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

[Destinysdaughter]

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

It concluded in 4 episodes and I didn't find it slow at all.

I haven't read the book so the TV drama is the only version of the story I have.

I don't think it's bad not to tell the children about the father's affair as they have just seen their mother dragged through the courts and everything plastered in the paper. One child has just had a baby and the other has mental health issues - i wasn't surprised they didn't tell them more bad stuff!

Haven't read the book and must say I found the TV ending disappointing. Was the twist at the end meant to be that she really had asked him to kill Mark so she was really guilty? I didn't understand why she went to see him at the end - I thought she would have thought she'd had a lucky escape at the end of the court case especially when she discovered he was just a fantasist who would try it on with anyone. Maybe it was a problem of casting - I couldn't see what anyone would see in Ben Chaplin that would make them lose their inhibitions in that way. And while she might have been turned on thinking he was MI5 (if that's what does it for you) once she realised he was just a security advisor surely even that thrill would have gone? Can someone also please clarify - I thought the woman shouting from the public gallery was Mark's wife. Is that right?

the £100,000 was to ensure her attendance at court, would not be forfeit for breach of bail conditions.

Haven't read the book and must say I found the TV ending disappointing. Was the twist at the end meant to be that she really had asked him to kill Mark so she was really guilty? I didn't understand why she went to see him at the end - I thought she would have thought she'd had a lucky escape at the end of the court case especially when she discovered he was just a fantasist who would try it on with anyone. Maybe it was a problem of casting - I couldn't see what anyone would see in Ben Chaplin that would make them lose their inhibitions in that way. And while she might have been turned on thinking he was MI5 (if that's what does it for you) once she realised he was just a security advisor surely even that thrill would have gone?

I think she had to keep her own fantasy alive, otherwise she would have been someone who turned her life upside down and almost destroyed her family for an unstable underachiever with a violent streak. So instead she kept up the fantasy that he was her knight in shining armour - you could see her relief after Gary told her the real(?) version of the monkey experiment, that it confirmed for her that Mark would never betray her. It was only at the very end, when Mark reminded her about what she'd said in the flat and she realised that he had taken her seriously, that she could really see how much of a nutter he was.

Can someone also please clarify - I thought the woman shouting from the public gallery was Mark's wife. Is that right?

Yes.

I said at the beginning that I hate it when they change books to ttc and miss out parts or change it

So the book was obvious that she meant him to do it as she thought he was JAMES bond 😉😆

And daughter knew that gary had an affair

But the tv doesn't portray this

I was a bit meh about ep 3. EP 4 only just clawed it back but I felt it was missing something.

Sorry if this has been asked already but does anyone know why we didn't see Mark being questioned in court - was it to do with the personality disorder claim?

Yes because he pleaded diminished

Thank you!

Well that certainly didn't live up to the hype

Thank you Cel982

just seen the final episode, and i couldnt remember the ending, even though i read the book.
no wonder, it is a bit indeterminate.
in the programme, i thought, ah, he is a fantasist and she didnt mean for him to actually kill George
in the film, I was disappointed in her as I thought she had asked him to kill George.

NO,
i meant in the Book, I was disappointed with her

I think it's quite rare for someone accused of murder to actually testify in their own defence. There's such a potential for them to collapse under cross-examination that the defence team usually won't risk it.

What was the relevance of marks defence barrister asking her if she was wearing underwear on the night she was raped? I understand she was trying to portray her as promiscuous but how did they know that she wasnt? Had mark told his barrister? Why would he do this if he was keeping the secret??

Had mark told his barrister? Why would he do this if he was keeping the secret??

Yes, Mark must have told her. He kept the secret of the affair until it looked like his diminished-responsibility angle wouldn't work. Then he realised he had to, at least in part, throw Yvonne to the lions. That's when he banged on the glass to get his barrister to come and talk to him.

i think Mark saw yvonne smiling up at her husband and thus dropped her in it with his barrister

Ahhh yew...that makes sense

I agree with others that Ben Chaplin was miscast. He looked too small and thin/weak with overly dyed hair and just seemed a bit creepy from the outset, not charming. I thought he was meant to be a "younger" man with a young family with Yvonne being a more mature woman in contrast but he looked older than her husband.

I wondered whether some of the youngsters at the party might have told about the no knickers. A group of them looked over and laughe'd when she was leaning over on the bench. In the lecture theatre, there had also been laughter and a bit of 'nudge nudge wink wink' type behaviour when Yvonne made the 'easy' comment. I thought both incidents were supposed to illustrate how easily people can gossip and cause problems for women who make rape allegations. Of course, wearing no kniwkcers and saying 'I'm easy' should have no bearing whatsoever on a rape case, but sadly they often do (or at least have done in the past).

It seem I'm the only person who likes Ben Chaplin then!

Actually, I'm not sure that's relevant anyway. I've had some pretty strange infatuations in my time- quite a few on people who weren't conventionally attractive or charming. I do have quite a self-destructive streak though. It's hard to explain but I've often thought of it as part of my 'dark side'.

Excuses typos.

I find BC very attractive, Wading! You're not alone

I find him attractive too

I like BC. He has a certain charm.