz shows us more vulnerability and flashes of emotion, which helps sell her peril once she gets inside the psychiatric hospital.

As the imprisoned serial killer, Graham gets the juiciest role. A burly man, Graham looks like the kind of guy who could tackle you to the ground without breaking a sweat, but as Jurek Walter, he’s soft-spoken and mild. These two things combine to surprisingly creepy effect.

The supporting cast of Nocturne is also excellent. Poorna Jagannathan, recently seen in HBO’s Lanterns, shines as the FBI special agent nominally in charge of the operation, while underrated character actor Bill Camp nearly steals the show as the hard-working police chief.

All the performers are working at a high level, as are the production designers and cinematographers and editors; Nocturne is a very well-produced show that goes down easy. The actual stretches credibility in some parts, like an early scene where Jurek manipulates a nurse (Rory Culkin) into delivering a message to the outside world for him; the writing has to work pretty hard to create a situation where that seems plausible. But if you ride the creepy vibe, complaints like that won’t matter.

Nocturne will remind you of other shows and movies

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing

The idea of a show built around a menacing manipulator kept behind bars will inevitably remind some people of Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in The Silence of the Lambs. Likewise, you’ve seen grizzled, troubled detectives like Jonah Lynn before. He’s broody, he has insights into the case that no one else does, and he has a traumatic past. Nocturne gives him a dead wife and child, the former of whom appears in flashbacks to chide him about getting too obsessed with his work. He also has a dead partner, whose story may become more important to the plot as the show goes on.

But even though Nocturne uses some familiar tropes doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching. Tropes are only bad if they’re used poorly, and Nocturne knows how to wield them.

Make it a Nordic noir autumn

Although Nocturne is set in the United States, it’s based on a book by Swedish author Lars Kepler and is a great example of Nordic noir, a genre of crime fiction known for chilly moods, psychologically troubled protagonists, and a lack of moral clarity. The genre has proved consistently popular both within Scandinavia and without, so it’s no wonder that Nocturne is already a hit with Apple TV subscribers.

There are six episodes of Nocturne in all. New episodes drop Fridays on Apple TV.

Release Date

October 30, 2026

Network

Apple TV

Showrunner

John Hlavin, Rowan Joffe

Directors

Tim Van Patten, Logan Kibens, Allen Coulter, Joe Chappelle

Writers

Rowan Joffe, John Hlavin, Dorothy Fortenberry, Lee Edward Colston, Jenina Kibuka, Matthew Newman

Cast

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  Liev Schreiber

  Jonah Lynn

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  Zazie Beetz

  FBI Agent Saga Bauer

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  Stephen Graham

  Jurek Walter

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  Landon Valentin

  Michael Frost