BBC and Amazon Prime Video are set to co-produce The Pale Horse, a new adaptation to series of Agatha Christie’s 1961 novel of the same name, Variety has learned. The two-part drama series follows the events after a mysterious list of names is found in the shoe of a dead woman. Mark Easterbrook, one of the people that appear on the list, begins an investigation that brings him to The Pale Horse, the home of three witches, who are believed to utilize dark arts to “do away” with their wealthy relatives. Easterbrook believes that there has to be a rational explanation and wonders who would want him dead.
The show is produced by U.K. banner Mammoth Screen, (Ordeal by Innocence, Poldark, Victoria), together with the BAFTA-nominated writer Sarah Phelps (Ordeal by Innocence, The ABC Murders, Witness for the Prosecution) who will adapt.
“Written in 1961, against the backdrop of the Eichmann Trial, the escalation of the Cold War and Vietnam, The Pale Horse is a shivery, paranoid story about superstition, love gone wrong, guilt and grief,” said Phelps. “It’s about what we’re capable of when we’re desperate and what we believe when all the lights go out and we’re alone in the dark.”
“The Pale Horse’ was one of the later novels penned by my great-grandmother….This new drama allows writer Sarah Phelps to continue her exploration of the 20th century through Christie’s stories, with the book’s fantastic, foreboding atmosphere completely suited to Sarah’s unique style of adaptation,” CEO and executive producer for Agatha Christie Limited, James Prichard added.
According to Helen Ziegler, executive producer for Mammoth Screen: “Sarah Phelps has crafted an extraordinary adaptation of Agatha Christie’s celebrated 1960s novel The Pale Horse, where the rational world and dark supernatural forces seem to collide. Asking the question, ‘How far would you go to protect your own happiness?’ It’s a tale of guilt, terror, and witchcraft which we hope will delight and terrify viewers in equal measure!”
Leonora Lonsdale (Beast) will direct the series and Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto (City of Tiny Lights) will produce. The executive producers are the following: Phelps, Timmer, and Ziegler for Mammoth Screen, Prichard and Basi Akpabio for Agatha Christie Limited and Tommy Bulfin for BBC. The show is a Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited drama for BBC One, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.