The Pale Horse has its flaws.īut Christie’s tightly-cranked plots are perfect for television and this latest retelling just about manages not to muck up the golden formula. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She leaned too deeply into the shaggy metaphysics of the source material with results that felt like they might have been set anywhere in the world other than Dublin. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Phelps misstepped with her adaptation last year of Tana French’s Dublin Murders novels. Couldn’t Phelps have chosen something, anything, else? And also, when you say “Hermia” quickly, as most of the cast do, it sounds like “Hernia”. An exchange between Easterbrook’s young bride Hermia (Kaya Scodelario) and a waspish society girl has all the crackle of a Neighbours script. This bug-eyed weirdo is convinced they are both victims of a hellish hex, as are those who have already perished.ĭuff dialogue doesn’t help. His bemusement intensifies following a run-in with shop-keeper Zachariah Osborne (Bertie Carvel). Based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, it follows the story of Mark Easterbrook whose name appears on a list found inside the shoe of a dead wo. Sewell does his best, though the character’s default setting is a sort of arch befuddlement. When he does a runner the game is suddenly under way She turns up dead, with an expired rat in her kitchen and Easterbrook in bed beside her. Twelve months after the funeral he has remarried.Īlas, his new love affair can’t be all that grand as he is also carrying on with a West End dancer with a society background (Poppy Gilbert). Easterbrook has had a rum old time of it, with his first wife (Georgina Campbell) suffering a fatal electrocution in the bath. Elsewhere the Pale Horse is a bit of a muddle. It’s just as well the ambience is irresistible and that the 1960s setting is so richly evoked (what dinky cars they all drove). A deserted English village on a bright, windless day is creepy in a very specific way and Phelps drills into that. My first pleasant surprise occurred on page 8, when Ariadne Oliver makes an appearance. Its not a book that shows up on the best - or worst - lists of Christie mysteries, so I knew almost nothing about it. As he wanders the empty byways and spies a pub named the Pale Horse (the Biblical avatar of death), a chill descends. The Pale Horse was published in 1961, between A Cat Among the Pigeons and The Mirror Crackd From Side to Side. This is most evident when Easterbrook, convinced he has been cursed by the power trio of crones, visits the Hammer Horror hamlet of Much Deeping. We are closer to MR James than Miss Marple.
How ingenious, moreover, of Phelps to flesh out the supernatural aspects of Christie’s 1961 novel and to nudge the story towards an older English gothic tradition. And with the bodies piling up at a steady clip you can’t accuse it of not doing what it says on the tin.
Agatha christie the pale horse full#
And while Sean Pertwee gives it the full gruff geezer as Detective Inspector Lejeune he’s no Hercule Poirot (reimagined so grippingly as a priest with PTSD by John Malkovich in that same series). Rufus Sewell’s philandering anti-hero Mark Easterbrook is a notch down from Phelps’s 2018 take on Christie’s ABC Murders and its loathsome Mr Cust. That’s half the bingo card ticked, and we’re only midway through the first of two episodes.īut it loses its footing at moments too. Suspicious deaths, a coven of witches (headed by a dead ringer for Kate Bush circa Cloudbusting) and a mummers walk straight out of the Wicker Man.
However lavish or simple your Christmas decorating style, these ideas will help you bring the beauty of the holiday to every corner of your home.Sarah Phelps’ latest Agatha Christie adaptation (BBC One, Sunday, 9pm) has something for everyone. There are options for every type of decorator to take advantage of old, new, and even handmade decor. We give inspiration for greeting guests in memorable Southern style, going festive with placecard holders as you welcome your guests to a beautiful holiday meal, and giving your dining table a vivid focal point.
Agatha christie the pale horse how to#
We show you how to give a twist on tradition with handmade willow-branch wreaths that you can use inside or out. These decorating ideas for your mantel, front door, mailbox, Christmas tree, and more will surely fill you with Christmas cheer and get you into the holiday spirit.
Grab your garland and get ready for wreaths, because here, the editors of Southern Living share some of their favorite new ideas for Christmas decking the halls. These Christmas Decorating Ideas Will Inspire You to Bring the Beauty of the Season Home Everyone loves decorating for Christmas.
0 kommentar(er)
