Apple Tree Yard TV Drama. 2017.

                           Apple Tree Yard TV Drama 2017.

"Dear X whatever it was between us it was never meant to bear much reality. That was the point, wasn't it? No real life. No feelings, no mess."

I had read Louise Doughty's book and wasn't disappointed with this tv drama which is available to buy on dvd produced by Doughty, Lucy Richer, Manda Lewin and Amanda Coe. It was Doughty's seventh novel. "Crazy Paving" was her debut novel back in 1995. Her sixth novel took the media by storm:"Whatever You Love" pulling her sharply in focus as one to watch and this has proved the case with Apple Tree Yard.

It stars Emily Watson as Dr Yvonne Carmichael, an eminent scientist who lives a conventional suburban life in a comfortable and stable marriage but sexless and at 50+ it seems that Yvonne would like some excitement and danger to spice up her life. She addresses a Select Committee on a subject she is knowledgeable about-DNA gene therapy. One of the security men chatted to her after the meeting, congratulating her and then offers to show her the chapel in the crypt, in particular a plaque from Emily Wilding Davison in 1911 using the House of Commons as her home address. She died when she threw herself in front of a horse.

There is an instant attraction between Yvonne and Mark Costley, nameless at this stage. Passionate kissing in the broom cupboard soon leads to a quick sexual encounter. Slap, bang, wallop and it's over in minutes leaving Yvonne stunned. It seems totally out of character for her to do this. She is middle-aged and relatively happy with husband Gary played by Mark Bonner who has been on our screens a lot recently, a bit self-conscious of the ageing process in feeling less sexy and no longer a beauty. "I look like a bloody jelly baby" she tells him. I disagree. She still looks beautiful.

At home she starts typing a series of letters to X when she can't sleep at night, restless. He will never read them but that doesn't matter. She has committed what she sees as being a "most reckless act" describing her lover as a wolf devouring her. Her friend Suze (Susan Lynch) has nicknamed her Captain Sensible and refers to Yvonne's marriage as being "rock solid." If only she knew the truth. Yvonne does try to break off the relationship in case their spouses or families get hurt.

She does discover that her husband has an admirer who is obsessed with him, Rosa and he has a fling with her. Perhaps it's this or their lack of physical contact that pushes Yvonne over the edge but she is soon enticed back to her lover's arms, finding him irresistible. It is Ben Chaplin after all. The camera shows us a close up of their fore-play followed by sex in a toilet cubicle. He seems to enjoy sex in sordid, public places. Yvonne revels in her secretive and exciting life with her mysterious lover.

We are then introduced to one of her colleagues, George Selway who she has known for two years. He seems harmless enough. But wait.

"Fear makes animals of us all. But, really, we're all just animals. Fear. Fear for your life. Civilisation is a dream."

When Yvonne goes to Jonathan's leaving do, the confident sexy lady gets herself dolled up, with high heels and a tight dress to show off her curves. We see her looking coquettish with her lover in Apple Tree Yard before going on to the do. She is convinced he is a spook which amuses her. Feeling smug she allows herself to get plastered. George takes advantage of her in his own office towards the end of the party; he thumps her then brutally rapes her telling her in so many words that she's no better than a whore.

Interestingly, we come to realise that Yvonne has fallen foul of the law because we then see her sitting in a courtroom. It's just a case of how and why and probably what at this point in the drama. If she reports the rape, the police will take a swab and discover not only George's semen but Mark's also. She doesn't want her husband to know about either the affair or the rape. She tells Mark "He couldn't have seemed more harmless.I didn't fight back. I was too scared to move." George starts to stalk her, sends her texts, follows her and even sends her flowers so she confides in Mark who wants to know what she wants him to do to George."Don't tell me you wouldn't like to put the wind right up that pathetic piece of shit?" Her reply is predictable : "I want him to crap himself with fear. I want him to feel half as terrified as he made me feel."

A freestyle plot is devised in which Yvonne drives a dressed-down lover to George's leaving it all up to Mark and waiting outside in the street in an agitated manner as the clock ticks endlessly. There's a Hitchcockian moment when a hand slams down on the windscreen in front of Yvonne's bent forehead. She gasps as Mark climbs into the car and shouts to her to drive on. Then we see the image once more of the handcuffs and being lead up the stairs into the court.
What happened is for you to discover for yourself. Compelling viewing. Horrifying and shocking at times to witness. It shows avarice, ambition mixed with naivety and self-deception. For anyone who loves thrillers this is certainly for you.

"We're programmed to do whatever will ensure our survival. And sometimes that's nothing."

REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

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