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Apple Tree Yard starts on Sunday! [MNHQ message: No spoilers please, including what happens in the book!]

918 replies

Destinysdaughter · 18/01/2017 12:44

I really enjoyed the book so looking forward to this. It's in 4 parts with Emily Watson playing the main character and Ben Chaplin as her lover. BBC1 9pm

Good article about it here.

www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/14/emily-watson-apple-tree-yard-middle-aged-women-infidelity-sexuality#comments

OP posts:
Dulra · 06/02/2017 08:17

I thought that was a great episode and really thought her husband stood up to the plate and was really supportive despite not being 100% sure what the hell really went on. She like others have said has been ridiculously naïve and more sucked in then I thought by Mark Costley. The fact that he brutally murdered someone while she sat outside in a car did not seem to phase her or question his sanity at all. She seems quite happy for him to throw her under a bus. He is pleading insanity she is not so he could easily get off with diminished responsibility while she will be the sane rational one so get the book thrown at her, why doesn't she see it. Slightly hopeful that her realisation that he lied about being a spook (well didn't deny it) will make her question what else he is lying about and encourage her to start fighting this case.

As for Mark he was once a police officer because that's what he was doing when he applied for MI5 so I reckon he is something to do with security now but secretly longs to live the 007 life hence the affair.

TheSecondOfHerName · 06/02/2017 08:29

In real life, the experiment seems to be one of those myths that people talk about but that never really existed. LD said in an interview that she had read about it in a newspaper and it stayed with her, but no one seems to have found actual references or evidence of it.

TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth · 06/02/2017 08:30

Oh dear, she's in for it, isn't it?

Surely the footage from the supposedly not connected camera in Apple Tree Yard makes an appearance? Not only will this show Yvonne as a liar (she'll have been vehemently denying an affair with BC) and then none of her testimony will be believed, but they'll also make her out to be some loose floozy. Theyll claim there was no rape, she had affair with with George and got BC to kill him.
BC will likely throw her under a bus: admit the affair to give him credibility, then say Yvonne forced him to kill George. Perhaps blackmailing him too by saying she'd threatened to tell his fragile wife.
BC will get some lesser diminished responsibility charge and Yvonne guilty of murder. Horrifying.

Note to self: always tell the absolute truth in court.

cherrytree63 · 06/02/2017 08:34

I'm loving this series, going to get the book after tonight's episode.
So far I've resisted the urge to open the spoilers thread but will do at 10pm!
I like the way the actress portrays Yvonne, very believable.
I think it's the same actress who was in A Suitable Adult, (I think that's what it was called) about the Wests, but I found that character really irritating!

Elendon · 06/02/2017 08:47

I think those who say it's not plausible for someone of her standing in the community, 'eminent scientist' need to understand that clever and good people sometimes do stupid things.

I worked in a very eminent office and one woman left, think high flyer, middle aged, because she and a co worker were discovered doing it in a broom cupboard by the cleaner. It sounds so cliched, but she moved because she couldn't face anyone at work. I also know of someone in a judicial role who was unable to attend court because when she rang to cancel at 8am in the morning, she said she was too drunk. She was also middle aged and respectable. Plus who hasn't heard tales of office party shenanigans and just gone wow! at those doing it?

So tonight it will be an expose of her affair, I presume, much to the shock of all. It will be really cringe worthy I bet and shocking to her family. I can feel the pain already. The court room scenes are very real and it's really good to see Frances Tomelty back and in excellent form. I always liked her as an actress.

Dulra · 06/02/2017 08:51

Forgot to mention - was anyone else screaming at the tv when she handed him (the affair) phone in the car after he killed George?? There goes all her evidence Angry

Totally agree with your theory TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth
Could her secret computer diary of affair be used in court as evidence to show there actually was one if Mark Costley starts denying all?

Elendon · 06/02/2017 08:58

Also meant to add, we often see cases of women who are charged with murder alongside those who have actually done it. Usually though they are of lower intelligence and social standing.

The one thing she has lied about is her affair. Is it because she has so far thought him to be a spook? Will she admit it now that the truth is out?

TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth · 06/02/2017 09:07

I doubt he'll deny it though, Dulra and that will give him the credibility to go on and tell lies. I bet he knows about the camera. Or maybe Yvonne is confronted with that evidence first, giving him the chance to fess up without having first denied it.

Will be interesting to see what happens if they do take her computer. It could all be dismissed as fantasy, of course. Did she mention the rape in any of her writing? Can anyone remember?

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 06/02/2017 09:10

I think those who say it's not plausible for someone of her standing in the community, 'eminent scientist' need to understand that clever and good people sometimes do stupid things

And also about overwhelming sexual attraction.

Elendon · 06/02/2017 09:15

Yes Dame and anyone can be 'afflicted' by this, even those who are not deemed attractive.

NancyDonahue · 06/02/2017 09:51

As well as the murder charge Yvonne must be so desperately worried for her son, Adam. It's such a sad story.

PerryCoxHair · 06/02/2017 10:05

I thought the book was shit and the tv adaptation is going the same way Sad It had so much potential as a story line.

Having said that I LOVED the way Guy/Gary held the knife to the barristers throat. Even he (a shagger behind his wifes back) understood why a woman might not fight back during a rape. Kudos to the writers for that. Brilliant.

PollyPerky · 06/02/2017 10:07

I've read the other spoiler thread here and have a friend who's read the book.
I think as a drama, without having read the book, it's very 'thin'.
The basis of the plot is very simplistic so I'm assuming that in the book there is more detail and we really get to know the characters more. On Tv we seem to have lost the characterisation to the point of implausibility, at the expense of condensing the action into 4 episodes. I'm not impressed with the TV adaptation partly because the woman does seem to be 'thick' in her behaviour, even allowing for unbridled lust.

hollyisalovelyname · 06/02/2017 10:27

Why has she not told her family about the affair ?
Won't her husband be Hmm when he learns she has been having an affair too and yet he ASSUMED she was devastated by his infidelity ?
Surely the police know?
Surely her computer has been taken away and analysed?
Mind you I've read stranger (real) tales in the DM Blush

Trills · 06/02/2017 10:31

Even he (a shagger behind his wifes back)

I am generally pleased with the characters being multi-faceted.

PerryCoxHair · 06/02/2017 10:35

Well, yes Trills me too. But (and I may word this wrong) when you get viewers like my dad watching this programme who have a "set way" of thinking, it is always heartening to see a programme that spells it out in plain english to the dinosaurs like my dad.

Trills · 06/02/2017 10:52

Oh yes, I like it.

I meant that in a more one-dimensional show a man could either be the kind of man who calls out rape myths OR the kind of man who shags behind his wife's back.

I am pleased that he can be both.

SapphireStrange · 06/02/2017 10:59

Surely her computer has been taken away and analysed?

Someone hinted upthread that this is deliberate. I haven't read the book so don't know the details.

Fedupofallthemud · 06/02/2017 11:29

I get the feeling this will end badly for Yvonne but I'm hoping she sees sense before it's too late and realises the whole thing with mark has been a lie and she doesn't know him at all. I wonder if he has a history of previous violent attacks and if this will come out at some point? Don't think it can be brought up before verdict if he has but I could be wrong. I suppose that's the other way it could go, that's he's done it all before??

The other thing I wondered re the monkey experiment, her husbands version was that maternal love trumped all else, maybe she will finally put her children first, and drop Mark in it by coming clean about the whole thing? Wishful thinking on my part maybe?

VivDeering · 06/02/2017 11:48

I think that this will end very badly for Yvonne as she'll come clean all too late and she'll go to prison. Then at the last minute all will be revealed, Mark actually is a super spy and the whole case was a cover-up to protect his secret identity. Yvonne will quietly be released from prison.

In terms of the fake text, fake email(?) and fake flowers from the rapist, somebody said that there's no corroborating evidence. However, the fragile son did witness the flowers arrive, if not see the message. I'd hate to see him have to take the stand.

Hillingdon · 06/02/2017 11:52

Cannot wait for tonight. Only caught up with the whole series at the weekend. I love EW's casting. I can see how she got caught up in all of this with her marriage and all. Some of the cafe's and bars in the scenes I have been into myself!

I like Ben Chaplin as well although I thought he was rather short too!

It reminds me of Fatal Attraction in some ways but much more believable.

George was the biggest shock. I work with nice normal guys and he reminded me of someone I work with!

I also agree that sometimes there are just reasons why a women wouldn't report this attack. She would be have been slaughtered in court and how come George knew about her affair with Mark?

SapphireStrange · 06/02/2017 13:39

Mark actually is a super spy and the whole case was a cover-up to protect his secret identity

I've wondered this. Is he under really really deep cover? I suspect though that it's not as sophisticated or interesting as that

rollonthesummer · 06/02/2017 13:42

If he's a super super spy-surely the case would never have got this far? It would have just been quietly dealt with and covered up in a Torchwood-style manner!

MaybeDoctor · 06/02/2017 13:49

I have enjoyed the change in the last two episodes.

The shocking change from respectable mum sitting down at a restaurant for a family birthday party, to suddenly being arrested for murder.

The palpable sense of shock when the family come back and are carrying on with a semblance of domestic routines, but with this huge enigma in their midst.

I was a bit surprised that Gary wasn't more angry with Yvonne as I think shock and confusion might come out in that way...

How diminished and sheepish Mark looked when he was handcuffed to that enormous male prison officer! He is not cutting a very attractive figure now, is he? Not so much 007 as 000.5!

Would they really have the two of them sitting in the same box in court?

LanaorAna1 · 06/02/2017 14:24

Pls can anyone help? I missed last night ep3 and can't watch it on catchup for some enraging computer reason. What happened in last night's ep???