The actor will play Yvonne Carmichael, a contented, conventional suburban woman, married with two children and entirely happy with her life.

However a chance encounter with a charismatic and impulsive stranger, played by Ben Chaplin (Cinderella, Mad Dogs) leads to a passionate affair which brings her world crashing down.

As Carmichael struggles to keep her home life and career unaffected by her affair, the fantasy soon overcomes her, bringing about a life-changing act of violence and a Crown Court trial.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Louise Doughty, Apple Tree Yard focuses on the lives of the woman who is dealing with the consequences of a single spur-of-the-moment decision that anyone might also make.

Star of the programme, Emily Watson, promises a show that is “grown up, steamy and of queasy moral complexity.”

The show has been adapted for screen by Amanda Coe (Room at the Top, Life in Squares, Margot) and is produced by  Kudos, the company behind shows such as Humans and Broadchurch.

Coe adds that “Apple Tree Yard is that rare thing, a perfectly executed page-turner that’s also a gripping exploration of the difficult moral choices we face in adult relationships.”