The first episode of psychological thriller Apple Tree Yard was shown on BBC 1 on January 22. In it, married geneticist Yvonne Carmichael (Emily Watson) starts an intense and passionate affair with a mysterious and charismatic stranger, whom she refers to in the subsequent diary she keeps as ‘Mr X’.
Despite her attempts to protect her home life and career and separate them from her ongoing affair, the relationship throws Yvonne’s conventional suburban life with her husband Gary (Mark Bonnar) and two grown up children into chaos – a situation further exacerbated by a brutal and life-changing act of violence. The event soon leads to a tense Crown Court trial.
Each 60-minute episode of Apple Tree Yard, adapted for television by BAFTA-winning writer Amanda Coe, takes the viewer on a roller-coaster ride of emotions as the well-written drama gradually unfolds in increasingly edge-of-the-seat fashion.
I personally felt, however, that the first two episodes were the pick of the bunch, as they set the scene extremely well and kept the viewer guessing as to how the story with its many twists and turns might eventually pan out.
By the third installment, I started to want answers and when they came, they were not quite what I had been expecting – which I suppose in a way is a good thing. After building up the tension with the superb acting skills of the cast – particularly the programme’s leading lady – the fairly low-key ending left me a little disappointed.
Still, Apple Tree Yard is well worth purchasing and watching more than once – as I think it’s the kind of series where repeated viewing may well yield surprising observations that may have previously gone unnoticed. Slightly flawed but unmissable television nevertheless.
Apple Tree Yard is released on DVD & Blu-Ray box sets on Monday, February 20 by Arrow Films.
The series is already available to download from iTunes.
arrowfilms.co.uk
