Interview with Georgina Campbell
Interview with Georgina Campbell, who plays Delphine Easterbrook in The Pale Horse.
Published: 30 January 2020
My character is married to Mark - she's one of his wives! She goes to see these three witches to ask them how things will work out for her and if she will make him happy.
Can you describe your character and her journey in the drama?
My character is married to Mark - she’s one of his wives! The story begins with her worrying because she’s just married Mark and she’s not sure that she fits into his world and his lifestyle. She goes to see these three witches to ask them how things will work out for her and if she will make him happy. He’s from a different world to her and so she’s keen to see if they’ll be happy as a couple together.
What other characters do you find particularly intriguing in this story?
The witches are the most intriguing. All the way through, you’re wondering who they are and what they’re doing. The actresses who are playing the witches are all very different and very interesting.
How do you think the show will feel different to a usual whodunit?
There’s an element of fantasy and the paranormal within it. There’s the question of who these three women are and whether or not they are actually witches. Are they performing dark magic? That’s something different, it elevates it into a different kind of story.
What drew you to the script?
I was drawn to the fact that it’s an Agatha Christie of course, and she is such a household name, especially in the UK. I thought it was really well written and very interesting. I was gripped from the beginning to the end.
How does it feel to be transported back to 1961?
When I think of Agatha Christie, I don’t necessarily think of the 1960s. It feels a lot more modern and current, which is enjoyable. It’s interesting to see those stories done in a different light.
Why do you think people should tune into The Pale Horse?
It’s a different story that we haven’t really seen told before in this way.
What do you love about Agatha Christie?
There have been so many adaptations, so many films and television shows - it’s quintessentially British.
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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