A list of names hidden in a dead woman's shoe sets The Pale Horse in motion: a 2020 British crime mini-series directed by Leonora Lonsdale, with Rufus Sewell and Kaya Scodelario at the head of a strong ensemble cast.
What is The Pale Horse about?
The story opens with a corpse and a scrap of paper. Tucked inside the shoe of a woman who has died is a list of names, and one of the people written on it decides to find out why he is there. His search leads him to a house in a small village known as The Pale Horse, where three women live under a cloud of local rumour. The village says they are witches, and that for the right client they can remove an inconvenient wealthy relative with dark arts and without leaving a trace. What follows is a slow tightening of dread as the man on the list tries to work out whether the gossip is superstition, fraud, or something far more dangerous, and whether his own name marks him as the next to fall. The mini-series moves between polished city interiors and the damp, closed-in world of the village until the two threads pull tight.
About the cast
Rufus Sewell and Kaya Scodelario head the cast, with Georgina Campbell, Sean Pertwee, Bertie Carvel, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Sheila Atim and Rita Tushingham filling out the city and the village. The mini-series format gives this line-up of British stage and screen regulars room to register over several episodes.
Context & significance
The Pale Horse arrived in 2020 as a United Kingdom production, blending crime, mystery and thriller elements in the compact mini-series shape that British television has made its own. Director Leonora Lonsdale builds the tension around a rational man confronting a community that half-believes in curses, and the period setting makes the whispered accusations land harder. With episodes close to fifty-nine minutes, the complete series can be watched in one long evening or spread over a few nights.
Watching The Pale Horse on Ktime
The Pale Horse streams on K-Time with both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so viewers can hear the dialogue in Farsi or follow the original English performances with Persian text. Watching requires a K-Time account login, while this page is free to browse. The interface is built in Farsi for Persian-speaking audiences living abroad.