Emma Thompson's new Apple TV series Down Cemetery Road is a must-watch for fans of Slow Horses and female-fronted thriller series.
Adapted from Slow Horses author Mick Herron's debut novel and also starring Ruth Wilson, the series follows the story of two women – an investigator and a housewife – who team up to find out what happened to a child who disappeared from a house explosion in an Oxford suburb.
In an article for the Radio Times, Emma Thompson has opened up about what drew her to both Mick Herron's novels and her character, investigator Zoë Boehm.
The new season of Nobody Wants This left us with questions about this “couple goal”.
“His books pass the Bechdel test (they have at least two women characters who talk to each other about something other than men) with lots of room to spare, you get the feeling he knows what we are capable of, and there were precious few thriller or spy writers doing that while I was growing up,” she wrote.
Emma added that she was drawn to the multi-faceted nature of Zoë. “She’s rude, straight-talking, and not good at general conversation, uninterested in people’s private lives, highly moral while presenting as somewhat amoral, and fascinatingly resistant to affection.”
The first two episodes of Down Cemetery Road have dropped on the streaming service to rave reviews. Here's what we know about where the series was filmed, with locations dotted all around the south west of England – including Bristol, Somerset and Cornwall.
Where was Down Cemetery Road filmed?
Bristol
Filming took place in multiple locations around the south-western city, includingSt Nicholas Market, Corn Street, City Hall and some sections of the University of Bristol campus.
Interior scenes were also filmed at Bristol's Bottle Yard Studios.
Polperro, Cornwall
If you haven't visited this gorgeous Cornwall fishing village, you will want to after seeing parts of it on screen. It was used for its idyllic stone cottages and cobblestone streets, as well as the scenic harbour. Emma herself even called Polperro her favourite filming location of many.
“We had about a million different ones. My favourite was in Cornwall – a place called Polperro," Emma Thompson has said. "Those of you who already know it will be emitting those groans of pleasure that the perfection of the place inspires. It has the best pub pretty much in the world. The Blue Peter – which serves wonderful chips and seafood and has a great real ale called Tribute.”
Bishops Lydeard Station, near Taunton
The period charm of the Somerset train station was used for rural and eerie meetings in the series. The BBC has even reported that the location even had special effects and prop weapons used for scenes filmed there.
It was transformed into a fictional location called “Loch Forden”, consisting of modern signs, digital destination boards, and a diesel locomotive with carriages.
The Wessex Hotel, Street
The grounds of the hotel in nearby Somerset village Street (not far from Glastonbury) were also used as a filming location for clandestine meetings and some shocking revelations.
