#’The Crown’ Star Lesley Manville to Lead ‘Magpie Murders’ TV Adaptation for PBS & BritBox

Lesley Manville (The Crown) will star in the six-part series for PBS and BritBox, and Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) will direct, Deadline reports.

The drama is based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Horowitz, who’s adapting the script for TV. He posted to Twitter that he was fully on board with the casting.

So pleased that I can finally announce this brilliant casting. Lesley Manville is the perfect lead. And Peter Cattaneo is a legend. Couldn’t be happier. https://t.co/cfL76SyeiB

— Anthony Horowitz (@AnthonyHorowitz) January 21, 2021

The series follows Susan, an editor who receives an unfinished manuscript of the latest novel by a writer named Alan Conway, but she “has little idea it will change her life.” PBS’ Masterpiece describes Magpie Murders as “a beguiling murder mystery with a solution that will both astonish and shock viewers.”

“Magpie Murders is my most successful novel and it wasn’t easy to adapt,” Horowitz said in a statement when PBS announced it will co-produce and broadcast the series. “But I think the result is a completely original drama that will delight and beguile audiences in equal measure.”

Magpie Murders will also be available in the U.K. streaming on BritBox. It is an Eleventh Hour Films production for Masterpiece and BritBox UK and will be distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Television.