David Walliams and Jessica Raine as Tommy and Tuppence

Belle-Haliday

With a new Tommy and Tuppence series airing later this year,
I thought I’d gauge opinions on the casting of David Walliams and Jessica Raine
as the eponymous pair.

While the pair are both great actors and I absolutely can
not wait for Partner’s In Crime to air, I can’t quite visualise them as ‘The
Secret Adversary’ era Tommy and Tuppence (who were, after all, in their early
20s - compared to Raine’s early 30s, and Walliams’ early 40s).

So, what to you think of the casting? And who would you cast as a younger Tommy and Tuppence?

Tommy_A_Jones

I think the Casting is quite Strange, For one thing I thought Tommy and Tuppence were roughly the same age and I haven't looked at how old David and Jessica are but They don't look the same age, and neither look like Tommy and Tuppence, perhaps I am being influenced by the James Warwick and Francessca Annis series bugood t  David Walliams face is too quirky, I think he would make a  good Albert PERHAPS, I am really looking forward to the series and am willing to be persuaded and hope I am wrong but I think it will be not as good as we deserve, If after the series we have more of Christies work which hasn't been done for ages It mihgt be worth the pain.

Belle-Haliday

There's about a 10 year difference between David and Jessica, while Tommy and Tuppence were definitely no more than a few years apart. 

Tommy_A_Jones

I wonder if David Chose Jessica Interviews I have read suggest he was the driving force behind the Series being made which would explain why in my view he is miss-cast.

Belle-Haliday

I'm actually less worried about David than Jessica. David may not look like Tommy, but he's funny (something Tommy needs) and he obviously cares about the project.

On the other hand, I'm not at all convinced Jessica has the charm to pull of Tuppence as she deserves.

Tommy_A_Jones

I agree, Rachel Sterling or Jemima Rooper would have been better but there again Jack Davenport would have been better than David.

TuppenceBeresford

I am horrified by the idea of David Walliams as Tommy. Admittedly I haven't seen very much of him and it's encouraging to read that he really loves the books but I've always found him unwatchable. Tommy is funny but he's not a slapstick character. He has a lot of depth and warmth and more intelligence than he thinks. I agree Walliams looks too old to be Tuppence's childhood friend but that might not matter if he can bring Tommy's charm to the screen. I'm just not expecting him to be able to do that. But when my expectations are low, I am often pleasantly surprised.

I think Jessica Raine looks good in the Press photographs as she looks as though she has spirit. I was slightly concerned at first as I've seen her in a few films/TV series and she always seemed to play quiet, unassuming characters. But her characters are all different so she probably has the talent to be feisty and funny too. Her performance in the dire Wolf Hall certainly wasn't meek and mild, though it wasn't very Tuppencelike either.

Tommy_A_Jones

David is a very Good serious Actor, he was Brilliant in Bod In The Library and a Polliakoff Play so he can act but he just looks all wrong to be Tommy, his face is the wrong shape.

Tommy_A_Jones

I forgot to say I have onmy seen Jessica Raine in Call The Midwife, The Publicity Photo I saw made me think she was Miss Rooper from Third Girl, I am prepared to be convinced.

TuppenceBeresford

That's very reassuring about David Walliams.

Jemima Rooper would have been an excellent Tuppence. Apart from Third Girl, I've hated everything I've seen her in but she still left me with the impression that she was an incredible actress. Maybe she'll play the role in a theatre production or something.

Tommy_A_Jones

I think Ruby Benthal would have been Good too.

JB100

The casting of David Walliams as Tommy is an appalling decision. Physically he's completely wrong, he's too old and too fat. Yes, he's appeared in some serious dramas but he comes across as creepy in each one of them, his range seems quite limited. This could have been great with the right casting and if it had still been set in the original time period (the 20's) the two books they've filmed were set in. Sadly not looking forward to this at all now, which is a shame because I loved the books and the 80's TV series.

Griselda

Hi Tommy, Definitely agree about Jack Davenport!! He is brilliant for this. Was he a detective in one of the televised Agatha Christies?

Tommy_A_Jones

Hello Grizelda, Jack Davenport was in Body In The Library, he played a Detective, I can actually see him as Tommy but He wouldn't be bad as Albert either, I hope hope he is good as Tommy but as he acts the fool in other things he has a hard job to make us take him seriously where as he wouldn't have that roblem if he played Albert which I don't really advocate.

Griselda

I think Jack Davenport would have presence, Tommy. I feel I would trust him to interpret the part with subtlety. 

Tommy_A_Jones

So would I grizelda.

Griselda

Has anyone ever been to one of those interactive murder mystery evenings in an hotel, an occasion when you solve the crime using clues, etc. I googled Tommy and Tuppence images, and came across a paper programme for one which was subsequently held in Yorkshire. It was Tommy and tuppence themed, and looked a lot of fun. I believe that this one had been fully approved, and so was no doubt of a good quality.

I also noted, the rather obvious, that googling 'images' and a book title, is a great way to find some really interesting covers.

Returning to the theme of the up and coming dramatisation  of two Beresford stories, I have to say that I felt that the original novels contained a degree of modest self-parody on the part of the couple, and not-taking-oneself-too-seriously irony. There is, too, a certain amount of parody of the times they lived in, and what one had to do to get by. The world of the earlier Beresford novels was one Agatha Christie understood first-hand and keenly, I believe, and there is a sense of her personal views and feelings becoming engaged. Please, please hope that David Walliams (such a shrewd observer of mannerisms) oxygenates the parodies which already exist in the novel, without giving his interpretation any 'Little Upper Class Britain' treatment.

Tommy_A_Jones

I went once Griselda, It was just one Evening,, a table near the Actors seemed more keen on chatting than The Murder Mystery, It spoil the Evening as my Friends and I couldn't hear everything. 

Griselda

Oh dear! That's bad. It could be quite a fun thing to do.

Which is the AC novel with the plot which you would never, ever guess - the most ingenious? One that would be a close contender, I think, would be Hercule Poirot's Christmas (in which old Mr Lee is killed).

I can't say which ones I didn't guess, because I think I read most of them when I was a teenager, and going back to them, I realise, as other posters have commented too, that I've already read it and know the ending - or, more likely, have seen the televised version.However, I don't think anyone would get 'And Then There Were None'.

Tommy_A_Jones

The Idea sounded Wonderful, I just went on a night when some silly women who seemed to have money to throw away (and who are probably the type who like going to places to ruin things for everyone) else went

MarcWatson-Gray

I wonder if they will be loyal to the books or if there will be many changes ? I haven't read Tommy and Tuppence for a while now.I'm going to read the two books again before i watch the new television adaptations.

Griselda

I did read some comment from David Walliams and it sounded like Tuppence might be the stronger character. I don't think David will be able to resist satirizing the era. I hope I am wrong.

Tommy_A_Jones

You probably aren't especially if he chose Tuppence and Albert, It appears to me that because of his success with Little Britain and BGT I do wonder if he cares about anything else but David Walliams PLC.

Griselda

Well, it remains to be seen, but certainly creative artists can't resist doing their own take on a work. Humility is what is needed when tackling Agatha Christie. The key is to remember, as we on the forum are aware, that she is the best-selling author - eg, of fictional novels, ever. Her characters translate across borders. Just trying to do justice to the information she has given us should be ambition enough for any production team.

To be honest, I'd rather have someone mess around with Tommy and Tuppence than with Mr P and Miss Marple. I don't think the loving pair are under-rated, I think they are good fun and ok, but with Hercule Poirot you have philosophical depth and genius. Thankfully we are not about to be served with Little Britain does the French and their irritating mannerisms. Anyway, Poirot parodied himself at times, in a way that Columbo did, to allay the suspicions of his intended prey. A parody of a parody would be horrendous.

I don't watch BGT, but there was a streak of cruelty in Little Britain. I don't know if David is the sensitive judge to counter Simon Cowell's kind-blindness. What you don't want in an AC adaption is any callousness: her 'good' characters all care about human beings and the charitable way to live far too much to deserve anything but a feeling and humane treatment.

Tommy_A_Jones

I want sensitivity to the Book and the Readers who want it the way it is written, and I want Adaptations to be enjoyable to watch, I think the Ldy who was chosen to play Tuppence was Great in Call The Midwife but she doesn't look or sound like Tuppence, but I we don't have long to wait (The end of the Month I Think) so I hope to be proved wrong.

susanholbeche

Have just received Newsletter about Partners in Crime, with an illustration showing David Walliams and Jessica Raine with a Morris Minor 1000 in the background.  As The Secret Adversary was set in about 1920, and N or M during the second world war, it seems incongruous that a car should be featured which was introduced around 1960.

Have the script writers rewritten Agatha's books, as per usual, and reset them in some other era,  or are they just uninterested in period accuracy.  (Maybe they've got a mobile phone about them too).   

Tommy_A_Jones

I agree susanholbeche but the publicity ages ago did say that they were "Imaginings" and set in the 50s so to me It didn't seem too bad, at least it isn't a Cadillac or Farari which would for me take away the Charm of it all, It disgruntled me when I saw the Car Zoe Wannamaker drove in an Episode of Poirot, Morris Minors are cute and Fun so for me the Feel of the thing is kept.

MarcWatson-Gray

In my humble opinion the book (The secret Adversary)had everything i needed for a rip roaring adventure.I don,t understand why the time period needs to be changed at all ?? Maybe it is an attempt to be more relevant without actually setting it in the 21st Century ? In saying that though, a 50s or 60s setting is far better than a 21st century period.

But my concern is that if the setting has changed,then what else will have been played around with ???

Anubis

The adaptations for Hercule Poirot are all set in the 1930s (I think 1934?) and those for Miss Marple are all set in the 1950s, despite the fact that the stories occurred from the 1920s to the 1970s. This may have been done for convenience: it would have been considerably more expensive to change the set designs for different eras. Similarly, the T 'n' T stories occur from the 1920s to the 1970s and the characters age over time. If all of the T 'n' T stories will be adapted, I suspect that it will be more convenient to set them all in one time period. Since the 1930s and the 1950s are taken, the 1960s next logical choice.

Tommy_A_Jones

I think ITV wanted the Art Deco feel for the Poirot Books, It does seem odd to have them all set in the 30s considering that The Ariadne ones are clearly not 30s type books and there are so many Poirot Books they can't conceivably all been in the 30s, I think it is lazy to set the T^T series in the same Decade, if The BBC think Viewers won't get The Books in the proper periods they might aswell Set them all in Modern-day and be done with it.

silvana

watched the new Tommy and Tuppence on BBC yesterday. There wasn't any sexual chemistry between the married couple, Tuppence is meddlesome, friendly, adorable but has no sex-appeal. As was said in the adaptation: Tommy is a slippers-and-pipe man. I don't see them as a married couple, just seeing them as friends. Maybe in the next episodes? I'll be watching next week.