'It was such a gorgeous thing to be offered'

Ruth Wilson and Dame Emma Thompson say they hope their new series Down Cemetery Road will inspire more female-led thriller series

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Ruth Wilson and Dame Emma Thompson have admired each other for some time, so when the opportunity to act alongside one another arose, they jumped at it.

The pair, hailed as two of Britain's greatest actors, previously appeared together in the 2013 film Saving Mr Banks, though they shared little screen time.

Now, the duo are fronting a new thriller series, Down Cemetery Road, based on the novel of the same name by Slough House author Mick Herron.

Thompson stars as Zoë Boehm, a private investigator created by Herron, who also appears at the centre of three further novels: The Last Voice You Hear, Why We Die, and Smoke And Whispers.

Wilson plays Sarah Trafford, a woman who becomes obsessed with finding her neighbour, a girl, who goes missing after a house explosion. The series follows Trafford as she enlists Boehm's help, and the two soon find themselves entangled in a complex conspiracy, one that suggests the dead may not be as gone as they seem, while the living are in ever-growing danger.

The eight-part thriller is written by Morwenna Banks, who has also penned multiple episodes of Slow Horses, the series based on Herron's Slough House novels.

"It was such a gorgeous thing to be offered," reflects London-born Dame Emma.

"We'd worked together on Saving Mr Banks, but not really together. And we're mutual admirers, so it was a chance for us to finally play opposite each other."