Brand New Agatha Christie Adaptations

Tuppence

It was recently announced that Agatha Christie Ltd and Acorn Productions Ltd are developing two new Agatha Christie adaptations for the BBC. And Then There Were None and Partners in Crime, to star David Walliams as Tommy. Read the full news article here: http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/new-tv-adaptations

Leave your thoughts and comments below.

lachy.a.w

Sounds great but hopefully they make it Australia!

Tommy_A_Jones

This sound exciting I wonder who will be in ATTWN and who will play Tuppence and Albert (If they are being Portrayed)

MademoiselleMarple

And Then There Were None is absolutely fascinating and the first Christie book that kept me awake at night (scared to sleep ). I can't wait to see a modern adaptation!

Tuppence

@Tommy_A_Jones
The actor playing Tuppence has yet to be announced, but she will be in the new series.

Zeddie

This is such exciting news! I have been longing for new adaptations of both ATTWN & T&T for years now but I have one complaint, I really can't picture David Walliams as Tommy Beresford at all!! For one, I feel he is too old for this role and not nearly suave enough.

I dont have anything against Mr Walliams as an actor but James Warwick's portrayal of Tommy was so loveable and cheeky (and handsome I might add) that I am finding it very difficult to picture David playing one of my favourite Agatha Christie characters.

It makes me anxious to think who will be chosen to play Tuppence!

Also, I know it is a 6 part series, but has it been announced what these 6 adaptations will be?

Tuppence

@Zeddie The adaptations are going to be from the novels The Secret Adversary and N or M? Should be very interesting.

Tommy_A_Jones

I thought they were going to be imaginings, I can't see David Walliams as Tommy either, Albert maybe at a push

Marian Coakley

I'm always delighted to hear about new Christie adaptations BUT for me there is only one Tommy & Tuppence and that is James Warwick & Francesca Annis. I know that they are too old to play the young T & T but I would love to see them in an adaptation of Postern of Fate and By the Pricking of my Thumbs. I cannot see David Walliams as a young Tommy either. As for Tuppence, ??

Zeddie

Dont get me wrong, I am really excited about the upcoming adaptations, especially the Partners in crime series but I am so so disappointed in the choice of David Walliams as Tommy. I know it is only my opinion, but I really dont see how anyone could think that he is suitable for the role.

I have been reading Tommy & Tuppence books for about 15 years and only started watching the James Warwick & Francesca Annis adaptations a few years ago but their portrayals of these characters are exactly how i imagined them to be when I began reading them as a teenager.  This is why I am now worried about who will be cast to play Tuppence as I do not agree with the choice of Tommy at all!!!

On a positive note, I cant wait to find out more details about the ATTWN adaptation as I really love the book but I am not really a fan of the film so I am excited to see a new version of this. I just hope the person who is responsible for casting in the T&T series, is not in charge of casting in this too!

GKCfan

Wait... Secret Adversary  and N or M?  Does that mean that there won't be a twenty-year "gap" in the chronology of the stories?  Would T&T investigate N or M? without their children in the background?  I wonder if Secret Adversary will be moved to the 1940's or N or M? moved up to the 1920's?

erfacer

Yeah I hope the version or ATTWN is better than some of the older ones because they all seem to have changed the ending - which is rubbish because the ending is the best bit!! And don't think I’ve forgotten T&T but I’m sure that'll turn out fine.I can actually imagine David walliams as Tommy, although I did imagine him much more like Hastings. Ooh I am looking forward though!
:-O

Richard3

Yep. Warwick & Annis are Tommy & Tuppence. Accept no substitutes.

lachy.a.w

I completely agree with Zeddie on this one. David Walliams doesn't fit my image of Tommy and if this series is going to be set in the 1920's surely he'll be too old to be Tommy! If it's in the 40's then age shouldn't be a problem. I guess I will have to wait and see what happens. I'm still looking forward to it though.

miss_mystery

looking forward to the adaptations of  and Then there were none and partners in crime and being done by the BBC, 

 still not sure if David Walliams is right for the role but we will have to wait and see how they do it. Another thing  i'm glad that the BBC are doing it as i kept on having visions of itv doing Then There Were None with Miss Marple popping up in it.

glalonzo0408

Will I, in the United States, be able to see them?

Tommy_A_Jones

Teletext said they were Imaginings so I took I took it that they were made up Adaptations like he MR Murder Ahoy Which IMHO is what ITV sould have done INSTEAD of putting Miss Marpe in Books she shouldn't be in

Tommy_A_Jones

The makers probably want someone who is popular at the momentinstead of going for someone who fits who is perhaps won't put as many 'bums on sofa's'

MissQuin

I'm delighted about there being a 3 part adapt of then There Were none. I just hope it's faithful to the book.

A for Partners In Crime- I have mixed feelings. The series with Francesca Annis and James Warwick is very good, so it'll be hard to better it. I'm surprised as David Walliams being cast as he's not as well known for serious roles. It's been pointed out, He doesn't look like the description of Tommy and is a different age.

After it's shown the episodes will be online, so anyone can watch them. 

earthmist

ATTWN was the first Agatha Christie book I ever read, I was 13, and that was many years ago.. The two film adaptions made so far were so disappointing, Please... I would hope they follow the book faithfully.

Tommy_A_Jones

Just the fact we are having another version is good enough for me, as long as they don't put Miss Marple, Poirot or any other Character who shouldn't be in  it in the Adaptation, I don't mind if they follow the book or play.

johnwaynefreak

I'm really not a fan of David Walliams, or his one-note performances.  I hope this isn't stunt casting to draw in viewers - by that sort of logic, we might as well stick Matt Lucas in a wig for Tuppence.  Is the Christie brand name no longer enough?

If the new "And Then There Were None" is done well, that could be the thing to entice new readers to Christie's books.  Like the Russian film adaptation, a bleaker series would be great.  Perhaps something cashing in on the "Nordic Noir" craze would be a hit?  The plot certainly lends itself to a darker tone better than the Poirot series did, which veered wildly from outright pantomime and camp to gloom and melancholy over the last fifteen or so years.

I welcome the new "And Then There Were None" but think I will be giving the new Partners in Crime a wide berth.  After a thirty year break, it would have been nice to see new adaptations of the last two of three T&Ts with Warwick and Annis - always felt the Marple "By the Pricking..." missed a trick by recasting.

And as for the mooted updated Christie adaptations, while I don't mind the eighties TV-movie adaptations (hell, theoretically Poirot and Miss Marple were still sleuthing in the 1970s!), they are almost universally panned, along with ITV's "Sparkling Cyanide", Alfred Molina in "Murder On The Orient Express", etc.  Classical (formulaic?) mysteries might work fairly well in the modern-day "Death in Paradise", but in terms of how the series treats forensics, evidence and proof, the show is laughable;  laughable is something I would hate to see Agatha Christie become.  Would Christie plots really be doable in our modern "Big Brother" world without keeping little more than titles and detectives?  Do producers really not get it?

MissQuin

I am skeptical about David Walliams appearing as Tommy. But I definitely won't judge it until it's shown. I have read that David Walliams has done serious acting, although I've not seen him in anything but comedy, so I can't comment if he's suited. He was in Body In The Library, but he played a buffoon character.

searched online found this article:

"Walliams is understood to have been a driving force behind the project which will form a six-part adaptation of two tales, the first of which comes from Christie’s 1929 collection of short stories Partners in Crime.

The BBC’s version will be set in the 1950’s and the first three episodes will be an adaptation of The Secret Adversary written by playwright and director Zinnie Harris, with writer Claire Wilson adapting the novel N or M which will form the rest of the series.

According to Ben Stephenson, the BBC’s controller of drama commissioning, the adaptations will feel different to Marple and Poirot shows and will be more “espionagey"."

I little surprised as the very Wartime N or M being set during the 50's.  There's a gap between N or M and Pricking Of My Thumbs where we don't read of T&T during that decade. I'm guessing they don't want it to be toom uch like the ITV version.

@johnwaynefreak - As for Poirot episodes I loved he series until about 2001. Then in changed and I hated it. With the exception of the Mark Gattis episodes, which I liked. I hate those episodes that showed long drawn out scenes of Poirot looking tormented  in dark rooms. But I also wouldn't say any of the episodes were camp. Absurd at times yes. It's not actually a word I'd use in derogatory terms as I sometime like things camp, I thought the Partners In Crime series of the 80's was at times. 

With the trend being for crime dramas to be ultra dark, full of graphic violence, abuse of women and  autopsy rooms, I think there's a niche for something slightly lighter. Not ridiculous like the Marple episode of Bertram's Hotel. But something serious with a few ironic humour touches. The way the Jonathan Creek series used to be. 

Tommy_A_Jones

No Johnwaynefreak it appears the name is not enough for people who don't hae faith in the Audience to appreciate things that were written before they were born, even when things are just set long ago but written now Details have to be changed Children have to be like they are now not how they were, words or phrases that are used now have to be put in Adaptations, People n Television think the Viewers are stupid and because the Viewers don't know any better (I mean the non AC fans don't know the books so they don't know what changes are made) things are allowed to slide.

Tommy_A_Jones

I forgot to say I DO like David Walliams, his portrayal in Body In The Library was excellent and one of the good bits about that Adaptation but If an Actor is the Driving Force in a Production he appears in it is usually a Disaster because he or she is then pandered to and when he suggests others say "Oh Yes Mr X Certainly Mr X which is not a good thing to do, Acting Driving Forces are like Children They usually need to be told NO! I think that Casting David Walliams as Tommy is wrong, I could ata push see him as Albert (Actually not a push more like a Huge shove with the Pusher's eyes closed) but can't see him as Tommy

MissQuin

from BBC media centre David Walliams says: “In bringing these thrilling stories to the screen, it is our ambition for Tommy and Tuppence to finally take their rightful place alongside Poirot and Marple as iconic Agatha Christie characters. I was first drawn to the delicious notion of a married couple solving crimes together, and the more I read of the Tommy and Tuppence novels and short stories I realised they are among Christie’s very best work.”

I like the fact he's so enthusiastic about it.

On the downside, even good casting can't always make up for things.  Last year I eagerly awaited an adapt of PG Wodehouse's Blandings. The cast was excellent, it's just the writing was puerile. Jokes about laxatives, toilets and excitable dogs and such when Wodehouse didn't even include such scatological humour in his books. 

Who do people want to play Tuppence? I'm guessing that this will be Tuppence in her late 30's early 40's. Or Albert? I can't think of anyone. I'm not sure if Albert will be a teenage boy or just slightly younger that T&T.

Tommy_A_Jones

I found I was one if not the only one defending Blandings on Facebook, I accept that things were wrong with the 1st series but I watch it avidly every Sunday, It is just a shame Mark Williams doesn't play Beech anymore, IMHO Ti Vine would be better as one of Freddie's pals.

I think Jack Davenport would be good as Tommy and if it wasn't for her Hair Samantha Bond as Tuppence or Arrabella Weir or the woman who played Barbara Windsor in that Drama about the CARRY Films.

Tommy_A_Jones

Oh Bother, I meant Tim Vine and I think the Actress I mean is Samantha Spiro

MissQuin

Not sure, I know that James Warwick didn't look exactly like Tommy aka Carrot top. But it didn't matter  much as he had the right amount of seriousness for the dramatic scene. But mixed with playfulness in the more light hearted moments. Plus the chemistry between him and Francesca Annis was so good I found they made a believable couple. 

I can't think of who should play them or Albert. I'm trying to picture N Or M not set during WW2. I guess elements of other books like Destination Unknown or They Came To Baghdad might creep in. 

Tommy_A_Jones

If you want it how Agatha Christie had Tommy then Leonard from Hickory Dickory Dock should play him, maybe Louise Lombard as Tuppence,

Penguin

johnwaynefreak said

If the new "And Then There Were None" is done well, that could be the thing to entice new readers to Christie's books.

I remember in Junior high School, we watched a film adaptation of "And Then There Were None" and it made me really want to read the book. Once I did I was extremely upset at the differences between the book and the movie. I ended up hating the movie and being hooked on Agatha Christie forever.