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.

Brutal murder

When Miss Marple’s old friend Father Gorman (Parsons) is brutally murdered moments before sending her a mysterious list of names through the post, she heads to London to investigate and find justice for her friend.

Miss Marple soon finds an identical list of names on paper headed ‘The Pale Horse Inn’. She visits the Pale Horse Inn and is greeted by a strange collection of staff and guests. Proprietor Thyrza Grey (Collins) and her strange assistant Sybil Stanfordis (Lynch) claim to inflict death by black magic. Things become even more sinister when one of the hotel guests is found dead in his bedroom. 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?

A star-studded cast

Joining Julia are Neil Pearson (All the Small Things, Clapham Junction), Pauline Collins (Upstairs Downstairs, Shirley Valentine), Holly Valance (Prison Break, Entourage), Sarah Alexander (Stardust, Green Wing, Coupling), Nicholas Parsons (Sale of the Century), JJ Feild (Northanger Abbey, The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton), Lynda Baron (Rome, Colour Me Kubrick, Open All Hours), Nigel Planer (The Colour of Magic, The Young Ones), Bill Paterson (The Forgotten Fallen, Law & Order UK), Jason Merrells (Waterloo Road, Cutting It), Susan Lynch (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Elizabeth Rider (George Gently, The Street), Jonathan Cake (Fallen, The Swap), Amy Manson (Desperate Romantics, Being Human), Tom Ward (Silent Witness) and Jenny Galloway (Charles II; The Power and the Passion), with a cameo appearance by Holly Willoughby (This Morning, Dancing on Ice).

The Pale Horse is adapted by Russell Lewis (Spooks, Lewis, Murphy’s Law) and directed by Andy Hay (Waking the Dead, Hotel Babylon). The series producer is Karen Thrussell and the co-producers are Matthew Hamilton and Jennie Scanlon.

Co-production

The Marple stories are co-produced by ITV Studios and Agatha Christie Ltd, a Chorion company, and US network WGBH. Mammoth Screen’s Michele Buck and Damien Timmer executive produce Marple on behalf of ITV Studios. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer for WGBH.

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Marple starring Julia McKenzie - The Pale Horse

Amateur detective Miss Marple investigates

Starring Julia McKenzie

Photograph of Julia McKenzie from the episode The Pale Horse

Photograph of Julia McKenzie in character as Miss Marple outside The Pale Horse Inn