The Pale Horse | |
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Genre | |
Based on | The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie |
Written by | Sarah Phelps |
Directed by | Leonora Lonsdale |
Starring | |
Composer | Anne Nikitin |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 2 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Cinematography | Jarin Blaschke |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Release | 9 February – 16 February 2020 |
The Pale Horse is a British mystery television two-part drama broadcast as two episodes in 2020. Written by Sarah Phelps, the serial is loosely based on Agatha Christie's novel of the same name. It is Phelps' fifth adaptation of a Christie work for the BBC. Directed by Leonora Lonsdale, [1] it stars Rufus Sewell and Kaya Scodelario. [2]
Filming took place in Bristol. [4] The car driven by Rufus Sewell's character is a Lagonda 3-Litre drophead coupé. [5]
No. | Episode | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) | |
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1 | Episode 1 | Leonora Lonsdale | Sarah Phelps | 9 February 2020 [6] | 7.00 | |
A year after discovering his first wife, Delphine, electrocuted in the bath, antique dealer Mark Easterbrook is summoned by the police when a woman, Jessie Davis, is found dead in the street. Hidden in her shoe is a list of names that she had written on a piece of paper. Among the names are those of Mark and Mark's paramour, Thomasina Tuckerton, whom Mark later finds dead in her bed. Mark discovers that Delphine and Jessie Davis had both visited the village of Much Deeping to consult a trio of women living there. Another person on the list, shopkeeper Zachariah Osborne, who had employed Jesse Davis, tells Mark that the women are witches, and responsible for the deaths. | ||||||
2 | Episode 2 | Leonora Lonsdale | Sarah Phelps | 16 February 2020 [7] | 5.74 | |
Mark's hair begins to fall out, as had Jesse Davis's and Thomasina Tuckerton's before they died. He succumbs to a growing paranoia towards the witches and their supposed power. He suspects that his second wife, Hermia, is plotting against him. Mark's godson, David Ardingly, admits to having enlisted the trio to bring about the death of his Aunt Clemency, so that he could inherit sooner. Inspector Lejeune disputes Mark's version of Delphine's death. Mark visits Osborne, who tells him that he can only be cleansed by fire. Mark then visits the witches and asks them to remove the threat posed by Hermia and Lejeune. Mark discovers Hermia in a coma, and while at the hospital where she is being treated, he sees the dying Lejeune brought in. Mark's flashbacks reveal that he caused Delphine's death and covered it up. He confronts Osborne, who confesses to having poisoned the other victims. He taunts Mark, who kills him and sets fire to his workshop. Hermia wakes up in the hospital with the three witches at her side and the three women tell her what Mark has done. Mark returns to his house and reads the morning paper. The headline is the announcement of his own death. Mark is now reliving Delphine's death over and over again in his nightmares, which he had been plagued with previously. |
Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 80% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.71/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Though The Pale Horse bristles with brutal thrills, it's[ sic ] convoluted mystery at times sedates the suspenseful proceedings." [8] Metacritic reports an aggregated score of 69 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". [9]
The Guardian gave the first episode four stars and praised the writing and direction. [10] The Independent deemed the second episode "satisfying" and said that the updates to the material and language worked. [11] In their review of the second episode, The Telegraph was less complimentary, awarding three stars and saying "writer Sarah Phelps was chucking the rat-filled kitchen sink into this rewrite of Agatha Christie." [12]
As with her previous adaptations, some viewers criticized the numerous and significant changes Phelps made to the original novel; and some criticized the ending, which they found confusing. [13] A Radio Times feature admitted that "the ending is deliberately ambiguous". [14]
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a nickname now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. She is the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. She is a crime fiction novelist, the creator of the fictional Finnish detective Sven Hjerson, and a friend of Hercule Poirot.
Rufus Frederik Sewell is a British actor. In film, he has appeared in Carrington (1995), Hamlet (1996), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Dark City (1998), A Knight's Tale (2001), The Legend of Zorro (2005), The Illusionist (2006), Amazing Grace (2006), The Holiday (2006), The Tourist (2010), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), Judy (2019), The Father (2020), and Old (2021).
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Ordeal by Innocence is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 3 November 1958 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6) and the US edition at $2.95.
The Pale Horse is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1961, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at fifteen shillings and the US edition at $3.75. The novel features her novelist detective Ariadne Oliver as a minor character, and reflects in tone the supernatural novels of Dennis Wheatley who was then at the height of his popularity. The Pale Horse is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, where it is ridden by Death.
Sarah Phelps is a British television screenwriter, radio writer, playwright and television producer. She is best known for her work on EastEnders, a number of BBC serial adaptations including Agatha Christie's The Witness For the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, Ordeal by Innocence, The ABC Murders and The Pale Horse; Charles Dickens's Great Expectations and Oliver Twist; and J. K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, as well as work with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Bronagh Gallagher is an Irish singer and actress from Northern Ireland. She had her first acting role in the 1989 television movie Dear Sarah. In 2020, she was listed at number 33 on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
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Kaya Rose Scodelario-Davis is a British actress. She first came to prominence co-starring on E4's Skins, receiving two Golden Nymph nominations for her portrayal of Effy Stonem. She then took on leading roles in a variety of films, such as Wuthering Heights (2011), the Maze Runner series (2014–2018), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), Crawl (2019), and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). In 2024, she starred in the action comedy series The Gentlemen and limited biographical drama series Senna.
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And Then There Were None is a 2015 mystery thriller television series that was first broadcast on BBC One from 26 to 28 December 2015. The three-part programme was adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Craig Viveiros and is based on Agatha Christie's 1939 novel of the same name. The series features an ensemble cast, including Douglas Booth, Charles Dance, Maeve Dermody, Burn Gorman, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson, Toby Stephens, Noah Taylor, and Aidan Turner. The programme follows a group of strangers who are invited to an isolated island where they are murdered one by one for their past crimes.
Partners in Crime is a British drama television series that began on BBC One on 26 July 2015. The six-part series is an adaptation of two Tommy and Tuppence detective novels by Agatha Christie. The novels are adapted from the short stories of Partners in Crime; the first three episodes from the 1922 novel The Secret Adversary, and the last three episodes from the 1941 novel N or M? The series was not renewed for a second series by the BBC.
Lists of adaptations of the works of Agatha Christie:
Eddie Eyre is a British actor who is known for his role in EastEnders as Josh Hemmings.
The Witness for the Prosecution is a 2016 British mystery drama thriller television serial broadcast on BBC One over Christmas 2016. The two-part programme was adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Julian Jarrold and is based on Agatha Christie's short story of the same name. The expanded plot is based on Christie's original short story with the original ending, which is different than that of previous stage, film and television versions, including Billy Wilder's 1957 film version.
Ordeal by Innocence is a three-part television drama series that was first broadcast in April 2018 on BBC One. It is based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name and is the third English-language filmed version to be broadcast. The drama stars Morven Christie, Bill Nighy, Anna Chancellor, Alice Eve and Eleanor Tomlinson amongst others.
The ABC Murders is a 2018 mystery thriller television serial loosely based on Agatha Christie's 1936 novel of the same name. It was broadcast over three consecutive nights beginning on 26 December 2018 on BBC One. It was adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Alex Gabassi. It stars John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot, with Rupert Grint, Andrew Buchan, Tara Fitzgerald and Shirley Henderson.
Poppy Gilbert is a Swedish born British actress. She is known for roles as Barbie in the Netflix series Stay Close (2021), Chloe (2022), and The Catch in 2023.
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