Vincent, Alice (23 January 2017). "Emily Watson felt 'traumatised' by Apple Tree Yard rape scene". The Telegraph. Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Barb.co.uk . Retrieved 12 January 2014. (No permanent link available. Search for relevant dates.) A splendidly well-made courtroom drama, full of equally sharp turns of plot and phrase… Apple Tree Yard is very, very good.”

There is a strong message here that – contrary to what you might be led to believe from Every Other Drama On Television – female sexuality doesn’t suddenly end at 35, but can become more powerful and more profound. Certainly for Yvonne it does, even if it somehow leads her to court. International Emmy Award Nominations Unveiled". Variety. 27 September 2018 . Retrieved 27 November 2018.

Apple Tree Yard does feel like a very female thing. And that’s good. Female in a positive, powerful, celebratory way, too. Although I didn’t feel much of a bond with it, or with Carmichael – in spite of Watson’s excellent performance. Or with Chaplin either, to be fair, but his is more of a role than a character. This is about her, and because this part is all about how she feels, it would help if I felt more for her. Like all tragic figures, Yvonne has a lot to lose. She is happily married to a fellow research scientist with two grown-up children and an esteemed academic record: “I am fifty-two. I have status and gravitas – when I don’t have my tights round my ankles in a secluded chapel beneath the Houses of Parliament, that is.” Yet the analytical part of her mind cannot help but try to determine the significance of the anomaly: “In science we accept aberrations. It is only when aberrations keep happening that we stop and try and look for a pattern.”

Faber Members have access to live and online events, special editions and book promotions, and articles and quizzes through our weekly e-newsletter. DNA made me and DNA undid me." So confesses the protagonist of Louise Doughty's 2013 novel Apple Tree Yard, a middle-aged scientist and mother, Yvonne Carmichael, now standing trial for a grisly murder. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ In the aftermath of what has happened, a devastated Yvonne shuts down. She feels unable to talk to the police or her husband, but as a campaign of terror is mounted against her, she is pushed to her limits and turns to her former lover, Costley, for advice. They meet for one last time and share a passionate afternoon together, before Costley takes control of the situation and Yvonne is plunged from one nightmare into another.

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The four-part series was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 20 February 2017. [9] Accolades [ edit ] Year Shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger for Best Thriller and the Specsavers National Book Awards Crime & Thriller of the Year

The opening of Louise Doughty‘s last novel, Whatever You Love, was brutal and unexpected – a woman opens her door to a pair of police officers who inform her that her daughter has been killed in a road accident. The beginning of the present book is no less surprising, though the brutality comes later. Rape on television is often an unthinking plot device, used to destroy women or spur avenging males. Here, mercifully, Yvonne is not diminished; damaged but not destroyed. As the story gets darker, turning through consequences and revelations (rather than twists), it’s her power, more than her lover’s, that comes under close examination. She can influence others and deceive herself. Director Jessica Hobbs rations out plot details in a model of fleet visual storytelling and elliptical ambiguity. In her shots, the details of London tend to dissolve into soft focus, all watery blues and burning orange, as though the narrative winds between a daydream and panic of wakefulness.Emily Watson’s character, Yvonne Carmichael, looks out of the window as the vehicle in which she is travelling crosses a bridge over the Thames in London. She reflects on human nature, on the choices we make, how fear turns us into animals. The Thames can make you reflect, although Yvonne has more reason to do so than most. She is not on a bus, but in a prisoner transport van, possibly operated by G4S. She is cuffed and on the way to court, to be tried for murder. So begins this four-part adaptation of novelist (and Christmas University Challenge finalist) Louise Doughty’s psychological thriller Apple Tree Yard (BBC1, Sunday). See Faber authors in conversation and hear readings from their work at Faber Members events, literary festivals and at book shops across the UK. Read about the Faber story, find out about our unique partnerships, and learn more about our publishing heritage, awards and present-day activity.