Every season, GBH Drama prepares to bring you coverage of the latest and greatest in British dramas. This month, we're getting a brand new show from MASTERPIECE: Magpie Murders. Featuring a mystery within a mystery and some truly delightful acting, this series is sure to be your new favorite whodunit. GBH Drama contributor Amanda-Rae Prescott is here to recap the magic as it happens.
Veteran MASTERPIECE screenwriter Anthony Horowitz is back with an adaptation of one of his own original novels. Magpie Murders has a plot inside a plot scenario based on a famous mystery author dying before he could complete his latest novel. Whodunit? We’ll find out over the next few weeks, but for now, let’s discuss who’s involved in the mystery.
The Long Weekend
The story begins with mystery author Alan Conway drafting his latest novel “Magpie Murders.” Conway’s novels, set in 1950s England, feature a private detective named Atticus Pünd in the spirit of Agatha Christie. Conway handwrites and then types a draft of the novel.
At Conway’s publishing company, literary editor Susan Ryeland is working on negotiating a contract at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Her boyfriend Andreas surprises her with a visit. Back at the office, Susan’s boss tells her that Conway has finished the manuscript and that the position of CEO is hers once their company is sold to a bigger publisher. Susan has time to decide but she doesn’t feel like the corporate financial life is for her. In the meantime, she starts reading the manuscript, and realizes that Conway is planning to end the Pünd series with this novel.
Meanwhile, the story moves to events from Alan’s point of view. There are flashbacks to his dinner argument with the publisher the night before Susan returned, his own visit to the doctors where he discovers he has stage 4 lung cancer, and his annoyance over fans asking him for selfies. His son keys his car at the railway station. At Conway’s house, his now ex-partner James is finishing moving out of the house. Based on their dialogue it’s clear that James was more interested in spending Alan’s money than being emotionally supportive.
After James leaves, Alan’s sister Claire interrupts his viewing of the football game. Claire used to type out his manuscripts but he recently let her go. She begs for her job back because she needs a steady income but Alan is not interested in helping her out. Alan leaves her to answer a phone call from his lawyer. While he’s gone, Claire picks up the finished manuscript and finds the exact page where a character is clearly written to mock her. She leaves in a huff while Alan is waiting for the lawyer to bring him papers to sign. If you look closely, the manuscript isn’t on the table when Alan returns to watching TV.
Later, Susan is starting to panic after she reads the last page of the manuscript. The last chapter is missing. Was it a mistake by the assistant who made the copies or did Alan forget to send the last page? It’s the weekend so she won’t get a straight answer until Monday morning.
Inside The Novel
Magpie Murders moves between depicting the events of the novel with subtle transitions. The audience must look for changes in lighting and costumes for these scenes as the same actors are playing the novel characters. The novel begins with the murder of housekeeper Mary Blakiston in the ancestral home of her employer Sir Magnus Pye. Mary was pushed down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Pünd has received a cancer diagnosis and is now confronting his own mortality. He returns to his private detective agency office where he’s hoping for some time alone, only to find out his assistant has a prospective client waiting for him. Joy Sanderling, a Black woman in her twenties, wants to hire Pünd to investigate Mary’s death. She is engaged to Mary’s son Robert and everyone in the village is claiming Robert murdered his mother in a rage. Joyce says he was with her the night before Mary died and she wants Pünd to visit and prove Robert’s innocence. Joyce also tells Pünd that Mary and Robert had a contentious relationship and Mary opposed the engagement. Pünd tells her there’s not much he can do about village gossip and probable racism. Joyce leaves Pünd’s office disappointed but still determined to marry Robert.
Theresa Pye, Magnus’ spinster sister, is also introduced. Conway’s narration describes her as a ridiculous figure. Magnus cut her off from the family inheritance. Theresa clearly has parallels with Conways’ own sister.
The Tower
Alan’s lawyer Sajid Khan drives to his house on Sunday bringing the documents to sign, but Alan doesn’t answer the door or the phone. Khan then finds Alan dead in the garden, looking as if he fell off the tower. In the meantime, Andreas tells Susan that he is considering leaving his dead-end job teaching prep school boys Greek to go into the hotel business with his brother in Crete. Susan hasn’t decided if she’ll take the publishing CEO job, but there is no way she wants to leave London.
Monday morning arrives and the publisher finally tells Susan that Alan is dead. She didn’t always get along with Conway but she’s convinced the cops are wrong about ruling his death a suicide. The manuscript is worthless without the last chapter; the publishing company is looking at bankruptcy if the last chapter isn’t found. Susan decides to drive to Sussex to figure out where the missing pages are. She’ll figure out what to tell Andreas about their shared career crossroads later. As she’s ready to drive off, an apparition of Pünd appears.
There’s a lot of unanswered questions at the end of Episode 1, so viewers will definitely want to follow Susan on her impromptu road trip. Did Claire or James take the manuscript for financial or relationship-related revenge? What happened between Alan and his son? Will Susan be able to keep everyone from the unemployment office? As for the story inside the manuscript, did Robert kill his mom? Did Theresa find a way to avenge her loss of inheritance? Let’s find out next week on MASTERPIECE!
