As Slow Horses season 5 wraps up, Apple TV is treating viewers to another Mick Herron adaptation with Down Cemetery Road. The series stars Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson in a tense, gripping story that mixes mystery with plenty of action.
Ruth Wilson plays Sarah Trafford, a woman obsessed with finding a young girl who disappears after an explosion in a quiet Oxford suburb. Emma Thompson is Zoë Boehm, a private investigator Sarah enlists to help her. Together, they uncover a complex conspiracy that pulls them into dangerous situations across the country.
Thompson told Radio Times that the role came with a lot more physical action than she expected. “A lot more than I anticipated,” she said. “Occasionally, on the eight-month shoot, it was entirely welcome. I realised starting this kind of action work at 66 was probably reckless and possibly even stupid.”
The two actresses spent months running, hiding, and tackling physically demanding scenes together. Thompson said, “We barrelled up and down the country with abandon, running, hiding, kicking and screaming through the story, wondering sometimes how we’d get through it but knowing all the while we would, because we had each other. We were permanently astonished by how exhausted we were. Ruth is a good 20 years younger, but she had even more to do.”
To prepare, Thompson trained extensively, lifted weights, did squats, and monitored her heart rate. She even tried to eat less pie.
Filming took place across numerous locations, with Cornwall’s Polperro standing out as her favourite. “Those of you who know it will know the perfection of the place,” she said. Thompson loved a local pub, The Blue Peter, for its seafood, chips, and real ale, admitting she sneaked in a half pint between takes. She joked that this may be why her character Zoë seems slightly more cheerful in those scenes.
With its mix of suspense, action, and stellar performances from Thompson and Wilson, Down Cemetery Road promises to be a gripping watch for Apple TV viewers.
