Interview with Ellen Robertson
Interview with Ellen Robertson, who plays Poppy in The Pale Horse.
Published: 30 January 2020
My character is a nasty piece of work! The Pale Horse is based on social niceties and the way in which a certain strata of society seeks to present themselves. Poppy is great because she cuts through all of that.
Can you describe the story of The Pale Horse?
A list of names turns up in a shoe and everyone on that list seems to be dead or dying. It’s also got this incredible paranormal element to the story whereby three women who are fortune-tellers live in a pub in the middle of nowhere and you have to work out whether there’s something more to them than meets the eye.
You have a particularly delicious character. Has she been fun to play?
She’s a nasty piece of work! The whole show is based on social niceties and the way in which a certain kind of strata of society seeks to present themselves. My character is great because she cuts through all of that.
What has helped you get into character?
The costumes and the makeup were hugely helpful. I didn’t really feel like I was the character at all until I had the false lashes and the almost Twiggy-like makeup. The costumes were just incredible on this show.
Which other characters do you find particularly intriguing?
From Mark’s point of view, we get this creeping sense of dread. Everyone has something rotten about them and the three ‘witches’ bring that out. This story poses the question of whether you can trust your neighbours and friends to be good, upstanding citizens.
Why should people tune in for The Pale Horse?
The writing is exquisite and the worlds the designer created look beautiful too. The performances will be brilliant and the writing is just unparalleled both from Agatha Christie and Sarah Phelps. They’re two outstanding writers.
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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