Lesley Manville Reprises ‘Magpie Murders’ Role on ‘Moonflower Murders’ for MASTERPIECE on PBS

The mysteries continue for Susan Ryeland on Moonflower Murders.

Lesley Manville will reprise her role as the book editor turned sleuth from Magpie Murders, alongside Timothy McMullan as the famous literary detective Atticus Pünd.

MASTERPIECE PBS and Eleventh Hour Films announced that Moonflower Murders completed filming. Based on the bestselling novel by Anthony Horowitz, CBE, the six-part series is a sequel to the acclaimed Magpie Murders, which aired on MASTERPIECE in 2022.

“I had an incredible time returning to the role of the smart and feisty Susan Ryeland. Anthony Horowitz has written another ingenious adaptation and I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” Manville said.

Published in 2020, Moonflower Murders is the second novel in Horowitz’s series focusing on Susan Ryeland that uses a story within a story format. The second novel and this new series see Susan leave behind a life in publishing for one in Crete with her long-time boyfriend, Andreas. 

However, “the shadow of a murder committed at a British country hotel eight years ago” disrupts the paradise, per the synopsis. 

“Alan Conway visited the hotel and wrote a novel based on what happened there. Cecily Treherne, the young woman who helps run the hotel, read the book and believed the wrong man had been arrested. Now she has disappeared. Can Susan uncover the secret hidden in the book and find Cecily before it is too late?”

Horowitz wrote Moonflower Murders, which Rebecca Gatward directs. Suzanne McAuley (Magpie Murders) produces the series, while Jill Green executive produces for Eleventh Hour Films.

“I’ve been watching the filming of Moonflower Murders with joy,” Horowitz said.

“We’re back with the same cast, including Lesley Manville, Tim McMullan, and Danny Mays – but this time we’ve got a whole new box of tricks to present as literary editor Susan Ryeland untangles another book within a book and another series of unfathomable murders. I can’t wait to show it to our audience,” Horowitz added.

“Our MASTERPIECE audience loved the cleverness and suspense of Magpie Murders,” MASTERPIECE Executive Producer Susanne Simpson said.

“In Moonflower Murders, Anthony Horowitz delivers the same brilliant storytelling, and we’re thrilled that the incredible Lesley Manville is back for this new series,” Simpson added.

Returning to Moonflower Murders with Manville and McMullan from Magpie Murders are Alexandros Logothetis as Andreas, Daniel Mays as Locke/Chubb, Claire Rushbrook as Kate, Conleth Hill as Alan Conway, Matthew Beard as James, and Sanjeev Kohli as Sajid Khan.

Cast members joining the series are Mark Gatiss as Parris/Berlin, Rosalie Craig as Lisa/Melissa, Pippa Bennett-Warner as Madeline and Adrian Rawlins as Lawrence/Lance.

MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by GBH Boston.

Photos from Moonflower Murders:

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