Meet the cast of Apple Tree Yard
Everything you need to know about the cast and characters of the BBC’s adaptation of the Louise Doughty novel
Ben Chaplin – Mark Costley
As cliché as it might be, Mark Costley is the embodiment of female desire: tall, dark, and handsome. He certainly has Yvonne’s full attention, because he gives her all of his. Well, you know what they say about things that seem to be too good to be true…this charmer is also married with young children.
Actor Ben Chaplin describes his character: “To some degree, he is a housewife’s guilty fantasy but I don’t, in any given moment, think he fully believes the reality that he is in without regard to what it means. He truly lives in the moment - sort of, you know, a malignant Buddhist.”
Where do I recognise him from?
Ben Chaplin landed his first major role in Bye Bye Baby on Channel 4 and went on to star in the film Cinderella and the television series Mad Dogs. You may also know him from films Birthday Girl (with Nicole Kidman) and Murder by Numbers (with Sandra Bullock), or for his stage work, including a turn in Sam Mendes' The Glass Menagerie which won him an Olivier nomination. He has known Emily Watson for about 11 years and the pair previously worked together on The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep in 2007.
Mark Bonnar – Gary Carmichael
Gary Carmichael is Yvonne’s equally successful scientist husband. He’s confident, level-headed, and attractive to everyone around him. Well, everyone except Yvonne with her wandering eye.
“When any script comes along you look at the journey the character goes on and if that’s exciting, then you want to be a part of it. This definitely ticked all the boxes, even though he’s quite different from anything I’ve played before, in that he’s quite quiet and doesn’t like a fuss,” says actor Mark Bonnar.
“He’s a man of science and not given to over-egging any part of his emotional life. That quite appealed to me, the fact that I hadn’t played anything quite like that before.”
Where do I recognise him from?
Edinburgh-born Mark Bonnar is known for playing Duncan Hunter in Shetland and wowed audiences as DCC Mike Dryden in series two of Line of Duty. He has also be seen in Catastrophe, Casualty, Undercover and Psychoville.
