Black Bird – New Limited Series
Starring Taron Egerton as ‘Jimmy Keene,’ Paul Walter Hauser as ‘Larry Hall,’ Greg Kinnear as ‘Brian Miller,’ Sepideh Moafi as ‘Lauren McCauley,’ and Ray Liotta as Jimmy Keene’s father, ‘Big Jim Keene,’ “Black Bird” is a new six-episode psychological thriller inspired by actual events.
When high school football hero and decorated policeman’s son, Jimmy Keene, is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum-security prison, he is given the choice of a lifetime – enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall, or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole.
Keene quickly realises his only way out is to elicit a confession and find out where the bodies of several young girls are buried before Hall’s appeal goes through.
But is this suspected killer telling the truth? Or is it just another tale from a serial liar? This dramatic and captivating story subverts the crime genre by enlisting the help of the very people put behind bars to solve its mysteries.
Developed and executive produced by Dennis Lehane, “Black Bird” is adapted from the true crime memoir “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption” by James Keene and Hillel Levin.
“Black Bird” will premiere on Friday, 8 July on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday.
Duck & Goose – new series for kids & families
Inspired by the New York Times bestselling books by Tad Hills, “Duck & Goose” is a preschool series that celebrates the unique friendship of Duck and Goose, two best feathered friends that don’t always see beak to beak.
That is until they discover that embracing and appreciating each other’s differences can help them think up entirely new ideas to help solve everyday challenges, both big and small.
“Duck & Goose” is directed by Brian Muelhaupt (“Sesame Street”) with Jane Startz (“Ella Enchanted”), Douglas Wood (“Bob the Builder,” “Little Einsteins”), Chris Prynoski (“Harriet the Spy”), Shannon Prynoski (“Harriet the Spy”), Ben Kalina (“Harriet the Spy”), Antonio Canobbio (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”) and Tad Hills (“Duck & Goose”) executive producing.
Peabody Award winner Wood also serves as showrunner. Cathy Davidson, Ph.D., founding director of the Futures Initiative and a distinguished professor in the Ph.D. program in English at the Graduate Centre, CUNY, and Christina Katopodis, Ph.D., executive director and postdoctoral associate at Transformative Learning in the Humanities, serve as the transformative learning experts on the series through Apple TV+’s changemakers initiative.
Season one premieres Friday, 8 July on Apple TV+.
Trying – New season
After a dramatic end to season two, the eight-episode third season picks up with Nikki (BAFTA nominee Esther Smith) and Jason (SAG Award nominee Rafe Spall) waking up as new parents to two children they are still getting to know.
Now they just have to keep hold of them, which proves to be trickier than they initially thought. Thrown straight into the parental deep end, Nikki and Jason’s relationships with each other and with their nearest and dearest are tested as they desperately try to navigate the ups and downs of parenting — while hanging onto their kids, and their sanity.
In addition to Smith and Spall, the season three cast includes Eden Togwell (as Princess), Mickey McAnulty (as Tyler), Oliver Chris (as Freddy), Sian Brooke (as Karen), Darren Boyd (as Scott) and Robyn Cara (as Jen). apple.co/_Trying
The third season of “Trying” makes its global debut on Friday, 22 July on Apple TV+.
Best Foot Forward – new series for kids & families
Based on the book “Just Don’t Fall” by real-life paralympic athlete, author, motivational speaker and comedian Josh Sundquist, “Best Foot Forward” is a live-action series follows 12-year-old Josh Dubin as he goes from homeschool to public school, eager to experience everything middle school has to offer!
But along the way, Josh also faces a brand-new set of challenges, including how to get an entire school of kids to see past his prosthetic leg, and get to know him for who he is. With the support of his parents and the help of his best friends Kyle and Gabriella, Josh learns, laughs and grows, eager to come back every day for more.
The series was developed for television by Matt Fleckenstein (“iCarly,” “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn”), with the first four episodes directed and executive produced by Victor Nelli Jr. (“The Wonder Years”).
From Apple Studios in association with Muse Entertainment, “Best Foot Forward’ stars Logan Marmino, Stephen Schneider (“Players”), Joy Suprano (“Fleishman Is In Trouble,” “Hightown”), Peyton Jackson (“American Refugee”) and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (“Avatar: The Way of Water”).
Complete first season premieres Friday, 22 July on Apple TV+.
Surface – New thriller
Set in high-end San Francisco, “Surface,” stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Morning Wars”) as Sophie, a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt.
As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived.
Through twists and turns and a shocking love triangle, this sexy, elevated thriller asks: What if you woke up one day and didn’t know your own secrets? “Surface” is a story of self- discovery which contemplates if we are pre-programmed to become who we are, or if we choose our own identity.
The ensemble cast also includes Oliver Jackson-Cohen (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Stephan James (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), Ari Graynor (“I’m Dying Up Here”), Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies”), François Arnaud (“I Killed My Mother”) and Millie Brady (“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”).
