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Sex and the middle-aged woman … a groundbreaking BBC drama tells it like it is Sex and the middle-aged woman … a groundbreaking BBC drama tells it like it is
(about 2 hours later)
She made her name with raw and unfettered performances in films such as Breaking the Waves and Hilary and Jackie, but at the age of 50 Emily Watson admits that she thought those days were behind her. Then she was offered the leading role in the BBC’s eagerly awaited adaptation of Louise Doughty’s acclaimed thriller, Apple Tree Yard, playing a middle-aged woman who begins an unlikely and increasingly dangerous affair.She made her name with raw and unfettered performances in films such as Breaking the Waves and Hilary and Jackie, but at the age of 50 Emily Watson admits that she thought those days were behind her. Then she was offered the leading role in the BBC’s eagerly awaited adaptation of Louise Doughty’s acclaimed thriller, Apple Tree Yard, playing a middle-aged woman who begins an unlikely and increasingly dangerous affair.
“I guess when I first read it I thought ‘really?’” Watson says, laughing. “I mean I’ve been described in the press before as a character actor who gets laid, which I think is a great description, but as the years go by you get laid less and less on screen and then you sort of stop, so I definitely felt that, like that Amy Schumer sketch, I’d had my last fuckable day – and then suddenly here I am. It was pretty cool although I did have to kind of swallow a few times when I read the script.”“I guess when I first read it I thought ‘really?’” Watson says, laughing. “I mean I’ve been described in the press before as a character actor who gets laid, which I think is a great description, but as the years go by you get laid less and less on screen and then you sort of stop, so I definitely felt that, like that Amy Schumer sketch, I’d had my last fuckable day – and then suddenly here I am. It was pretty cool although I did have to kind of swallow a few times when I read the script.”
The role of Yvonne Carmichael, a highly successful scientist and apparently happily married mother of two whose one reckless decision sends her life spiralling out of control, came as a pleasant surprise. “It was kind of great because these days when I go and do a movie the team is being run by a 22-year-old and I’m playing the mum,” she says. “And then you go and do TV and you’re running the show and the 22-year-old is in for a couple of days, which I won’t lie was a nice thing.”The role of Yvonne Carmichael, a highly successful scientist and apparently happily married mother of two whose one reckless decision sends her life spiralling out of control, came as a pleasant surprise. “It was kind of great because these days when I go and do a movie the team is being run by a 22-year-old and I’m playing the mum,” she says. “And then you go and do TV and you’re running the show and the 22-year-old is in for a couple of days, which I won’t lie was a nice thing.”
It helped, she adds, that she and Ben Chaplin, who plays Yvonne’s risk-taking new lover, Mark Costley, had known each other for a long time. “As a younger actor I had a lot of experiences of those sort of sex scenes where everybody leaves and you’re just thinking ‘hurry up and say cut’ but we felt: let’s not do this, let’s actually talk through the beats of what would happen and how this would play out. I’m quite proud of that and how it turned out – although you do have to know someone quite well to do it.”It helped, she adds, that she and Ben Chaplin, who plays Yvonne’s risk-taking new lover, Mark Costley, had known each other for a long time. “As a younger actor I had a lot of experiences of those sort of sex scenes where everybody leaves and you’re just thinking ‘hurry up and say cut’ but we felt: let’s not do this, let’s actually talk through the beats of what would happen and how this would play out. I’m quite proud of that and how it turned out – although you do have to know someone quite well to do it.”
Nor was Watson the only one thrilled by the drama’s willingness to tackle middle-aged sexuality with a clear eye. “I get offered a lot of relationship dramas but it’s very rare to find something that’s so central to the age you are and the experiences you’re having,” says the director, Jessica Hobbs.Nor was Watson the only one thrilled by the drama’s willingness to tackle middle-aged sexuality with a clear eye. “I get offered a lot of relationship dramas but it’s very rare to find something that’s so central to the age you are and the experiences you’re having,” says the director, Jessica Hobbs.
“The appeal with Apple Tree Yard wasn’t just that it was a story about a woman but that it’s a story about a woman of a certain age and I loved that because your sexuality doesn’t die with your age. You don’t have to apologise for it.”“The appeal with Apple Tree Yard wasn’t just that it was a story about a woman but that it’s a story about a woman of a certain age and I loved that because your sexuality doesn’t die with your age. You don’t have to apologise for it.”
Doughty, the author, agrees, admitting that her biggest fear was that the programme-makers would “cast young” because “not only would the plot not work if she had young children but it’s also important that they’re both middle-aged. They’ve been around the block and they’re both a bit rumpled. One of the most important lines in the book, which I was so glad Amanda kept, was when Yvonne says to Costley, ‘Oh well, you didn’t sign up for this’ and he replies, ‘I signed up for you’. Because until then it has been kind of a sexual folly but there is also a genuine love story and a real tenderness there.”Doughty, the author, agrees, admitting that her biggest fear was that the programme-makers would “cast young” because “not only would the plot not work if she had young children but it’s also important that they’re both middle-aged. They’ve been around the block and they’re both a bit rumpled. One of the most important lines in the book, which I was so glad Amanda kept, was when Yvonne says to Costley, ‘Oh well, you didn’t sign up for this’ and he replies, ‘I signed up for you’. Because until then it has been kind of a sexual folly but there is also a genuine love story and a real tenderness there.”
That tenderness is partially driven by the fact that behind the scenes, producer Chris Carey apart, Apple Tree Yard is an almost entirely female affair: in addition to Hobbs, the screenplay was written by Amanda Coe and Manda Levin and Lucy Richer are executive producers.That tenderness is partially driven by the fact that behind the scenes, producer Chris Carey apart, Apple Tree Yard is an almost entirely female affair: in addition to Hobbs, the screenplay was written by Amanda Coe and Manda Levin and Lucy Richer are executive producers.
“It sort of speaks to the nature of the project that when I walked in and met Jess, she said to me ‘I’m four days older than you’ and there was immediately this sense of being women in the same place in life and working in a tough industry and just having a kind of kinship before we even started,” says Watson. “Throughout this piece there’s been a sense of doing something with a kind of solidarity.”“It sort of speaks to the nature of the project that when I walked in and met Jess, she said to me ‘I’m four days older than you’ and there was immediately this sense of being women in the same place in life and working in a tough industry and just having a kind of kinship before we even started,” says Watson. “Throughout this piece there’s been a sense of doing something with a kind of solidarity.”
There is also the feeling that Yvonne’s desire for escape resonates with middle-aged women in particular, says Doughty. “We’re just really tired and our competence has to take so many forms,” she says. “We’re partners, mothers, looking after elderly relatives, holding down a career. It’s exhausting and [therefore] it’s tempting when someone comes along and says here’s a box of chocolates, put your feet up and let me massage your toes. It’s not just that Yvonne falls in love with Costley, it’s that she falls out of love with herself and with the careful, competent persona she’s created. The trouble is that society doesn’t really let women take a holiday from themselves and the price you pay can actually be enormous if you get caught.”There is also the feeling that Yvonne’s desire for escape resonates with middle-aged women in particular, says Doughty. “We’re just really tired and our competence has to take so many forms,” she says. “We’re partners, mothers, looking after elderly relatives, holding down a career. It’s exhausting and [therefore] it’s tempting when someone comes along and says here’s a box of chocolates, put your feet up and let me massage your toes. It’s not just that Yvonne falls in love with Costley, it’s that she falls out of love with herself and with the careful, competent persona she’s created. The trouble is that society doesn’t really let women take a holiday from themselves and the price you pay can actually be enormous if you get caught.”
The way that price is paid is intended as a very clear contrast to the likes of True Detective, The Fall and Gone Girl, with their tendency to fetishise their female characters, presenting them as victims of their own desires and punishing them for stepping outside accepted lines. “When we started to develop the show, the first series of The Fall was very present in our minds,” admits Levin, the head of development for Kudos, the production company behind the adaptation. “We wanted to put out something that looked at women of that age but wasn’t incredibly objectified and that tackled the way that female confidence can sometimes be seen as an invitation when it’s just simple happiness – that idea that just walking down the street feeling good about yourself can actually be seen that way.”The way that price is paid is intended as a very clear contrast to the likes of True Detective, The Fall and Gone Girl, with their tendency to fetishise their female characters, presenting them as victims of their own desires and punishing them for stepping outside accepted lines. “When we started to develop the show, the first series of The Fall was very present in our minds,” admits Levin, the head of development for Kudos, the production company behind the adaptation. “We wanted to put out something that looked at women of that age but wasn’t incredibly objectified and that tackled the way that female confidence can sometimes be seen as an invitation when it’s just simple happiness – that idea that just walking down the street feeling good about yourself can actually be seen that way.”
Coe agrees. “One of the most appealing things for me about this drama is that it’s as messy as human life,” she says. “Yvonne’s marriage isn’t simple, her affair isn’t simple. It’s all beautifully complex just as life is because people do make complicated decisions and choices and that’s what’s really interesting.”Coe agrees. “One of the most appealing things for me about this drama is that it’s as messy as human life,” she says. “Yvonne’s marriage isn’t simple, her affair isn’t simple. It’s all beautifully complex just as life is because people do make complicated decisions and choices and that’s what’s really interesting.”
As for Watson, she remains delighted by the way the script celebrates middle-aged womanhood in all its imperfections. “Another real fist pump moment for me was when I read the line ‘jelly baby, I want to fuck’. “It was like yesss, old fat women are really attractive.”As for Watson, she remains delighted by the way the script celebrates middle-aged womanhood in all its imperfections. “Another real fist pump moment for me was when I read the line ‘jelly baby, I want to fuck’. “It was like yesss, old fat women are really attractive.”
Louise Doughty’s latest novel, Black Water, will be published in paperback in March Apple Tree Yard starts on BBC1 on 22 January at 9pm. Louise Doughty’s latest novel, Black Water, will be published in paperback in March.