‘I'd make a brilliant detective!'

Lesley Manville on taking the lead in a complex new crime thriller

- IAN MACEWAN

Susan Ryeland LESLEY MANVILLE In the present day, the free-spirited book editor is delighted to receive the latest manuscript from author Alan Conway, with no idea it’ll change her life for ever…

‘I’d make a brilliant detective!’

MAGPIE MURDERS

Available: Thursday 10 Feb Season: 1 Episode: 6

Run time: 45 mins NEW CRIME DRAMA

As a fan of unconventional women of a certain age, Lesley Manville knew she’d have fun playing a free-spirited book editor in BritBox’s new crime drama Magpie Murders.

Based on the bestselling 2016 novel of the same name by Anthony Horowitz (Foyle’s War), the six-part whodunnit centres around the death of popular author Alan Conway (played by Vienna Blood star Conleth Hill), the creator of a fictional 1950s detective called Atticus Pünd (The Serpent’s Tim McMullan).

Susan Ryeland (Mum star Lesley) is excited to receive the manuscript of Alan’s new crime novel, Magpie Murders, in which Atticus investigates suspected foul play in a sleepy English village.

However, after realising the last chapter is missing, she hears the shocking news that Alan has been found dead.

Determined to retrieve the missing pages and learn the truth about Alan’s demise, Susan turns detective, and discovers some disturbing parallels between the fictional world of Atticus – which also plays out on screen – and the real life of his creator.