''The Pale Horse'' is a

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

miniseries television serial broadcast in 2020 in two episodes. Written by

Sarah Phelps 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 Prosecuti ...

, the serial is loosely based on

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

's novel of the same name. It is Phelps' fifth adaptation of a Christie work for the BBC. Directed by Leonora Lonsdale, it stars Rufus Sewell and

Kaya Scodelario Kaya Rose Scodelario-Davis ( née Humphrey; born 13 March 1992) is an English actress best known for her roles as Effy Stonem on the E4 teen drama '' Skins'' (2007–2010, 2013), and Teresa in the ''Maze Runner'' film series (2014–2018). Ot ...

Cast

Main

* Rufus Sewell as Mark Easterbrook *

Sheila Atim Sheila Atim (born 1991) is a Ugandan-British actress, singer, composer, and playwright. She made her professional acting debut in 2013 at Shakespeare's Globe in ''The Lightning Child'', a musical written by her acting teacher Ché Walker. Fol ...

as Thryza Grey * Georgina Campbell as Delphine Easterbrook *

Bertie Carvel Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is a British actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in ''Matilda the Musical'', and for Best Actor in a Supporti ...

as Zachariah Osborne *

Kathy Kiera Clarke Kathy Kiera Clarke (possibly Keira) is a Northern Irish actress. She is best known for her role as Aunt Sarah in ''Derry Girls''. Career Film and television Clarke's first television role was as Bernadette Brennan in '' Head over Heels'' in ...

as Sybil Stamfordis * James Fleet as Oscar Venables * Henry Lloyd-Hughes as David Ardingly * Claire Skinner as Yvonne Tuckerton * Rita Tushingham as Bella * Sean Pertwee as Inspector Stanley Lejeune *

as Hermia Easterbrook

Supporting

*Madeleine Bowyer as Jessie Davis *

Poppy Gilbert Poppy Gilbert (born 14 September 1998) is a British actress. She is known for roles as Barbie in the Netflix series ''Stay Close'' (2021), ''Chloe'' (2022), and ''The Catch'' in 2023. Early life and education Gilbert was born in Stockholm, Sw ...

as Thomasina Tuckerton *Ellen Robertson as Poppy *

Sarah Woodward Sarah Woodward (born 3 April 1963) is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for best performance in a supporting role in 1998 for her role in ''Tom & Clem'' by Stephen Churchett., directed by Richard Wilson, and was nominated for a Tony ...

as Clemency Ardingly

Production

Filming took place in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The car driven by Rufus Sewell's character is a

Lagonda 3-Litre The Lagonda 3-Litre is an automobile which was produced by Aston Martin Lagonda from 1953 until 1958. It was the second Lagonda model of the David Brown/Aston Martin era. The 3-Litre was fitted with a higher displacement 2.9 L 140 bhp ...

drophead coupé A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving exp ...

Episodes

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

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, convoluted mystery at times sedates the suspenseful proceedings."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reports an aggregated score of 69 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the first episode four stars and praised the writing and direction. ''The Independent'' deemed the second episode "satisfying" and said that the updates to the material and language worked. 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." 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. A ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' feature admitted that "the ending is deliberately ambiguous".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pale Horse, The 2020s British television miniseries 2020 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2020s British drama television series 2020s British crime television series 2020s British mystery television series English-language television shows Television series by Mammoth Screen Television shows based on works by Agatha Christie Television shows set in the United Kingdom