Interview with Claire Skinner
Interview with Claire Skinner, who plays Yvonne Tuckerton in The Pale Horse.
Published: 30 January 2020
I always love how dark Agatha Christie's stories are. The sweetness on top of the darkness is what everybody finds quite fascinating.
Can you describe your character?
My character and her journey are very much about how she gets to have all the finer things in life.
What other characters do you find particularly intriguing in this story?
I find the character of Hermia particularly intriguing because she’s very buttoned up. You get glimpses into what’s really going on underneath that buttoned up exterior. I find her a very funny and appealing kind of character.
What do you think Sarah Phelps has brought to this adaptation?
Sarah has brought a really interesting, dark humour to this adaptation and it’s got a lot of speed and bite. It is a bit more robust than you might normally see and it’s actually very funny in some respects.
Did you enjoy being transported back to 1961?
I got to wear some extraordinary costumes. Yvonne was not naturally born into the situation and the class that she finds herself; she has arrived there, or rather married there. There’s quite a lot of room for manoeuvre in the 1960s so there’s a lot of scope and range for the costumes.
What aspect of life in the 1960s does the script explore?
There’s quite an emphasis on having and not having, the rich and the poor and the circumstances people are living in.
What did Leo Lonsdale add as a director?
It was wonderful. She’s very fresh and innovative in the way she approaches things. It’s also lovely to be directed by a woman.
What do you love about Agatha Christie?
I always love how dark her stories are. The sweetness on top of the darkness is what everybody finds quite fascinating.
Series synopsis
London, 1961. Mark Easterbrook (Rufus Sewell) has everything a man could dream of - he’s rich, successful and popular, with a beautiful new wife (Kaya Scodelario) and perfect home. But scratch beneath the surface and he’s still grief-stricken by the loss of his first wife Delphine (Georgina Campbell). When Mark’s name is discovered on a piece of paper in a dead woman’s shoe everything starts to fall apart for him.
Why did Jessie Davies (Madeleine Bowyer) die, why is Mark’s name on a piece of paper in her shoe, and who are the other names on the list? Detective Inspector Lejeune (Sean Pertwee) interviews Mark and mentions that the names Tuckerton and Ardingly were also on the list. Mark has a connection with Thomasina Tuckerton and David Ardingly - and Thomasina is also dead…
As Mark tries to work out why he is on the list and what it means, everything seems to lead back to the village of Much Deeping. His first wife, Delphine, visited the area on the day of her death. Much Deeping seems to be an idyllic English village, but it is also a place of old traditions and strange beliefs, a place of witches, curses and spells. Jessie’s employer Zachariah Osborne (Bertie Carvel) tells Mark that witchcraft played a part in Jessie’s death, which Mark angrily rejects. But then he is sent a mysterious corn dolly. As more people named on the list are found dead, Mark starts to fear for his own life and sanity.
Mark is consumed with paranoia, fearful that his life is at risk and that the perpetrator is someone known to him. Mark feels his own death treading on his heels, breathing down his neck. To make matters worse, Detective Inspector Lejeune seems to be increasingly suspicious of him, and Mark feels even more alone.
He’s determined to find a rational explanation because there has to be one - this is the 1960s not the Dark Ages. Past and present collide for Mark as his investigations uncover the ties between Delphine and the trio of 'witches' (Sheila Atim, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Rita Tushingham) at Much Deeping, putting his relationship with second wife Hermia under great strain.
Terrified, Mark becomes hell-bent on uncovering the nature of the witches’ powers and their work at The Pale Horse. With each passing day, each disquieting moment, each tormented, terrifying night, Osborne’s beliefs seem less fantastical and more plausible. Mark starts to believe in the craft, in the dark arts, in the witches’ peculiar skills. If they are truly as powerful as they seem, can they save him from his nightmares, before whoever wants him dead catches up with him? How far will he go to save himself?
Pictured: Hermia Easterbrook (Kaya Scodelario), Inspector Lejeune (Sean Pertwee), Mark Easterbrook (Rufus Sewell), Osborne (Bertie Carvel), Delphine Easterbrook (Georgina Campbell)
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