Down Cemetery Road

Last updated

Down Cemetery Road
Down Cemetery Road poster.png
Promotional poster
Genre Thriller
Based onDown Cemetery Road
by Mick Herron
Developed by Morwenna Banks
Directed by Natalie Bailey
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes5
Production
Executive producers
  • Mick Herron
  • Morwenna Banks
  • Emma Thompson
  • Jamie Laurenson
  • Hakan Kousetta
  • Tom Nash
ProducerEmma Burge
Production company
  • 60Forty Films
Original release
Network Apple TV
Release29 October 2025 (2025-10-29) –
present

Down Cemetery Road is an eight-part British television series based on the 2003 novel by Mick Herron, adapted by Morwenna Banks and directed by Natalie Bailey. The series premiered on 29 October 2025 on Apple TV. The last episode is scheduled to air on December 10.

Contents

Premise

A woman hires an investigator after an explosion and when a girl goes missing on the same night in a quiet suburban neighbourhood. [1]

Cast

Episodes

No.Title  [3] Directed byWritten byOriginal release date  [4] [5]
1"Almost True" Natalie Bailey Morwenna Banks 29 October 2025 (2025-10-29)
In Oxford, Ashmolean Museum conservationist Sarah Trafford and her banker husband Mark invite his obnoxious client Gerard Inchon, his wife Paula, and Sarah's bohemian friend Wigwam and her partner Rufus to dinner. The neighbourhood is rocked by an explosion, killing Wigwam's friend Maddie Singleton; Sarah notices a mysterious man watching as Maddie's 5-year-old daughter Dinah is put in an ambulance. Authorities blame a gas main, but Sarah is suspicious after being prevented from visiting Dinah in hospital. She realises Dinah has been erased from press photos of the incident, while the police file has been "flagged" as confidential. Unbeknown to Sarah, the explosion was part of a covert Ministry of Defence operation; high-ranking official 'C' berates his underling Hamza Malik for the unauthorised bombing, carried out by a troublesome operative. Realising she is being tailed by the watcher, Sarah visits married private detectives Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann. Joe agrees to investigate, and discovers Dinah is being transferred. Sarah races to the hospital, pulling the fire alarm before the watcher can reach Dinah. She returns to Joe's office to find him dead by apparent suicide.
2"A Kind of Grief"Natalie BaileyRose Heiney & Morwenna Banks29 October 2025 (2025-10-29)
Though she and her husband had grown apart, Zoë refuses to believe Joe killed himself. At Joe's office Sarah is confronted by Amos Crane, another of Hamza's operatives, who warns her to abandon her search for Dinah. Conducting her own investigation, Zoë meets with Sarah's professor Tony, who remembers her surviving a hallucinogenics-induced leap from the college roof. C orders Hamza to Oxford, where Amos is keeping Dinah as bait for their unknown target, and Hamza tasks him to eliminate Sarah. Finding her on the college rooftop, Zoë enlists Sarah's help, believing the explosion was deliberate and tied to Joe's death. Sarah spots the watcher in Mark's video from the night of the blast, and notices a flirtatious message from Mark's assistant. Discovering blood on her scarf, Sarah realises it came from Joe's doorknob when she found his body, suggesting murder. She informs the police, while Joe's mother urges Zoë to allow herself to mourn. Comforting Sarah at home, Rufus reveals himself as Hamza's wayward operative Axel—Amos's brother, the bomber, and Joe's killer. As Axel strangles Sarah, the watcher bursts in and opens fire.
3"Filthy Work"Sam DonovanEmily Marcuson5 November 2025 (2025-11-05)
Downey, the watcher, kills Axel and drives away with Sarah at gunpoint, revealing he is trying to protect Dinah. Amos scrubs Sarah's house of evidence and disposes of his brother's body, before Hamza attempts to dismiss him on C's orders, but Amos is determined to hunt Downey down. Zoë meets Wigwam and realises Sarah is in danger from "Rufus", identifying him as Joe's killer from a neighbour's security footage. Zoë questions Mark after recording evidence of his affair with his assistant, while Sarah steals a stranger's phone at a petrol station to call Mark for help, only to silently discover his affair herself. C uses the explosion to conceal the death of Maddie's husband Tommy, whose deteriorating health was connected to a mysterious regimen of pills shared by Downey. Morgue attendant Wayne helps confirm Zoë's suspicions, which she lays out for her lover, Metropolitan Police officer Bob Poland: Tommy was the bombing's target, after fellow soldiers from his battalion in Afghanistan were believed dead after being court-martialed. Amos hides a tracking device in a teddy bear for Dinah, while Zoë leaves an envelope with Joe's mother for safekeeping. Laying low at a hotel with Downey, Sarah calls Zoë.
4"My Friends Don't Like Me"Sam Donovan Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley 12 November 2025 (2025-11-12)
Sarah identifies Downey in a photo of Tommy's regiment sent by Zoë, but a paranoid Downey smashes her phone. He collapses, and Sarah forces him to explain that his pills are an experimental treatment for a neurological condition. Researching the medication online, Sarah unwittingly alerts Amos to her location. He arrives in the guise of a delivery driver, but she and Downey escape the hotel and go to Gerard and Paula for help. Downey admits to Sarah that he is the government's target, and the two of them set off to find Dinah, taking Gerard's guns and Paula's car. Relocating Dinah, Hamza hires a trio of hitmen to eliminate Amos. They ambush him at home, but Amos kills them instead. Zoë informs DI Ash Varma of her findings, and inadvertently convinces Wayne, who is on probation for computer hacking, to quit the morgue. Tracing Tommy's autopsy to Dr Isaac Wright, a neurologist involved with C's covert operation, Zoë steals Wright's laptop. Wright notifies C and sends him a photo of Zoë, who returns home to find a threatening spray-painted message: "STOP".
5"Slow Dying"Sam DonovanEmily Marcuson19 November 2025 (2025-11-19)
Determined to find Dinah, Sarah and Downey use Axel's phone to call Amos. While the new Minister of Defence demands transparency from the intelligence services, C is ambushed by Amos, who offers to lure Downey and Sarah to Scotland, where Dinah is being kept at the abandoned facility that housed Downey, Tommy, and their fellow soldiers. Zoë enlists Wayne to hack Wright's laptop and confronts Wright, who admits that the soldiers were unwitting test subjects for the pills, an unsuccessful antidote to a mysterious chemical weapon. Wayne decrypts a video of the chemical attack in Afghanistan on the regiment by their own government. Downey brings Sarah to his sister Ella, who believed he and his regiment were dead after they were blamed for killing civilians. He reveals to Sarah that he and Tommy were the sole survivors to escape the facility, and the bombing was meant to kill them both; having been in love with Maddie, he believes Dinah may be his daughter. Hamza fails to ensure Zoë's silence as she tails Wright, who is killed by Amos on C's orders, and she follows Amos aboard a train to Scotland.

Production

Development

The project, from the London-based 60Forty Films, was announced in April 2024 with Natalie Bailey as lead director and Morwenna Banks adapting the Mick Herron novel, and executive producer. Other executive producers include Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta and Tom Nash of 60Forty Films, as well as Herron, and Emma Thompson. [6] [7]

Casting

Emma Thompson stars as investigator Zoe Boehm alongside Ruth Wilson as Sarah Trafford (née Tucker). [8] In August 2024, Adeel Akhtar, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Tom Goodman-Hill, Darren Boyd, Tom Riley, Adam Godley, Sinead Matthews, Ken Nwosu, Fehinti Balogun, and Aiysha Hart joined the cast. [9] The cast also includes Ella Bruccoleri. [10]

Filming

Principal photography began in Bristol in June 2024 with locations including the University of Bristol campus. [11] Filming also took place in Bishops Lydeard railway station and Street, Somerset. [12] [13]

Release

The series debuted on Apple TV on 29 October 2025, with the first two episodes and the rest debuting on a weekly basis until the finale on 10 December. [14]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 79% based on 52 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A twisty mystery that grows more addictive as it unfolds, Down Cemetery Road is tonally imbalanced but has a steadfast center of gravity in Emma Thompson's flinty star turn." [3] Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [15]

References

  1. ↑ "Emma Thompson to star in Apple TV show set in Oxford suburb". Oxford Mail. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Down Cemetery Road". Apple TV+ Press. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Down Cemetery Road: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  4. ↑ "Shows A-Z – Down Cementery Road on Apple TV". The Futon Critic . Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Emily, Olivia (2 September 2025). "Down Cemetery Road: Everything We Know So Far". Country and Town House. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Otterson, Joe (16 April 2024). "Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson to Lead 'Down Cemetery Road' Series at Apple Based on Novel by 'Slow Horses' Author". Variety. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  7. ↑ Grobar, Matt (16 April 2024). "Emma Thompson & Ruth Wilson To Star In Apple TV+ Series 'Down Cemetery Road' Based On Book From 'Slow Horses' Scribe Mick Herron". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Warner, Sam (16 April 2024). "Ruth Wilson to star in new thriller adaptation from Slow Horses author". Digital Spy. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  9. ↑ Grobar, Matt (28 August 2024). "Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, 'Baby Reindeer' Emmy Nominee Tom Goodman-Hill Among 10 New Additions To Apple's 'Down Cemetery Road'". Desdline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  10. ↑ Hourihane, Ann Marie (29 October 2025). "Is Emma Thompson playing a sort of Nanny McPhee in Doc Martens? That would be interesting, but Down Cemetery Road is not". Independent.ie. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  11. ↑ Lambert, Holly (11 June 2024). "Filming crew on Bristol Uni campus to shoot new thriller series". The Tab. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  12. ↑ Linham, Laura (20 September 2024). "Filming wraps up at Street's Wessex Hotel for new Apple TV+ thriller starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson". Glastonbury.nub.news. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  13. ↑ Smith, Alice (17 January 2025). "Film crews in village for new TV series". BBC News. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  14. ↑ "Emma Thompson Searches for a Missing Child in Apple TV+'s Down Cemetery Road — Get Premiere Date". TVLine. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  15. ↑ "Down Cemetery Road: Season 1". Metacritic . Retrieved 29 October 2025.
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