Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

Apple Tree Yard WITH spoilers (I hope!)

103 replies

MoreThanUs · 30/01/2017 14:45

Hello, I'm quite enjoying the programme but would enjoy it even more if I knew what was happening and how it is going to end!

I thought it might be worth seeing if there are other people like me, or who have read the book, and would like a thread were nothing is out of bounds.

If it's not for you, please don't read on!

I have trawled the internet to find out the ending / twist and can't seem to find it.

Is anyone willing to start us off by telling me the ending?

Does anyone else prefer something when they know the outcome? I HATE surprises!

OP posts:
ItsyBitsyBikini · 04/02/2017 23:04

I've only just finished the book (started it 3 years ago but never got round to getting past the first chapter) and the chimp story was horrific.
I was bit Shock at the last page where you find out that she asked Mark to kill George but because I genuinely didn't see it coming which isn't like me. I want to watch the show now but will have to wait until the week when Dp is at work.

Original poster
MoreThanUs · 05/02/2017 18:42

Only just realised this thread has sprung back into life!
I'm really pleased it resonates with others of you - I really do enjoy things a lot more when I know what's coming (including unwrapping presents!).
I'm always interested in why they change 'minor' details like names etc too. I think I'd find that hard if I was the author.
I'm looking forward to watching it on catchup tmrw - it's a bit too intense for evening viewing alone - Great British Throw Down is more my thing.

OP posts:
TheOriginalChatelaine · 05/02/2017 22:10

Poor old Yvonne in her metropolitan elite mode, feeling dismay at having tangoed with a dull Joe bloggs! What a sordid tale.

Dorita75 · 05/02/2017 22:24

Thank God for this thread! I'm usually happy to see a programme/film through but I have to know the ending of this one. Now I do, thanks!

Judydreamsofhorses · 05/02/2017 22:39

I read the book when it came out and thought it all quite implausible in terms of this respectable middle aged woman shagging in the street all over the place. I figured out he was probably a janitor or something, not a spook - she was the classic "unreliable narrator" in the book.

rollonthesummer · 05/02/2017 23:13

What has the monkey story (and Gary's different recollection of the experiment) have to do with anything?

Also, I just don't get why he would murder that bloke for her? It's one hell of a big thing to do!!

Original poster
MoreThanUs · 06/02/2017 04:00

rollon, I agree, and having thought about it, think that it was a continuation of the fantasy life he had created for himself. Crazy risk-taking sex leads to murdering a rapist who attacked 'his woman'. Still a massive leap though!!

OP posts:
GinIsIn · 06/02/2017 04:20

I think the chimp story was forewarning - even though he loves her, there will come a point where he throws her under the bus to save himself.

Glad I found this thread - read the book years ago when it first came out and thought it was ok. Not great, but ok. Gave the first ep of the tv series a go but found it so devoid of chemistry and drama that I can't be bothered to sit through the rest and I certainly don't want to re-read, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the end!

Letseatgrandma · 06/02/2017 07:54

I just don't understand what's in it for him-why would he kill George?! Surely he's heard of the law and prison!! How did he think he'd get away with it?

Wondermoomin · 06/02/2017 12:08

The theory about why he killed George is that he wanted to appear to be Yvonne's knight in shining armour... as part of his fantasist life he wanted her to think he would do that for her. It was his intention to give the impression, but not to actually do it. However once in George's flat he lost control.

OverTheHill50 · 06/02/2017 12:09

ItsyBitsyBikini - why do you have to wait until your DP/DH is away?

Quite a few of my female friends are saying they don't want to watch this with their DHs - why is that?

ItsyBitsyBikini · 06/02/2017 14:50

overthehill because it wouldn't interest him. He works ridiculously long hours so the time we get together we'd prefer to watch something we both enjoy or be sleeping! I'll watch it when baby is napping. Not because I have a burning desire to have an affair and get him to kill someone.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 06/02/2017 18:29

I have reread the book (well skimmed through it)

I really enjoyed it when I first read it but its odd that I can't remember much of what happened as it seems most of us can't. I can remember getting caught up in her giddiness over the affair and that much of her excitement towards her lover?Mark was down to him being a spy - that doesn't come across so much in the series

Her husband is called Guy in the book why did they change his name to Gary. Guy works perfectly well. maybe for American audiences do they not really use the name Guy

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 06/02/2017 18:33

another thing that comes across more in the book is her othering people. There are the professionals like herself in the court who will get her and then those others

She comes across as more arrogant in the book

Sandram90 · 06/02/2017 21:32

Thank you very much !!! i love sploiler :) :)

hairymairyfromthedairy · 07/02/2017 16:50

Do you think she really wanted Mark to kill George or that it was a throwaway comment much like when kids say "my mom's going to kill me" - which obviously they're not. I got the impression she didn't think he'd take it seriously-I've only watched the programme not read the book

ItsyBitsyBikini · 07/02/2017 16:53

I think in the book it's very much implied she wanted Mark to do it. Which is why I think you find that bit out right at the end but I guess it's all on the individuals interpretation

Pimmpom · 07/02/2017 20:07

Oh it sounds like the book has more of a twist then. I thought it was a throw away comment and he took it literally.

autumnmonths · 08/02/2017 16:55

There were two monkey comments - one where the baby was stood on by the mother and then the second time it was mentioned she was told that no, the mother held the baby and let her feet burn.

That's what I took from the programme - although we thought that by revealing the affair he was pushing her under the bus, in opposite was true. He gave himself a motive for losing control but never told 'what she asked him' which meant he was actually protecting her.

cariadlet · 08/02/2017 19:56

When I read the book I was shocked by her recollection of asking Mark to kill George. It was right at the end, when she'd been spinning the tale all along of how she had no idea that Mark was going to/had killed George. I realised I'd been taken in by an unreliable narrator and that she'd wanted Mark to kill him.

But in the TV series she was filmed asking him in an obviously jokey way. When she visited Mark in prison she was taken aback by what he said and that made her realise that he really couldn't distinguish fact/joke/fantasy.

I can't decide whether I'd misinterpreted the book or that it was changed for TV so that she stayed a sympathetic character.

hickorydickorynurseryrhyme · 13/02/2017 15:53

cariadlet

Yes, I was a bit confused by the ending. Did she really mean for Mark to Kill George or was she just saying it half heartedly not really meaning it?

EightToSixer · 13/02/2017 17:37

I understood it as we had considered her the victim all along but actually Mark was also the victim because he took her literally (due I expect to his mental state) when she made the throwaway comment.
I thought it was quite a momentous twist really.

southeastdweller · 13/02/2017 17:41

But in the TV series she was filmed asking him in an obviously jokey way.

No she didn't. She sounded very serious when she asked him, but we heard her laughing in a separate shot when they were in bed together.

EightToSixer · 14/02/2017 17:05

Also, I've spent the last hour googling the monkey baby heated floor article cited in the film and there is no reference to this. it seems like it is some kind of urban legend or happened long enough ago that it has not been retained in academic literature. Does anyone know if the author made it up to prove a point?

herdisse · 19/02/2017 21:12

I noticed that too. He put the bag in the back of the car but did not take it to the house Hmm