Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson are to star in a new Apple TV+ thriller called Down Cemetery Road set in an Oxford suburb, which will act as a “companion piece” to MI5 drama Slow Horses.

The new series is adapted from a novel in the book series by Oxford-based author Mick Herron, whose Slough House saga was turned into the Apple TV+ thriller about a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents, starring Gary Oldman and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.

Love Actually star Ms Thompson, 65, will play struggling private detective Zoe Boehm and star opposite Luther actress Ms Wilson as Sarah Tucker, a woman who becomes obsessed with the whereabouts of a child she believes to be missing.

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This will mark one of Mr Thompson’s few regular TV roles in her career.

Oxford Mail: Dame Emma Thompson will star in Down Cemetery Road (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Her past TV credits include HBO’s Angels in America and the mini-series Years and Years.

Jay Hunt, creative director, Europe, Apple TV+, said: “Down Cemetery Road has all the hallmarks of Mick Herron’s funny and acerbic writing, and I’m delighted we will be bringing it to life for Apple TV+ with such a stellar cast.

“Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson will make it an unmissable companion piece for Slow Horses on our service.”

In the series Ms Wilson’s character Sarah becomes obsessed after a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears, which leads her to enlist the help of private investigator Zoe.

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The official plotline reads: "When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbour Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her and enlists the help of private investigator Zoe Boehm.

"Zoe and Sarah suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy that reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead."

British actress and comedian Morwenna Banks, who was a writer on Slow Horses, serves as lead writer on the project.

The series’ executive producers include Ms Banks, Ms Thompson, Herron and Slow Horses executive producers Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta from 60Forty Films.

It was recently announced that Sense And Sensibility actress Ms Thompson will reprise her role as Dr Rawlings in the next Bridget Jones film, Mad About The Boy.

Elsewhere, Wilson is set to star in Amazon series A Very Royal Scandal, which will dramatise the Newsnight interview between the Duke of York and journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled him about his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Down Cemetery Road will stream on Apple TV+. Slow Horses seasons 1 to 3 are streaming on Apple TV+. Seasons 4 and 5 have been confirmed.