Susan Ryeland (LESLEY MANVILLE) in Moonflower Murders. (Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession/BBC)

The Magpie Murders Sequel Is Finally Here

3 days ago

Lesley Manville returns for Moonflower Murders

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The Magpie Murders Sequel Is Finally Here

Susan Ryeland (LESLEY MANVILLE) in Moonflower Murders. (Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession/BBC)

The much anticipated follow up to Magpie Murders is finally here, with Lesley Manville back in the leading role as editor Susan Ryeland. So what mystery will she be faced with this time? Here’s what you need to know about Moonflower Murders, commencing on BBC One on Saturday evening.

Susan Ryeland (LESLEY MANVILLE) & Atticus Pund (TIM MCMULLAN) in Moonflower Murders. (Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession/BBC)

What Is Moonflower Murders About?

Moonflower Murders is a new BBC series serving as a sequel to Magpie Murders (2022). We return to the life of Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville), an editor who, in the first series, solves a mystery murder with the help of an unfinished manuscript. Moonflower Murders picks up more than a year after the explosive conclusion of Magpie Murders, when Susan’s publishing house burned down – and she almost perished with it.

‘The publishing house doesn’t exist anymore,’ Manville explains. ‘So [Susan] makes the decision to go off to Crete with her boyfriend Andreas [Alexandros Logothetis], and open this small hotel on the coast at Crete, to give up her London life, give up everything she’s known, and give up being an editor. It’s a fairly hasty decision […] very much influenced by the fact that she’d nearly lost her life, and she’s in the mental state of that really bad event.’

Moonflower Murders begins in Crete, where Susan and Andrews have been running a hotel for over a year. It’s quite ramshackle with only a handful of rooms, and Susan is picking up a lot of the slack left by staffing gaps. ‘It’s a far cry from her London life,’ Manville continues. ‘And it’s not just that: I don’t think it’s really a job description that she’s very cut out for. She’s not a domesticated person. She’s chosen never to have children. She’s chosen never to get married. She’s chosen to pursue her own career and her own joy and pursuits. Her apartment that we knew that she had in London was quite ramshackled and chaotic, so we know running a hotel, even though it’s a small one, is not really her forte.’

But when the Trehernes show up, everything changes. Husband and wife, they’ve come from their own plush hotel in the UK to meet Susan, who they know published the Atticus Pund books. One of their two daughters is missing, and they ask Susan to use her unique knowledge of the novel – which they think is tied to their daughter’s case – to decipher what is going on. ‘It’s kind of too tempting a proposition for her to say no to,’ Manville teases.

Susan Ryeland (LESLEY MANVILLE) in Moonflower Murders. (Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession/BBC)

Is It Based On A Book?

Yes, Moonflower Murders is based on Anthony Horowitz’s 2020 novel of the same name, the second novel in his Susan Ryeland series. Want to know what Susan gets up to next? The series’ third novel, Marble Hall Murders, is expected to be published in April 2025, so we will have to wait and see.

Where Was Moonflower Murders Filmed?

Moonflower Murders was filmed in Crete and Dublin, with real hotels standing in for Hotel Trifilli, Branlow Hall and the Moonflower Hotel.

Hotel Trifilli

Scenes in Hotel Trifilli were filmed in a real hotel in Crete, ‘that couldn’t have been more perfect for the script,’ says series producer Suzanne McAuley. ‘We were able to doctor the script to actually match [the setting], and it just became more and more fun. We’re very excited actually. It’s going to add just another layer to the show.’

‘The hotel in Crete is in a very beautiful location, but it’s rickety and rundown and sometimes the plumbing breaks and the chef doesn’t turn up,’ says Manville. ‘But it’s delightful at the same time, partly for all of those reasons.’

Branlow Hall

Scenes in Branlow Hall were filmed in Howth Castle (Dublin, Ireland), which was totally transformed into a hotel for filming. Derelict before the team moved in for filming, ‘Branlow Hall is a magnificent building,’ says Manville. ‘It’s a grand hotel in the true sense. It’s got beautiful interiors, it’s very design-led, it’s got a spa.’

‘The bare bones of it are really very beautiful and the grounds are wonderful,’ Manville continues. ‘I’m still ridiculously naïve about these things because I just get so impressed very easily. I walked in and I thought, oh, wow. This is, uh, this is a fantastic hotel. How much of this is dressed? And they said ‘we’ve done everything – the menus, the key cards, everything’. I mean everything. I do like how they’ve done it as well. It’s very modern and very chic, but very country comfortable as well.’

Moonflower Hotel

When we flash back to the ‘50s, Moonflower Hotel is the subject – and filming took place in another period property in Ireland. ‘Moonflower Hotel is a hotel that’s slightly more feminine, I would say,’ shares executive producer Jill Green. ‘It’s run by this Hollywood actress, it has a lot of art deco in it. It has a lot of Hollywood posters – movie posters of the films that she used to be in, in her Hitchcock days before she got injured. So it has a lot of her personality in it. It’s much smaller, more boutique.’

‘The Moonflower Hotel was inspired by Burgh Island Hotel,’ adds director Rebecca Gatward, referencing a real tidal island in south Devon. ‘It’s where the Agatha Christie novel Evil Under the Sun was set. It’s a beautiful and glamorous Art Deco hotel. Because the Moonflower Hotel is owned by a film star, I felt it should also be a very elegant boutique hotel; a place where people aspire to come to get a little bit of Melissa James. Consequently, they gave the Moonflower Hotel a beautiful, yet understated, Hollywood elegance.’

Detective Inspector Chubb (DANIEL MAYS), Madeline Cain (PIPPA BENNETT-WARNER), Atticus Pünd (TIM MCMULLAN) in Moonflower Murders. (Sony Pictures Television/Patrick Redmond/BBC)

The Cast

‘I’ve been watching the filming of Moonflower Murders with joy,’ shares author and series writer Anthony Horowitz. ‘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.’

The full cast list includes: