Monday, July 06, 2015

Escape from the vicarage as Agatha Christie brand gets TV makeover

David Walliams and Jessica Raine up the pace as writer’s estate takes charge of the scripts

David Walliams and Jessica Raine in the BBC’s forthcoming Partners in Crime.
David Walliams and Jessica Raine in the BBC’s forthcoming Partners in Crime. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Endor Productions/Robert Viglasky
Forget Poirot’s “little grey cells” and the gently clicking knitting needles of Miss Marple, the future of Agatha Christie on television is action-packed and scary, complete with fistfights, chases, international espionage and realistic violence.

The Christie estate has taken back control of TV rights and aims to create a new era of dynamic mysteries before copyright on one of the UK’s most potentially lucrative literary franchises runs out in 32 years.

Poirot and Marple have been key features of TV drama for more than 20 years. Lavishly made and reassuringly predictable, these one-off adaptations were reliable family fare. But this month the BBC will screen the first of the “rebooted” offerings, a fast-paced adventure featuring Christie’s lesser known sleuths, Tommy and Tuppence, and directed by Edward Hall. Billed as a cross between The Avengers and an Indiana Jones thriller, the first drama, Partners in Crime, stars David Walliams as Tommy and Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine as the imperturbable Tuppence. Scripts are under way for a second run
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