The Essex Serpent author discusses how she feels about the Apple TV+ show

Apple Tv The Essex Serpant Inside Look (Image credit: Apple TV+)

What you need to know

The Essex Serpent author Sarah Perry has been talking about the process of turning her book into a TV show.
Apple TV+ had Anna Symon handle the conversion from a book to the TV screen.

Sarah Perry, the author of the book that Apple TV+ show The Essex Serpent is based on, has been speaking about allowing the streamer to turn her novel into television. In a new Apple TV+ promo video posted to YouTube, Perry discusses how comfortable she was allowing Apple TV+ to take on the project.

Some authors have concerns about turning their books into TV shows or movies, but Perry says that she was confident that her novel was in the right hands with Apple TV+. Anna Symon was the person tasked with writing and executive producing a show that stars Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston.

Set in Victorian England featuring a star studded cast led by Claire Danes, Tom Hiddleston, Frank Dillane, Clémence Poésy and Hayley Squires, The Essex Serpent follows London widow Cora Seaborne (Danes) who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. She forms surprising bond of science and skepticism with the local vicar (Hiddleston), but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.

I won't spoil the video for fans of The Essex Serpent and it's safe to watch even if you haven't. That's something that you can fix right now, though — the first season of the Apple TV+ show is now available to stream. You'll need a $4.99 per month subscription or be an Apple One subscriber.

The Essex Serpent is one of many Apple TV+ shows that originally started life as books, with some that you might not even realize! The following Apple TV+ shows all started life on paper.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley
Defending Jacob by William Landay
Roar by Cecelia Ahern

If you want to enjoy everything Apple TV+ has to offer in style, be sure to check out our list of the best Apple TV deals on the market today.

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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.