Magpie Murders on Masterpiece Marathon

Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland

Courtesy of (C) Eleventh Hour Films Photographer: Bernard Walsh

A dead mystery author. An incomplete manuscript. Suspects galore.

This juicy setup for Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling novel, Magpie Murders comes to MASTERPIECE in an adaptation by Horowitz himself starring Academy Award®-nominee Lesley Manville (The Crown, Phantom Thread). The six-part series airs in its entirety Sunday, May 14 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

A mystery author dies under suspicious circumstance, with his last book seemingly unfinished. This leaves two mysteries: What happened to him? And how does his latest potboiler end? Oscar®- nominee Lesley Manville (The Crown, Phantom Thread) stars as the author’s editor, Susan Ryeland, who assumes the role of detective in the case. Meanwhile, Tim McMullan (Patrick Melrose) plays the fictional sleuth in the incomplete novel, whose investigation parallels Susan’s. Based on Anthony Horowitz’s (Foyle’s War) ingenious bestselling novel, the six-part series also stars Conleth Hill, Michael Maloney, Alexandros Logothetis, and Claire Rushbrook. “There is true satisfaction in watching the pieces of Horowitz’s puzzle click into place,” applauded The Telegraph (London). In addition, The Sunday Times (London) declared, “Yikes, this is excellent.”

Check out this interview with Anthony Horowitz in which he describes the difference between writing Magpie Murders as a book vs. a television series.