It’s worth noting that Carmichael is the only person to challenge Marcia’s comments – and it’s reasonable to guess that perhaps she wouldn’t have bothered had she herself not been attacked. Later on she even vows to call her host to apologise for what her fellow guests and her own husband clearly viewed as a faux pas on her part.

Nonetheless, it’s our protagonist’s unwelcome insight into surviving rape that lends a voice to many of the anonymous victims we encounter daily in news reports. Only last year a court in the US ruled that forced oral sex on a person passed out drunk is not rape, while last week, four British police officers were sacked for making obscene jokes about a rape victim. The three men and a woman at Bedford Police mistakenly phoned the victim while they were mockingly discussing the most intimate and harrowing aspects of her assault.

Fans of the show supported Carmichael’s dinner party takedown on Twitter:

Apple Tree Yard: Emily Watson's character defends rape victims in powerful dinner party comeback