Honeysuckle Weeks plays Agatha Christie

I'm quite happy to confess that I was perhaps somewhat premature (or just dead wrong) to predict the end of the acting career of Honeysuckle Weeks. Because, quite recently, I was alerted to the fact that Honeysuckle Weeks has been contracted by the creators of the hugely successful Canadian-based period drama 'Frankie Drake Mysteries' to appear in (just) one episode. What makes the news particularly interesting is that she was not cast in just any role, but as none other than the illustrious Agatha Christie herself.

Frankie Drake (which is also the name of a character that was written into the story of Agatha Christie's 'Hallowe'en Party' in the latest movie adaptation from 2011) is a a bold, unconventional, female private detective living and working in Toronto (Canada) in the 1920s. Drake started the 'Drake Detective Agency' and, together with her quick-witted partner Trudy Clarke, tries to solve cases the police can't, won't, or hesitate to investigate. The series, set against the vibrant backdrop of the Roaring Twenties, was created by the same team responsible for the long-running and critically acclaimed 'Murdoch Mysteries' which is already in its 19th season (2025) with 333 episodes filmed.

Honeysuckle Weeks will not have to travel all the way to Canada because, in this particular episode of the 'Frankie Drake Mysteries', Drake and Clarke will cross the Atlantic Ocean to meet Agatha Christie, played by Honeysuckle Weeks. The Episode is entitled 'No Friends Like Old Friends' (Season 3, Episode 1).

The casting carries a certain poetic charm. Honeysuckle Weeks has long been associated with the Agatha Christie universe: she appeared in the ITV series Agatha Christie’s Poirot ('Cards on the Table') as Rhoda Dawes, and has performed in several stage adaptations of Christie’s work, including the West End production of the rare Christie play 'A Daughter’s a Daughter'.

Even more intriguingly, Honeysuckle Weeks and Agatha Christie do share a common (and quite unbreakable) bond. In 2016, Honeysuckle Weeks unintentionally emulated Agatha Christie's 1926 anxiety-driven disappearance, though Agatha Christie disappeared almost exactly 90 years earlier.

This episode in her life lead some of us to fear (or prematurely declare) that her screen career had quietly slipped away from her. But life, as they say, can be wonderfully circular.

[Update 09 September 2019] Maybe we can appeal to the BBC to stop producing the horrid adaptations (and I am stretching the meaning of the word 'horrid' to its absolute breaking point) of Sarah Phelps ('Witness for the Prosecution', 'Ordeal by Innocence', 'The ABC Murders', and the 'The Pale Horse').

Instead, the BBC should consider producing a series of original scripts featuring a Young Miss Jane Marple, played by Honeysuckle Weeks.