Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson Go ‘Down Cemetery Road,’ ‘Slow Horses’ Finale, Camping with ‘Abbott Elementary,’ Tribal Switch on ‘Survivor’

Down Cemetery Road

Apple TV is doubling down on the works of Mick Herron, whose Slow Horses books inspired the Emmy-winning series, which is wrapping its fifth terrific season. As Horses ends, a new thriller adapting another of Herron’s novels begins. This offbeat mystery opens with the devastating explosion of a suburban home in South Oxford, where neighboring art conservationist Sarah Tucker (Luther and The Affair‘s Ruth Wilson) becomes suspicious when she can’t make contact with the sole survivor, a child. The more she prods, the more the official stonewalling frustrates her. Unaware she’s about to pry open a dangerous Pandora’s box of conspiratorial secrets, Sarah enlists a local private-eye agency run by the prickly Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson, a punk riot). Hitchcock would have loved Herron’s deft blending of suspense and humor. Launches with two episodes.

Slow Horses

The twists never stop, and neither does the amusement, in the Season 5 finale of the spy dramedy, which finds the misfit MI5 agents of Slough House racing to avert the last step in the Libyan dissidents’ destabilization strategy. With the computers down at headquarters, and a femme fatale terrorist on the wind making ransom demands, it’s up to the decrepit yet cunning Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and his ragtag crew to save the day. Not that his so-called superiors, including the icy Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott-Thomas) and the inept Claude Whelan (James Callis), would ever give them credit.

Abbott Elementary

The school year is already wearing down the teachers of Abbott Elementary. Even the usually upbeat Janine (Quinta Brunson) says she’s fried, and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) gripes, “I am April tired — in October.” The exception: a jubilant Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph), who wants to take the jaded older kids in her music class camping for Halloween and rallies her exhausted coworkers into joining her.

Survivor

In a variation on the typical tribal switch, two tribes become three in a major shakeup of the game. With only four players in each newly formed group, everyone’s strategy comes under scrutiny. And then the heat takes a toll on one of the castaways. No one said outlasting the others would be easy. Followed by a new episode of The Amazing Race (9:30/8:30c).

The Golden Bachelor

Now it’s the ladies’ turn. In a Bachelor tradition, “the women tell all” in a special episode that gives 15 women who were denied roses throughout the season a chance to face Mel Owens and rehash the highs and lows of their time together. The episode teases surprise guests and unseen moments, plus a sneak peek at Mel’s getaway to Antigua with the final two women: Peg Munson and Cindy Cullers.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• World Series (7 pm/ET, Fox): The Dodgers and Blue Jays face off in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.
• Shifting Gears (8/7c, ABC): Matt (Tim Allen) faces his fears when Eve (Jenna Elfman) asks to sleep over on Halloween. Elsewhere, Riley (Kat Dennings) takes advantage of the kids’ night out by inviting Gabe (Seann William Scott) and Stitch (Daryl “Chill” Mitchell) to a Halloween party.
• Chicago Med (8/7c, NBC): The conflict between Asher (Jessy Schram) and Archer (Steven Weber) reaches a breaking point. Followed by new episodes of Chicago Fire (9/8c) and Chicago P.D. (10/9c).
• Bigfoot Took Her (Discovery): Airing in its entirety, a three-part docuseries investigates claims that the mythical Bigfoot was responsible for the 1987 disappearance of teenage Theresa Bier in California’s Sierra National Forest.
• Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (8/7c, The CW): The detectives suspect personal motives in the murder of a Motor Vehicle Registration worker found in a stolen car.
• Nature (8/7c, PBS): More than 200 trail cameras in Nevada’s Sapphire Mountain help tell the story of “Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion,” following an orphaned female mountain lion and her cubs. Followed by Nova (9/8c), which explores “superfloods” including last year’s devastation caused by Hurricane Helene; and Secrets of the Dead (10/9c), studying the impact of the bubonic plague in medieval Europe to ward against future outbreaks.
• About Face (10/9c, TLC): A team of elite L.A. plastic surgeons take on challenging facial reconstructions, including, in the opener, a man whose cheek is swollen with a 4-lb tumor and a woman whose lower lip continues to grow.
• Ghost Adventures (11/10c, Discovery): A new season opens with Zak Bagans and his team of paranormal experts exploring a supernatural hotspot in the mountains of Casper, Wyoming, where reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions flourish.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Ballad of a Small Player (streaming on Netflix): Colin Farrell (The Penguin) stars in director Edward Berger‘s character study of itinerant gambler Lord Doyle, who’s hoping to make the score of his life in Macau.
• Hedda (streaming on Prime Video): Tessa Thompson stars in writer-director Nia DaCosta’s modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.
• The Morning Show (streaming on Apple TV): When Claire (Bel Powley) resurfaces, on the run from authorities investigating her eco-activist guerrilla group, Yanko (Nestor Carbonell) and Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) face ethical and personal dilemmas. In another corner of UBN, Alex (Jennifer Aniston) sweats out a New York Times interview alongside Bro (Boyd Holbrook).
• Star Wars: Visions (streaming on Disney+): Nine animated shorts from different anime studios explore various aspects of Star Wars mythology in the series’ third installment.
• Ink Master (streaming on Paramount+): Joel Madden hosts a new season of the competition for tattoo artists, premiering with three episodes.
• Hazbin Hotel (streaming on Prime Video): The tuneful animated series set in a hotel in Hell returns for a second season.
• What’s new with Netflix reality shows? The reunion episode of the latest season of Love Is Blind and the Season 9 launch of Selling Sunset.