DUBAI: In Apple’s new series “Nocturne,” Stephen Graham gives a typically excellent performance as the “diabolically cunning” serial killer Jurek Walter — a man so dangerous he’s been imprisoned for the past three years in solitary confinement in the basement of Riverside Psychiatric Hospital, where the staff are forbidden to tell him any personal information for fear that he will somehow use it to do something awful to them or their families.

The series’ opening sequence sees Walter whispering down his cell’s sinkhole to another inmate, and convincing them to dash their brains out on the wall of their cell. Walter’s not a nice person, it’s safe to say.

Graham, however, doesn’t play him as a straightforward pantomime villain. Instead he subtly hints at Walter’s depths. He is distinctly sinister — softly spoken, still-faced, with a surprisingly girlish giggle — but there is charisma and vulnerability too, and a surprising empathy — even if that empathy is used solely for his own ends.

Soon, Walter is visited by the now-retired detective who put him behind bars in the first place. That’s Jonah Lynn (Live Schreiber), and he’s accompanied by a hard-nosed FBI agent, Alexandra Quinn (Poorna Jagannathan), who’s been called to the small Pittsburgh town because Michael Frost, a teenager who went missing three years previously along with his sister (they were widely believed to be victims of Walter) has suddenly reappeared, but without his sister. Walter’s victims were buried alive and left to die slowly (thus adding extra pain for their families), so it’s a race against time. And Jonah must once again face the man who’s haunted him for three years. He'll do so with the help of his goddaughter — and child of his late former partner — Saga (Zazie Beets), herself an FBI agent who’s an expert at undercover ops. They need information from Walter. You see where this is going?

Judged on the two episodes released at the time of writing, “Nocturne” is a compelling piece of TV. It doesn’t spell everything out for you, but gradually fills in the blanks in a way that credits its audience with some intelligence and patience. There are a few glaring holes, but with Graham giving yet another standout performance, and the rest of the cast making a decent stab at keeping up with him, they’re easily forgiven.