Agatha Christie's 'The Pale Horse' Casts A Murderer's Row Of Stars

The forthcoming BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse has a virtual murderer's row of talent coming aboard.

Screenwriter Sarah Phelps is back again with yet another Agatha Christie adaptation for the BBC. Phelps, who adapted J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, has been churning out new versions of Christie's mysteries since 2015's And Then There Were None. The latest installment is The Pale Horse, one of Christie's later works from the 1960s. It's one of only 12 of her stories that don't feature any of her iconic detective characters. This is in keeping with Phelp's choices. Along with And Then There Were None, her list also include the detectiveless The Witness for the Prosecution and Ordeal By Innocence. Of Phelps' adaptations, only The A.B.C. Murders featured any of Christie's famous figure. But it still took Hercule Poirot and made him far older than fans were used to seeing.

The Pale Horse instead features a standalone detective, Mark Easterbrook, searching for answers to the mystery of a woman who died with a list of names hidden in her shoe. The investigation takes Easterbrook to Much Deeping, supposedly the home to three witches. As much a horror/supernatural thriller as it is a mystery story, The Pale Horse is also credited with saving multiple lives after it taught readers the signs of thallium poisoning.

The synopsis, according to the BBC press release, is as follows:

The Pale Horse follows Mark Easterbrook as he tries to uncover the mystery of a list of names found in the shoe of a dead woman. His investigation leads him to the peculiar village of Much Deeping, and The Pale Horse, the home of a trio of rumoured witches. Word has it that the witches can do away with wealthy relatives by means of the dark arts, but as the bodies mount up, Mark is certain there has to be a rational explanation.

This will be only the third adaption of this particular Christie story. ITV has done it twice before, one of which rewrote it as a Miss Marple mystery. But it seems that this time the BBC and Phelps are determined to do it right. The cast certainly is a who's who of A-List actors.