The Following Years is based on the true and tragic events, which occurred during 1922-1923 and ended in the deaths of two men and a woman. The Thompson and Bywaters Case. So outrageous and awful was the woman's execution that her case was discussed in parliament decades later. The ordeal she was forced to endure still evokes disgust even today, some 82 years later.The Following Years is a semi-fictional story about the family of Edith Thompson and how they dealt with the the horror, guilt and shame of having a family member executed. It follows the following years in the life of the Graydon family concentrating on Edith's sister Avis.