DramaIt's Back
The Pale Horse
The award-winning Julia McKenzie returns as Britain’s favourite spinster sleuth, Miss Marple, in The Pale Horse, dramatised from the novel by Agatha Christie.
Joining Julia are Neil Pearson, Pauline Collins , Holly Valance , Sarah Alexander, Nicholas Parsons , JJ Feild, Lynda Baron, Nigel Planer, Bill Paterson, Jason Merrells, Susan Lynch, Elizabeth Rider, Jonathan Cake, Amy Manson, Tom Ward and Jenny Galloway with a cameo appearance by Holly Willoughby.
iss Marple’s old friend Father Gorman (Nicholas Parsons) is brutally murdered after visiting the dying Mrs Davis (Elizabeth Rider). When Miss Marple receives a mysterious list of names through the post, sent by Gorman moments before his death, she heads to London to investigate. Detective Inspector Lejeune (Neil Pearson) and Police Surgeon Edward Kerrigan (Jason Merrells) puzzle over the killing. But when Lejeune dismisses Marple’s list she is determined to find justice for her friend.
Marple visits Mrs Davis's lodgings where she finds an identical list of names on paper headed ‘The Pale Horse Inn’. The landlady Mrs Coppins (Lynda Baron) tries to help and lodger Paul Osborne (JJ Feild) provides a useful description of a man he saw on the night of Gorman's death. But Marple comes to another dead end when a person named on Gorman's list turns out to be recently deceased.
Marple visits the Pale Horse Inn and is greeted by watchful proprietor Thyrza Grey (Pauline Collins), her strange assistant Sybil Stanfordis (Susan Lynch) and cleaner Bella Ellis (Jenny Galloway). She meets guests Captain Cottam (Tom Ward) and his wife Kanga (Holly Valance), and their nemesis, local eccentric Roger Venables (Nigel Planer).
That night Marple attends a ritual 'burning' which remembers the famous witch Goody Carne (Holly Willoughby). There she meets the Cottams’ housekeeper Lydia Harsnet (Sarah Alexander), folklore historian Mark Easterbrook (Jonathan Cake) and attractive Londoner Ginger Corrigan (Amy Manson). Over tea the next day Thyrza and Sybil claim to inflict death by black magic, but they are cut short by a blood chilling scream from one of the guest rooms.
Marple's fears that the Pale Horse Inn is at the heart of something very dark are realised when Captain Cottam is found dead in his bedroom. But are the murders really being committed by black magic or is there something even more sinister at work? Sensing the murderer is close at hand, Marple goes to dangerous lengths to test her theory. Will an ailing hound, a pot of face cream and an exotic love potion help Marple to bring the murderer to justice?
Last edited: Tuesday, 17 August 2010
