Apple TV's Week Is a Tale of Two Climbs: 'Tenzing' Premieres Friday, 'Slow Horses' Nears Its Finale Wednesday

Apple TV has a two-anchor week, and the anchors could hardly be more different. On Wednesday, October 14, the penultimate episode of Slow Horses Season 6 arrives as the spy drama closes in on its finale. On Friday, October 16, the service's big film premiere of the month lands: Tenzing, director Jennifer Peedom's biographical drama about the Sherpa climber the Everest story too often leaves in the background. ComingSoon's rundown of Apple TV's releases for the week of October 12-18 lists both as the week's headline additions, alongside new episodes of Brothers, Small Prophets, Dark Matter and Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars.

Friday: 'Tenzing' brings the Everest story home

Tenzing arrives on Apple TV globally on Friday, October 16, following a run in select theaters that began October 9, according to Apple Original Films' announcement carried by WebWire. The film tells the story of Tenzing Norgay, the Nepalese-Indian Sherpa climber who, alongside New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, became the first to summit Mount Everest — a pairing ComingSoon described as an extraordinary journey to the top of the world's most famous mountain.

Genden Phuntsok plays Tenzing, with Tom Hiddleston as Hillary, Willem Dafoe as expedition leader Colonel John Hunt and Caitríona Balfe as expedition secretary Jill Henderson, with Thinley Lhamo as Tenzing's wife, Dawa, according to Apple's announcement. The film was written by Luke Davies, Apple said. In Apple's telling of its own film — kept brief here — Tenzing, encouraged by Dawa, finds an ally in Henderson, and together they make the case that he belongs on the British climbing team itself rather than only serving it. Where the Western climbers in the story treat Everest as something to conquer, the film presents Tenzing's relationship with the mountain he calls Chomolungma as something closer to reverence.

The family connection runs deeper than the credits. ComingSoon reported that Tenzing Norgay's son, Norbu Tenzing, voiced his excitement to Climbing about his father's story reaching the screen, saying the story of the man behind the mask would finally come out and that his father put the name Sherpa in the English dictionary. Norbu Tenzing also serves as an executive producer on the film, according to Apple's announcement. For viewers who caught the film's theatrical opening last week, Friday is the wide release; for everyone else, it is the week's essential Friday-night premiere. Previously has covered the film's theatrical bow in depth — see our earlier reporting linked below — and the streaming debut is the moment it reaches the audience Apple built it for.

Wednesday: 'Slow Horses' sets up its endgame

Two days earlier, the week's other anchor is an episode, not a premiere. Slow Horses Season 6, Episode 5, titled “Sayonara,” premieres Wednesday, October 14, Radio Times reported, with Apple TV episodes typically arriving at 12 a.m. PT / 3 a.m. ET in the United States. It is the fifth of six episodes in a season that premiered September 16 and concludes with the finale, “Judgment Day,” on October 21, according to Radio Times' schedule.

Apple's own episode description, shared by BroadwayWorld, is admirably terse: River goes after Sid, Lamb sets his sights on Cantor, and Taverner carries on with a treacherous deal. ComingSoon's summary of where the season stands adds the connective tissue: in the previous episode, Lamb was trying to work out who Frank is working for, while Sid, Coe and River were doing everything they could to escape a hit squad. The Review Geek's episode guide lists “Sayonara” at 48 minutes and notes that the season adapts Mick Herron's novels Joe Country and Slough House — two books in one six-episode run, which helps explain the pace. Gary Oldman leads the series as Jackson Lamb, and BroadwayWorld noted the show's Emmy and BAFTA pedigree and Oldman's string of award nominations for the role. The Review Geek also reported that Apple has already renewed the series for a seventh season, so Wednesday's endgame setup is a beginning as much as an ending.

The rest of the week, and how to watch it

Beyond the two anchors, ComingSoon's list for October 12-18 fills out the slate: Wednesday also brings Brothers Season 1, Episode 5 and Small Prophets Season 1, Episode 3, while Friday pairs Tenzing with Dark Matter Season 2, Episode 8 and Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars Season 2, Episode 5. It is a schedule built the Apple way — one prestige film, one flagship drama episode, and a supporting bench of weekly drops rather than a single binge dump.

The viewing order writes itself. Wednesday belongs to Slough House: watch “Sayonara” before the finale conversation starts, because a penultimate episode in a six-episode season is where this show traditionally moves its pieces into their final, worst positions. Friday belongs to the mountain: Tenzing is the rare streaming premiere with a genuine claim on the word “event” — a true story from May 1953, a cast led by Phuntsok and Hiddleston, and a director in Peedom who has spent a career filming in the Himalayas. One service, one week, two very different kinds of altitude.

More to watch: Tenzing opens in theaters — our earlier coverage · 'Tenzing' tells the Everest story through Norgay's eyes · Resident Evil's franchise-record box office · Latest news