Character biographies
What could have brought Dr. Yvonne Carmichael, a law-abiding wife and mother, an eminent scientist, into a dock at the Old Bailey about to be exposed in a highly damaging and compromising lie?
Published: 4 January 2017
Attractive and capable, Yvonne Carmichael is a highly esteemed geneticist, working at one of the most respected institutions in her field.
Yvonne has a lovely home, a husband and two grown up children who have flown the nest. However, buried somewhere deep is a residual frustration. Although her marriage is full of love and shared history, there are also the usual undercurrents of resentment and complacence, born of many years together. However when she meets Costley, Yvonne’s world unravels…
Mark Costley played by Ben Chaplin
With his direct gaze and expensive suits, there's a sleekness and confidence in Costley's movements, and a poise that Yvonne is deeply attracted to. When he gives Yvonne his full attention he is devastatingly charismatic and makes her feel like the centre of his world – however fleetingly.
Costley is married with young children, but he gives very little else of his real life away. Yet there is a real connection between these two; Costley ‘sees’ Yvonne - both physically and sexually, but also intellectually. Who is the real Costley?
Gary Carmichael played by Mark Bonnar
Yvonne's husband. Substantial, successful, attractive, absorbed by his work, Gary has the air of someone who spends a lot of time in his own world. His self-sufficiency and even-tempered approach to life gives him a kind of self-assurance and status that makes him effortlessly and unintentionally attractive to his colleagues and students, particularly his research assistant Rosa…
Adam Carmichael played by Jack Hamilton
Yvonne and Gary's son. The artistic one in the family, he is musically gifted, but also troubled and emotionally fragile. Adam first began to show signs of instability as a child. For a long time, Yvonne and Gary were slightly in denial - blaming his behaviour on his teenage years or worrying that he might be taking drugs. At 17, Adam was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Yvonne is overly protective of her absent son, but Adam has a much simpler relationship with Gary.
Carrie Carmichael played by Olivia Vinall
Yvonne and Gary’s daughter. Focused and accomplished, Carrie has followed her parents into a career in science, working within the field of haematology. Carrie is strong-willed and sensible but also caring, a typical older child of a troubled sibling. Carrie has idolized her mother as a role model, but finds herself supporting a mother on trial…
Susannah played by Susan Lynch
Yvonne and Gary's longstanding and loyal best friend. Susannah is effortlessly attractive with a down-to-earth manner – but for whatever reasons, she hasn’t had that much success with men, and her current relationship is also on the wane. She has a history of picking badly – sometimes very badly.
Susannah approves heartily of Gary, and from the outside she assumes that Yvonne has every reason to be completely and blissfully happy. It is hard for her to see that long-term intimacy brings its own demons.
