Is Down Cemetery Road Based on a True Story?

Apple TV+’s ‘Down Cemetery Road’ begins with an explosion. Sarah Trafford and her husband host a party at their house, which goes from bad to worse when an explosion in a nearby house sends shockwaves through their neighborhood. The only survivor of the blast is a young girl, but when a concerned Sarah tries to see the girl at the hospital, she is suspiciously turned away. This leads her to a private investigator, named Zoë Boehm, and together, they uncover a mystery that leads them to very unexpected places. Developed by Morwenna Banks, the mystery thriller series weaves a web of secrets and lies, where no one can be trusted. As the truth comes to light, a jarringly raw and realistic portrait of the world is presented through the show and its characters.

Down Cemetery Road’s Fictional Plot is Enriched by Its Realistic Characters

‘Down Cemetery Road’ is a fictional story, adapted from the book of the same name by Mick Herron, published in 2003. It is the first in a four-book series that follows the adventures of private investigator Zoë Boehm and is adapted for the screen by Morwenna Banks. The idea for the story came to Herron while he was working as a subeditor at a legal magazine called the Employment Law Brief. In his free time, he would jot down ideas, most of which centered on characters, with plot being a secondary element. One day, he thought up the character of a woman named Sarah. Initially, he didn’t have much idea about where her story would be headed, so he focused on building the character.

He established several key points about the protagonist, including the fact that Sarah would be the central figure of the story, as the mystery would unfold from her perspective. He knew that she’d be a married woman with a complicated past and a turbulent marriage that she wasn’t especially happy in. Further down this train of thought, he ended up on a dinner scene, which would take place in Sarah’s house and would be interrupted by an explosion. The idea of the explosion came to him from a memory of his college days. He remembered the list of fire instructions pinned to his door when he was still a student. He was intrigued with the idea of opening the story with an explosion, and he even borrowed the opening words of the novel from the said list.

At the time, Herron was living in South Oxford, so it felt natural for him to set the story in Oxford. It also fit in well with the protagonist’s background and the place he envisioned her living in. The Oxford setting also allowed him to add a layer of authenticity in the way the surroundings were depicted in the novel. From here, he continued his train of thought, which eventually led him to create the character of Zoë Boehm, who would become the story’s co-protagonist and would later lead the next three novels in the series. Herron approached his writing as an exploration, continually adding surprising elements to the story as it progressed. In fact, one of the major plot points of the story, which focuses on a spy agency, was not part of the initial version. He added it in a much later draft to resolve a particularly tricky storyline.

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson’s Performance Breathes Authenticity into the Story

While ‘Down Cemetery Road’ and its sequels came out in the 2010s, the book series didn’t come into notice until the success of Mick Herron’s ‘Slow Horses’ books and TV show. Morwenna Banks, who served as one of the writers on the Gary Oldman series, chanced upon the list of Herron’s books, which brought his debut novel to her attention. She knew how great the books were, and she wondered if anyone was already working on their adaptation. To her relief, she discovered that the books were still untapped, and she decided to take it upon herself to bring them to the screen. Banks roped in Emma Thompson, who had been a fan of Herron’s books for more than a decade, with Ruth Wilson joining them.

The actresses leaned into the everydayness of their characters, since the core of the story depends on ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary situations. While crafting the look of Zoë, Thompson thought of her 17-year-old version and how she would react in such a situation. In her article for Radio Times, Thompson revealed that she and creative costume designer Annie Symons collaborated to create a distinctive look for the character. Symons brought a black leather jacket from a bin sale in Camden Town to use as Zoë’s trademark apparel. This helped the actress cook up a background story about how the character may have spent her teen years in the “gnarly part of London.” The look was further enriched by make-up and hair artist Naomi Donne.

Thompson told her that Zoë is not the kind of person who would care about her hair or her overall appearance. This led Donne to give her a not-so-clean haircut, which suggests that Zoë is the kind of person who cuts her own hair. Further, Thompson went with the smudged-mascara look to indicate the character’s general nonchalance about her appearance, and Thompson was good to go. The Academy Award-winning actress also had to prepare herself physically for the role that turned out to have more action than previously imagined. She adhered to a rigorous training regimen that enabled her to be well-prepared for what was to come. Thus, she and Wilson invested themselves in making the characters realistic, allowing the audience to relate with them on a deeper level.

Read More: Is Slow Horses Based on a True Story?