The Pale Horse

[unique1986]

BBC 1 9pm

Enjoy

The witches didn't curse anyone. Osborne sent the clients to the witches who told the fortune of the people they wanted dead. Osborne killed them slowly to make it look as if they died of natural causes.

The witches went to the hospital to warn Hermia about Mark, who wanted her dead. It is ambiguous whether Mark died because they cursed him or because he was dying slowly of thallium himself.

I don’t get how osbourne knew who they had ordered to die whilst with the witches. Did the witches not pass on details? I’m sketchy about that part.

Yes I didn't understand how the witches weren't in on it if they were the ones passing the money on to Osborne.

Osborne wrote to people about what to do with who they wanted dead and I guess that the names were given to him from those that wrote back. He then sent them to the witches, who were not aware that they were being blamed for the deaths.

What a load of tosh. These bloody BBC dramas that start well but are crap at the end are a constant. Thankfully this one was only two episodes but it's still 2 hours of my life I won't get back. I should have learnt my lesson long ago but I sometimes get roped in by the promise of a good cast, unfortunately that can't save something as badly written as this. Shame on you BBC.

Mark may be in purgatory, after that we certainly are.

I don’t think it’s wasted, Rufus Sewell is beautiful after all and so were the sets. And now I’m reading an Agatha Christie so it’s spurred me to action.

They could have just made it a little bit clearer and it would have been wonderful, that’s the pity.

Yes I agree Easterbrook died after killing osbourne, maybe somehow by the witches who wanted to save Hermia. He was then in purgatory.
It was a really, really bad ending though, too confusing. The version with Julia mckenzie was so much better as an AC adaptation. I did like the set and the actors in this one however it’s just a shame they messed up the ending.
It was creepy and unsettling though which I guess was the aim for this version.

I think osbourne is supposed to have used the witches as a kind of middleman for the murders. Clients contacted him wanting certain people dead, he sends them to the witches (who only take their fortunes but the client believes they are ‘cursing’ the victim). Osbourne then poisons the victims but the clients don’t know he exists and believe it’s all done by black magic. That way he is untraceable.

I loved it until the last 5 minutes and now I literally have no idea what happened at the end

Just watched the second episode on iplayer. When did Mark die though? They should have filmed that scene. He was at a party directly before he came home and found the newspaper and then said "Not again". Does that mean that he keeps reliving a day in hell and it always ends with Delpnines death?

It would have made a bit more sense if we discovered he had died in the fire. As it is, there was no moment you can look back on and realise that was his death.

I don't think Mark died. After he killed Osborne his face sort of contorted with relief and he said "I thought I was mad". Then he goes home and walks into the middle of his recurring nightmare/madness .
I did enjoy the show and RS was fabulously disturbing as an abusive man falling apart. I also love the book. But the two things have nothing in common beside the title.

I think osbourne is supposed to have used the witches as a kind of middleman for the murders. Clients contacted him wanting certain people dead, he sends them to the witches (who only take their fortunes but the client believes they are ‘cursing’ the victim). Osbourne then poisons the victims but the clients don’t know he exists and believe it’s all done by black magic. That way he is untraceable.

I agree. But what confuses me is that the witches seem angry that people they had told fortunes about were being killed (the confrontation they had with Jessie that caused her to write the list) but were also apparently passing large payments to Osborne. So were the witches knowing middle men or just being used?

No. The witches did not know they were being used until they read the obituaries and put two and two together.

The witches were stooges, they were just a smoke screen for the murderer to use as it made the "clients" believe that it was black magic that killed off the victims. That way no-one would trace it back to him. I assume the bankers draft was sent in the post to the address used for the original correspondence.

I also enjoyed it up until the last 5 minutes.

What a shame that this programme and others, (eg Silent Witness) are so hard to understand that viewers have to take to the internet to have the plot explained, it's very frustrating.

Also confused...

How was he on Jessies list anyway? If the shop keeper didn't come across him until the red haired girl died...

Absolute tosh. Style over substance and Rufus was divine but Sarah Phelps has written yet another Tturkey.

@Parkandride the witches mentioned him to Jessie presumably because his wife had been to visit them they thought he was part of it. It was just a coincidence though.

She then asked Osborne if he'd been doing jobs without her (meaning Mark because she didn't recognise the name).

I enjoyed it, unlike (most of!) you lot!

Are we sure Mark was dead at the end? the moment he looked up from the newspaper and started to walk towards the bathroom scene again, I assumed he was just in another dream and that the witches had cursed him, knowing he was a wrong'un, to have the dream over and over - he had asked them to make the dreams stop but they were (after all) "good witches" and on the side of his wives.

I didn't spot Osbourne as the killer - yet the 'the only ones left alive on that list are...' conversation was a clear clue - a sign of a satisfying mystery in my book.

Loved the witches, by the way! the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, as per tradition? - thought they were perfect in the roles.

Ahh thanks @Sunshinegirl82, what a coincidence indeed

Osborne reminded me of Griff Rhys Jones doing a Smith and Jones sketch 😊

I agree woodhill - that accent! Those teeth! He was completely out of place.

Just watched second episode. Disappointing ending. But worth watching overall just for the scene where Hermia whacked David’s bitchy girlfriend over the head with a ham and pummelled her, screaming “use a fucking ashtray, you bitch!”. Genius.

I liked that ashtray part as well. I frequently feel like doing by something similar when dp walks all over the house in his work boots