Emma Thompson reveals why her Down Cemetery Road character was unlike any she had played before

The latest action-packed adaptation of Mick Herron’s works, Down Cemetery Road, follows Oxford-based private investigator Zoë Boehm as she helps art restorer Sarah Tucker investigate the disappearance of a young girl in her neighbourhood.

Emma Thompson plays Zoë, who revealed that the PI was unlike any character she’d played on screen before, for several reasons.

“I love Zoë, she’s this renegade punk, missile, rocket of a person. She’s probably got arrested development in various areas," she told RadioTimes.com.

"She’s very effective, and I like her fascination with Sarah. I like that she looks at Sarah and thinks this woman is not equipped to do this stuff, but she’s doing it anyway.

"That’s fascinating; she’s constantly being surprised by her road movie buddy. I thought that was something I hadn’t seen before. She’s a character I haven’t seen before on television."

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Ruth Wilson, meanwhile, was interested in the way the characters subverted the conventions of this type of show.

"These are very unusual characters; Sarah doesn’t really fit into the genre," she explained. "She’s a person like you and me, so there's something really fascinating and relatable about her – a twist on what we usually see on TV.

"They’re two amazing, eccentric female leads. It's really rare, unique and funny."

Despite those deviations from what audiences might expect, the risk paid off.

"If the scripts hadn’t worked, we wouldn’t have done it. They’re just really well written," Thompson said.

"'If you don’t get the fucker who did this, I will,' [for example] is such a great line from a woman who's just discovered the slit wrists of her murdered husband."

Down Cemetery Road will stream on Apple TV+ from Wednesday 29th October 2025 – sign up to Apple TV+ now.

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