One of the best Apple TV shows ever is back - and the reviews are incredible

After a seemingly interminable wait, one of our favourite shows of recent years has returned for a fourth season.

Slow Horses season four is out today on Apple TV Plus, or at least the first two episodes are. And we’ve known it would be an absolute smash for a while now.

As we reported a week ago, Slow Horses season 4’s pre-release reviews achieved a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. And, a week on, it has held onto that perfect score after 21 collated reviews.

Here’s the release schedule for the six killer episodes of Slow Horses season 4:

• Episode 1: Identity Theft - September 4
• Episode 2: Stranger Comes to Town - September 4
• Episode 3: Penny for Your Thoughts – September 18
• Episode 4: Returns – September 25
• Episode 5: Grave Danger – October 2
• Episode 6: Hello Goodbye – October 9

This season introduces us to a fresh conspiracy. But we’re not going to lift the lid on that here — aside from giving you the names of the episodes in Slow Horses season 4, this is a spoiler-free zone.

OK, just the one spoiler. This season sees Hugo Weaving, best known for his roles in the Lord of the Rings and Matrix movies, join the cast.

We also already know the fifth season of Slow Horses has already been filmed. That’s good news when this fourth season isn’t exactly the most episode packed of instalments (granted, six eps is the norm for Slow Horses.)

There’s more to come. “It's unbelievable that they seem to manage to find different things and different places to take this lot,” Jack Lowden told Radio Times about the upcoming season 5.

“You don't want a s**t fifth album or something, where the comfort of why people watch this and why people love it, you don't want to take that away. So it's a very thin tightrope for people to walk that are making this.

According to Production Weekly, Slow Horses season 6 entered production in August too. Apple isn’t letting too big gaps open up for Slow Horses fans. With any luck we won't have to wait almost a year for the next season to appear — we'll be on the lookout for further details.

As for those reviews, as we revealed recently, it's got a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. This is what the critics say...

The Evening Standard gave the show 5/5, saying “this magnificent show is impossible not to binge, and devastating when you’ve done so. Fortunately the fifth series has been filmed.”

CBR’s 9/10 review calls Slow Horses the “best spy series on TV.”

“Slow Horses Season 4 is a thrill. As with previous seasons, the central case and orbiting mysteries make for riveting viewing,” the review reads.

Paste Magazine’s 9.5/10 was similarly glowing. “Slow Horses has not only turned in another thrilling season full of excitement and intrigue but an emotionally affecting one, too,” it says.

It’s telling that in this company, 8/10 or 4/5 reviews like the one from Empire actually seem relatively unenthused — if only in scoring.

Empire says “this magnificent ride is over far, far too soon. But while it lasts, this is likely the most fun you’ll have in front of the box all year.”

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