Nor do we get a strong sense of their personalities and quirks. However, they’re given little to do, relative to the mayhem they cause. The witches, for example, are meant to be central to the story. Yet some things are noticeably amiss here. Additionally, the plot twists will keep viewers on their toes.

As might be anticipated from a BBC production, moreover, “The Pale Horse” is handsomely designed, and possesses a good feel for its 1960 period setting, with the characters looking spot on for that era. In the book, for instance, Jessie’s list was delivered to a Catholic priest, Father Gorman, and neither Mark’s nor Zachariah’s name was on it.ĭespite these changes, the series, at its outset, does succeed in creating a degree of intrigue that will hold audience attention. Now, she finds her relationship with him further strained by his immersion in the world of black magic.Ĭhristie purists will likely object to the numerous alterations Phelps has made. Hermia is already suspicious of Mark’s slender explanations about what happened the night Thomasina died. Accompanied by his current spouse, Hermia (Kaya Scodelario), Mark travels to their home town, the evocatively named fictitious rural village of Much Deeping, to investigate. In Jessie’s shoe, the police find a list of names that includes both Mark’s - with a question mark beside it - and that of Zachariah Osborne (Bertie Carvel), Jessie’s employer.Ĭlues begin to suggest the involvement of a trio of witches with whom Delphine had been acquainted: Sybil Stamfordis (Kathy Kiera Clarke), Thyrza Grey (Sheila Atim) and Bella Webb (Rita Tushingham).

Awakening after a night spent cavorting with disgraced socialite and exotic dancer Thomasina Tuckerton (Poppy Gilbert), he finds he’s lying next to her lifeless body.Īnother victim, shopkeeper Jessie Davis (Madeleine Bowyer), turns up soon afterward. A year after the death of his newlywed wife, black Briton Delphine (Georgina Campbell), in what appeared to be a freak accident, affluent white Londoner Mark Easterbrook (Rufus Sewell) has another brush with mortality.

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