Apple TV commissions The Choir from Ruth Jones and James Corden, and Apple Arcade sets Crossy Road Rush for 5 NovemberApple TV commissions The Choir from Ruth Jones and James Corden, and Apple Arcade sets Crossy Road Rush for 5 November

Apple TV has announced The Choir, an eight-episode comedy drama written by and starring Ruth Jones and James Corden, which is now in production for release in 2027.

It is the pair's first project together since Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, iClarified and AppleInsider report. Corden plays Ben, who comes back from years abroad to the small English town he never liked. Jones plays his sister Lisa, who stayed. A struggling local choir becomes the means of mending the rift between them.

Who else is in The Choir, and when does it arrive?

The cast includes Tom Davis, Rosie Sheehy, Susan Brown, Jason Watkins, David Harewood and Alexandria Riley, with Hannah Waddingham, James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent in guest roles. AppleInsider's longer cast list adds Farrah Abbassy, Tom Edden, Jo Foster, Evie Jones, Gary Lamont, Stephen Leask, Emily Lloyd-Saini, Luiis Rouf and Sylvestra Le Touzel.

Various Artists Limited and TidyTwo are producing. Jennifer Sheridan and Jim Archer direct, and Jones and Corden are executive producers with Phil Clarke and Jack Bayles. AppleInsider says the series will premiere globally on Apple TV in 2027. Apple has given no date.

Crossy Road Rush on Apple Arcade

Apple also announced Crossy Road Rush, a new spin-off of the Crossy Road series, launching only on Apple Arcade on Thursday 5 November, MacRumors reports. Apple describes it as an island obstacle course of quick challenges and hazards. KAMI 2 and Food Stylist, both already on the App Store, join Arcade on the same day. Like every Arcade game, it will have no ads or in-app purchases, and it is included in the subscription.

Our take

The Choir is a familiar Apple TV bet: a British ensemble piece, a known creative pair, and an eight-episode order. Apple has had real success with that shape, and it has just brought back Imperfect Women for a second season on the same logic. Apple is paying for the recognition Gavin & Stacey built. Whether it travels beyond the UK is the open question, because the show's humour was always rooted in place.

Corden also has history with Apple. He hosted Carpool Karaoke for Apple Music's video push years ago, AppleInsider notes, so this is less a new relationship than a return. APPDOOK reads the guest list, with Waddingham from Ted Lasso among it, as Apple building around faces its own audience already knows.

Crossy Road Rush continues a quieter Arcade strategy: exclusive new entries in franchises people already played elsewhere, rather than original games nobody has heard of. October's line-up leaned the same way, as we reported when Terraria+ and Pusheen's Place joined Apple Arcade. For a subscriber the 5 November date is the one to note, and for Arcade the test is whether a known name brings in players who would not otherwise open the Arcade tab.