Oscar-nominated Emily Watson talks about her steamy role in Apple Tree Yard
She says actresses her age are usually playing 'grannies'
She’s an Oscar-nominated actress who’s starred in more than 40 films, but Emily Watson was both delighted and terrified by her role in the BBC’s new four-part adaptation of Louise Doughty’s best selling 2013 novel, psychological thriller/courtroom drama Apple Tree Yard.
She plays a married mum of two who begins a passionate, life-changing affair with a younger man.
“It’s sexual and very exposing,” says Emily. “It’s surprising and scary. It was great for me, at the age of 49, to be in a role that left me asking myself: ‘Are you sure [you want to do this]?’
“It’s a terrible indictment of the industry that I had to ask myself that.
"I go into make-up and they make me look amazing, then I go on set and have an affair with this handsome leading man and I think: ‘Have you got the right person?’ That’s a terrible thing to say, but women my age – particularly on film – are grannies.”
Emily’s character, genetic scientist Yvonne Carmichael, has a sexual encounter on a whim with a charismatic stranger played by the handsome leading man in question, Ben Chaplin.
And despite her initial concerns, she reckons their age and experience gave her and Ben more chemistry and made the love scenes even more intense.
“I’ve worked with Ben a couple of times before and we go way back,” she says.
“Usually when you’re doing that stuff, it’s when you’re 20 year olds, but when you’re older and a more experienced actor, you can do it better. You know what works and what’s going to look good. So it is sexy. Well, it might be!”
Yvonne is determined to protect her home life and career, but after the initial thrill of the affair, fantasy and reality collide and she ends up risking everything. Viewers may well be torn over their feelings for Yvonne, just as readers of the book were.
“Yvonne is really interesting,” explains Emily.
“She’s somebody who makes one very bad decision and it snowballs away from her. What I like is that it’s very complicated.
"Some people will like her and sympathise with her, some will be cross with her. But I love that. I love it when you see an audience who are divided. I hope that, because of the way we’ve played it, you completely fall for what she falls for.
“I’m not going to sit here and judge. I’m sure there are affairs that don’t hurt people. But they can cause the most terrible destruction. We’ve all seen that happen.”
For Emily, the way Yvonne’s mistakes are punished asks interesting questions about gender. Is her treatment by others worse simply because she’s female?
“There’s a difference between a man having an affair and a woman having an affair,” insists the actress.
“It’s a thing that exists. There were even locations that wouldn’t let us film when they found out the series was about a married woman having an affair, whereas if it were James Bond they’d have said: ‘Come on in.’”
Apple Tree Yard is regarded as one of the most gripping and suspenseful novels of the 21st century, so when TV Magazine asks Emily what kind of reaction she thinks the drama will get, there’s just one thing on her mind:
“I’m sure taking my kids to school the day after this comes out is going to be interesting…”
NEW! Apple Tree Yard Sunday 9pm BBC1