Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | October 31, 2025
I didn’t pay much attention to the promotion for Apple TV’s latest, Down Cemetery Road, because it already had the only three ingredients it needed to sell me: Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson, and “from the author of Slow Horses.” What else could you possibly ask for?
The good news is, it delivers — at least in the first two episodes — on everything those ingredients promise. Down Cemetery Road kicks off with a literal bang. While Sarah Tucker (Ruth Wilson) and her husband Mark (Tom Riley) are hosting a dinner party, a gas explosion destroys a neighboring house. The mother inside is killed, but her young daughter, Dinah, miraculously survives and is taken away in an ambulance.
Sarah doesn’t know Dinah beyond simple compassion for an orphaned five-year-old, but when she tries to visit the girl in the hospital, she’s mysteriously stonewalled. The police refuse to offer details, saying only that the case has been flagged. Sarah later learns that the gas main had been turned off, making a gas explosion impossible.
Haunted by her own demons, Sarah tumbles down a rabbit hole and eventually seeks help from married private detectives Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson) and Joe Silvermann (Adam Godley). Their relationship is … unconventional. Zoë handles the real work; Joe chases ghosts. She’s unfaithful but still fond of him. Sarah’s case starts as one of Joe’s whims, but after he begins investigating, he’s found dead of an apparent suicide.
Zoë, the sharper half of the duo, isn’t buying it. She suspects Joe’s death is tied to Sarah’s case, and she’s probably right. The audience knows something’s up, thanks to a ruthless government operative known only as C. (Darren Boyd) and his bumbling assistant, Hamza (Adeel Akhtar), who are working hard to keep things buried.
What they’re covering up remains unclear, but it’s enough to send Zoë and Sarah digging while everyone else — the police, the hospital — seems determined to keep things buried.
The mystery is fun, capped by a second-episode twist that left my jaw on the floor. But it’s also dark — people die, shadows lurk, and there’s not even enough plot armor to save the great Adam Godley. Still, like Slow Horses, Down Cemetery Road balances tension with wit. Casting Emma Thompson as a weary cynic who’s sharper than she lets on is, of course, inspired.
It’s good. Despite the heavy subject matter — ah, the Brits and their government conspiracies! — the show never feels heavy. I’ve never read a Mick Herron novel (he also wrote Slow Horses), but his dry humor and political cynicism make for exceptional television. And again, Emma Thompson always helps.
