Slow Horses creator's Down Cemetery Road reviews: What the critics are saying about Emma Thompson thriller
Enter the world of Zoë Boehm
Down Cemetery Road starring Emma Thompson has premiered its first two episodes on Apple TV+, but what are the reviews like for it?
Unleashing the double Oscar-winner as razor-sharp private eye Zoë Boehm, the catalyst for its knotty drama is a house explosion in Oxford. When a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbour Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson) invites Zoë to look into the case.
Per the official log line, the pair then “suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy”, where “people long believed dead are still among the living”.
Here’s everything the critics are saying about Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV+, which is based on Slow Horses author Mick Herron’s 2003 novel.
Down Cemetery Road reviews
When the conspiracy series dropped today (October 29), Empire Magazine suggested its “cartoon-caper level of twists and turns” feels “somewhat out of place”. That is “encapsulated most” by Adeel Akhtar’s “bumbling” character Hamza.
“But that sense of humour is always at odds with the seriousness of the conspiracy itself,” the review continued. “After all, a child’s life is at stake, with a dark truth that goes right to the heart of the UK government being unravelled.
“The constant tonal shifts and meandering middle act throw the mystery off-balance,” but when you’ve got Emma “giving Cruella De Vil levels of blunt-force comebacks, it’s always worth watching.”
Emma Thompson ‘perfectly cast’ as Zoë Boehm
Although the Down Cemetery Road review from The Hollywood Reporter pointed towards a meandering momentum, it did applaud the casting.
They wrote: “The flaws in Down Cemetery Road are not insignificant. But when you have a show built around the perfectly cast Emma Thompson, instantly whetting appetites for adaptations of the next three Herron-penned Zoë Boehm mysteries, and a top-notch supporting ensemble led by Ruth Wilson and breakout Fehinti Balogun, the flaws become minor irritants and not dealbreakers.”
Apple TV+ series Down Cemetery Road is ‘funnier’ than Slow Horses
The Independent claimed Apple TV+ stablemate Slow Horses (no pun intended) is a level above Down Cemetery Road. Yet it’s outshone in the laughs department.
“You could argue there’s something perversely anachronistic about a conspiracy thriller in 2025, when the global climate already feels like some kind of far-fetched nightmare,” the review read.
“But be that as it may, I still found myself bingeing the whole lot, in thrall to the cast chemistry and a plot that has more twists than a politician’s expenses claim. Kudos to [Morwenna] Banks, who has adapted Herron’s novel into something genuinely labyrinthine without it becoming incomprehensible. Slow Horses it may not be, but Down Cemetery Road is its own beast: faster, funnier and unrelenting.”
Down Cemetery Road reviews: Characters ‘richly drawn’ and twists ‘captivating’
Time Magazine‘s review also threw shade at the conspiracy aspect of Down Cemetery Road, “which seems oversimplified”.
“Yet the characters are so richly drawn and the plot twists so captivating, it’s hard to blame writer Morwenna Banks for emphasising those elements instead,” it caveated.
Down Cemetery Road and Slow Horses “share a preoccupation with the heroic potential of oddballs and burnouts. Here’s hoping that this cast of outsiders has just as many adventures ahead of it.”
‘There is not a wasted moment, not a wasted word’
Over at The Guardian, Down Cemetery Road received a rave review.
“Down Cemetery Road is great stuff,” it read. “There is not a wasted moment, not a wasted word. Everything is there for a reason. The plot thickens at pace and the twists are worth waiting for. It smooths out the book’s few technical problems and retains all the dry humour for which fans of Slow Horses will surely have been hoping.”
The best part? Zoë’s mastering of “basic hygiene”. Unlike her Slow Horses counterpart Jackson Lamb…
Down Cemetery Road’s Rotten Tomatoes score
At the time of writing, the Rotten Tomatoes score for Down Cemetery Road is yet to be determined.
