The Murder of Agatha Christie?

Agatha Christie is still considered the Grande Dame of thrillers. She wrote 66 crime novels and short story collections. She is the creator of two of the most enduring figures in crime literature: Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple.

Simply based on her sales figures, you might come to the conclusion that Agatha Christie knew how to construct a believable plot that readers would understand if they reached the last page of her thrillers. The stories are powerful and enduring. Only fools would dare to change them. And that's precisely what happens these days.

The estate of Agatha Christie is managed (yes, there's the dreaded key word) by Agatha Christie Limited. Their prime objective is to extract as much money out of Christie's thrillers as is humanly possible.

Sophie Hannah's Christie
In 2013, Agatha Christie Limited c commissioned Sophie Hannah to write new stories that featured Hercule Poirot. A tribute, it was called. Hannah's first try, 'The Monogram Murders' (2014), totally failed to catch the essence of Agatha Christie. The Guardian concluded, wrapped in one deadly sentence, that 'For all its approximation to an Agatha Christie, the book actually bears very little resemblance to one.' Yet, the book made enough money for Agatha Christie Limited to give Sophie Hannah the opportunity to keep writing churning out more books that feature her own 'version' of Hercule Poirot. Money, they say, makes the world go around.

Sarah Phelps' Christie
In 2013, the BBC acquired the rights to eight new adaptations of Christie's mysteries. Most of them are (and will be) created by Sarah Phelps, and turned out to be a disastrous decision. Phelps decided that Agatha Christie's stories could be adapted with new backstories, new storylines and even new killers. Hilary Strong, chief executive of Agatha Christie Limited, which looks after the author's estate, said Phelps had brought a 'new way of interpreting Christie for a modern audience'. That's one way of phrasing it, but the simple fact is that Phelps ruins the legacy of Agatha Christie by mutilating her stories.

If you decide, as Sarah Phelps did, to use the name and fame of Agatha Christie as bait for viewers and simply use the titles and part of her storylines, my advice would be not to go that way. It's sacrilege.

Exit Hannah and Phelps
There is also a certain irony in the assumption that Christie requires modernization. Her books continue to sell in extraordinary numbers without any intervention or modernisation. The perceived problem does not lie in the work itself or its readers, but in an industry that seems increasingly uncomfortable leaving anything untouched. One should be more creative than Sophie Hannah and Sarah Phelps, and search for other ways to find a new audience for the enduring mysteries of Agatha Christie.

Dead end
'Murder is Easy' (2023) was another recent adaption. The story was moved into the mid-1950s. Which isn't a problem an sich. But the people in charge decided to introduce themes of racism, class prejudice, and capitalist exploitation. Added to this muddle is the protagonist Luke Fitzwilliam, who Christie wrote as a retired colonial policeman. Here, he’s reborn as a regional attache from Nigeria who’s following his boss to London to take up a new job at the Colonial Office in Whitehall. No wonder then that 'Murder is Easy' had a lacklustre reception.

Interesting avenues
In 2022, a new adaption of of Agatha Christie novel 'Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?' appeared. 'Written and directed by Hugh Laurie, this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s coastal mystery has it all: tight dialogue, a starry cast and exquisite 1930s nostalgia,' writes The Guardian. I couldn't agree more. It shows that you do not have to change the story to create a beautiful adaptation.

Another way to attract 'modern adiences' is to create a series of new mysteries featuring a younger Agatha Christie, a younger Miss Marple or even a younger Hercule Poirot as a sleuth.

The creators of the Frankie Drake Mysteries had the right idea when they cast Honeysuckle Weeks as a younger Agatha Christie.

And yes, I know there have been several recent - and sometimes rather erratic - endeavours, such as 'Agatha Christie and the Truth of Murder' (2018), where Ruth Bradley played Agatha Christie. Once. We can also mention 'Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar'  (2019), where Lyndsey Marshal played Agatha Christie. Once. Or 'Agatha and the Midnight Murders' (2020), where the great Helen Baxendale took the leading part.