By Molly Moss

Published: Monday, 07 February 2022 at 12:00 am

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It looks like there are plenty of twists and turns on the way in BritBox’s upcoming “murder mystery within a murder mystery” series, Magpie Murders.

Based on Anthony Horowitz’s novel of the same name, the crime drama stars Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland, the literary editor of best-selling mystery writer Alan Conway (Conleth Hill).

However, when the author hands over his last manuscript, the final chapter is nowhere to be found. The plot thickens when Conway is murdered, and Susan sets out on a quest to find the chapter – and figure out whodunnit.

And a new clip from the first episode certainly sets the tone, with DS Locke (Daniel Mays) acting suspiciously cagey about Conway’s death.

In the short teaser released by BritBox UK ahead of the meta-mystery series’ launch, we see Manville and Mays’ characters coming face-to-face for the first time.

“I’m trying to track down some missing pages from his last book because without them I can’t publish, and if that happens my entire company, the staff I employ and 15 years of hard work will go down the drain,” she explains when Locke questions why she is visiting late Conway’s secretary.

“In three of the books, he based a character on you,” she then says in a light-bulb moment. “The dim detective. That’s why you’re so angry.”