Part One

This is a bleak first half. A humorless man has buried his wife who was electrocuted. He remarries. She is young an beautiful, but both are bleak, unappealing personalities. But a list appears and each of the persons on the list have died. But who is behind it? This is decent enough but has a bit too much of the supernatural.

Agatha Christie just never goes out of fashion. There are still people trying their versions of great classics, and that is marvelous. The fanatic purists were mightily offended with the last miss Marple series, when most of the novels got modern twists. I didn't, it was fun. This new version of the stand-alone novel "The Pale Horse" is more of a mixed bag. It barely resembles the original story. This is stylish, slinky production set in the beginning of the swinging sixties, well cast, but a bit muddled and heavy handed. Still, perfectly valid take on the book. We'll see what's next.

People on a list are dying, suspected are three witches, at the heart of it is the wealthy Mark Easterbrook, who's name is on the list.

First of all, where is Rather Gorman, vital to the story, he needed to be here, however the heart of the story is retained, the window dressing is significantly changed, almost in the style of The Wicker Man.

Visually appealing to say the least, it looks amazing, stunning detail. Great acting, Rufus Sewell stands out, he carries this first part. Very slow to start, it does open up, and becomes suitably atmospheric and sinister.

A whole week until the second part though? BBC, the scheduling for this show is terrible, a two hour special, not up against Endeavour would have been great. 7/10