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Viewers left confused after BBC One's "frustrating" The Pale Horse ending

Viewers left confused after BBC One's "frustrating" The Pale Horse ending

Did you understand what was going on at the end of the two-parter? **SPOILERS FOR THE PALE HORSE**

The Pale Horse - Rufus Sewell

Mammoth Screen 2019/Ben Blackall

David Craig

Published: Monday, 17 February 2020 at 11:08 am

BBC One's latest Agatha Christie adaptation came to a close last night, but many viewers seemed unsatisfied with the way it concluded.

The Pale Horse stars Rufus Sewell as Mark Easterbrook, a man who discovers his name on a list of people who have recently died and fears his life may also be at risk.

He begins an investigation, initially suspecting three witches living in a nearby village as the killers, but ultimately discovering the culprit was Zachariah Osborne, a pharmacist whose name was also on the list.

In the closing moments, Easterbrook kills Osborne only to arrive home and read about his own death in the paper, before seeing a vision of his late first wife.

It was a perplexing sequence of events that left many viewers scratching their heads...

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Some took issue with the way in which screenwriter Sarah Phelps has made radical changes to each of her five Agatha Christie adaptations.

Phelps has previously said that, although she makes major alterations to the narrative, she always tries to keep the main themes of Christie's original novels intact.

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One Twitter user posited a theory that many Pale Horse viewers seemed to agree with...

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The Pale Horse is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of David Craig, smiling against a lime green background.

David CraigSenior Drama Writer

David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.

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