Interview with Sean Pertwee
Sean Pertwee plays Inspector Lejeune in The Pale Horse.
Published: 30 January 2020
The Pale Horse is dark, multi-faceted and it leans towards the supernatural. You get to experience England at its greatest change - the birth of the beat generation of the 1960s.
Can you describe the story of The Pale Horse?
The Pale Horse is a multi-faceted yarn set against the backdrop of the beat generation, the shift in cultures we had in this country from the 1950s to modernity. It follows the protagonist, played by the brilliant Rufus Sewell, as he tries to uncover the meaning behind a series of murders. There is a list of names which is found in a dead lady’s shoe. The people on the list die, for various reasons, and he tries to discover why as his name is on this list too.
How would you describe your character?
Detective Inspector Stanley Lejeune is an old-school gumshoe copper. The word gumshoe is derived from an English expression about detectives who used to wear crepe gumshoes. He’s old school so he relies heavily on his sense. There’s a lot of sensory description in the script as he talks about scent and smell and the gut instincts he has around certain people.
What has helped you get into character?
I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in several Agatha Christie productions. The Brits do costume dramas so brilliantly that it requires very little to feel of that period. When I was a kid, my father had a gardener who was the archetypal blue-collar backbone of society - everything that I admire about strength and doggedness. He was very much in the forefront of my mind when I played this character, this quiet, steely, flinty man who is also incredibly tough. Through his tough exterior there is a certain sense of humanity, but a real sense of justice. He is a good man.
How has it been to work with Rufus?
Working with Rufus Sewell is actually vaguely irritating because I’ve known him for many years and the older he gets, the more handsome he gets. He’s got cheekbones you can open letters with. The reason why I find Mark Easterbrook so interesting is because he has a dogged determination. He has a secret of his own too.
How will the show feel different to a usual whodunit?
It’s dark, multi-faceted and it leans towards the supernatural. There’s the old school and the new school and Mark Easterbrook cruises through the middle of it. You get to experience England at its greatest change: the birth of the beat generation of the 1960s.
What drew you to the script?
I’ve always wanted to work with Sarah Phelps and I’ve been an admirer of her work for many years. She’s an absolute genius and her style is extraordinary. She encapsulates the period so well.
What was it like to be transported back to 1961?
It’s been incredible. I definitely remember that period and that type of person through my father, through living in London and the people that he knew. Seeing all the standby cars and props from the period transported me right into that time.
What do you love about Agatha Christie?
What’s not to love about Agatha Christie? When I first got the script I read it aloud to my wife and she begged me not to stop; I should have been learning my lines. I was in Marple’s The Moving Finger, two Poirots and now this production. More people see these than anything else. Everyone loves Christie.
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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