Spoiler Talk with Pippa Bennett-Warner, Star of 'Moonflower Murders'

Our reintroduction to the world of Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) in Moonflower Murders, the follow-up to Magpie Murders, brings brand new characters into the mix, and perhaps none is more memorable than Madeline Cain, played to perky perfection by Pippa Bennett-Warner. In the story within a story, Miss Cain inhabits the fictional novel by Alan Conway (Conleth Hill) and is the brand-new Gal Friday to Conway’s 1950s-era detective, Atticus Pünd (Tim McMullan). Miss Cain is a fascinating mixture of propriety and boldness, eager to please her new boss yet driven by a secret obsession.

While Miss Cain’s motivations remain hidden until revelations in the final episode, her personality spills out throughout each scene she graces. In a particularly memorable exchange, she challenges Oscar Berlin (Mark Gatiss): Berlin recounts his supposed alibi – walking on the beach – when Miss Cain realizes he’s lying. She tricks him into telling the truth by bluffing and spinning her own lies, claiming the beach in question would have been at high tide and impassable. When she comes clean, Pünd is impressed and the audience has an indication of her deceptive capabilities.

Telly Visions sat down with Pippa Bennett-Warner to talk spoilers, character details, and her favorite Anthony Horowitz novels.