‘Magpie Murders’ Star Lesley Manville Previews Her Twisty PBS Mystery

We get two whodunits for the price of one in the twisty six-parter Magpie Murders, adapted by Anthony Horowitz from his bestseller.

Lesley Manville (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris) stars as shrewd British book editor Susan Ryeland, who becomes convinced her top author, Alan Conway (Conleth Hill), was killed after he turns in his final mystery minus the last chapter.

(Credit: Bernard Walsh/PBS)

To solve both murders, she needs those missing pages, and she gets advice from an unlikely source: the detective in Conway’s 1950s-set novel, Atticus Pünd (Tim McMullan), whom she talks with in her mind as Pünd’s investigation simultaneously unfolds. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” jokes Manville.

That device (unique to the TV series), and the fact that Susan defies the conventions of women her age, appealed to the Oscar nominee.

“She’s chosen not to get married, not to have children. She’s got a nice boyfriend who she sees when she wants to. She still drives an open-top sports car,” the actress says. “And she’s taking absolutely no truck from anybody.”

Magpie Murders, Series Premiere, Sunday, October 16, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)

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