MARKED FOR DEATH

RUFUS SEWELL LEADS THE CAST OF THE LATEST AGATHA CHRISTIE ADAPTATION…

Even if you’re not that superstitious, finding your name on a list inside the shoe of a dead woman is going to give you the shivers – especially when the other people on said list start getting bumped off. In Sarah Phelps’ two-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1961 novel The Pale Horse, that’s the situation widowed antiques dealer Mark Easterbrook finds himself in – and he’s determined to find out why he’s on this apparently fatal register…

“Mark is someone who has compartmentalised things in a way that is very convincing,” teases Rufus Sewell, who plays him. “He puts on a good show to himself – but I think because he hasn’t allowed light on these things, they’ve become dark and dangerous. He’s consumed by grief, but it’s bottled up, which makes it combustive, and it comes out in various ways, as you will discover.”

Mark’s investigation of the other listed names brings him into contact with hardware salesman Zachariah Osborne, who’s worried about what it signifies.

“Sarah gave us the stage direction that ‘Osborne is an owlish little man, 60, with wire-rimmed spectacles and a bald head with a few strands of hair plastered across it’,” recalls Bertie Carvel, who plays him. “Instantly I thought, ‘Ah, they’ve come to the right shop’. To be approached as someone who isn’t 60 and doesn’t – yet – have a bald pate, what I like about that is, frankly, permission to do some acting!”

The mystery leads Mark to the village of Much Deeping and a house called The Pale Horse, where three women reside. Their reputation is that they’re witches – but is there something supernatural afoot, or is it all smoke and mirrors?

“They bring different talents, and whatever cures they can do, to the village,” explains Rita Tushingham, who plays Bella Webb, one of the trio.

“My character is a seer,” adds Kathy Kiera Clarke, who plays Sybil Stamfordis. “Even when she’s giving readings, the other two are there, lending something to it.”

“What struck me about the three of them as a unit, when they’re speaking to people, is that it’s difficult to get around them,” points out Sheila Atim, who plays Thyrza Grey. “Each has a different, very subtle way in which they speak to the person opposite them, but it’s a way of maybe needling into whoever that person is…”

MARK’S GRIEF IS BOTTLED UP, WHICH MAKES IT COMBUSTIVE”