BBC to adapt ‘Queen of Crime’ Agatha Christie’s novel Murder Is Easy

Dame Agatha Christie’s classic novel Murder Is Easy will be adapted into a two-part thriller for the BBC, the broadcaster has confirmed.

The popularity of Dame Agatha’s work endures as her detective fiction, first published in the UK in the 1930s, has been adapted for the screen by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and will begin filming this summer with director Meenu Gaur at the helm.

The drama will depict England in 1954 where character Luke Fitzwilliam meets Miss Pinkerton, who tells him that a killer is on the loose in the sleepy English village of Wychwood under Ashe.

The hour-long episodes will see the villagers believe the deaths are accidents, but Miss Pinkerton knows otherwise and when she’s later found dead on her way to Scotland Yard, Luke feels he must find the killer before they can strike again.

Director Gaur said: “I am part of the worldwide club of Agatha Christie’s fans and followers and therefore thrilled to be shaping one of her works for the screen. I was drawn to the sassy, cool, witty, and not to be messed with women of Murder Is Easy and blown away again by how delightful her characters are.”

Meanwhile, screenwriter Ejiwunmi-Le Berre said: “I’ve watched every Agatha Christie adaptation out, because Christie wrote for the world and the whole world loves her back. But somehow I’d never read one of her novels. When I first read Murder Is Easy, I couldn’t believe how daring, experimental and furious the book was. Nothing like I’d expected.

“From the first read, the book was shouting at me how to enter and adapt it. It’s like going on an extended train journey with a genius sat next to you, whispering the secrets of storytelling into your ear.”

Dame Agatha’s great-grandson, James Prichard, who is chairman and chief executive of Agatha Christie Limited, said: “This is one of my great grandmother’s best and most disconcerting titles. Of course, murder isn’t easy. Or is it if you live in a traditional unsuspecting English village?”

Murder Is Easy is the latest in the ongoing series of Agatha Christie adaptations made by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited for the BBC, following on from the acclaimed productions of And Then There Were None, The Witness For The Prosecution, Ordeal By Innocence, The ABC Murders and The Pale Horse.

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said: “Agatha Christie on the BBC has become a classic combination, and in Murder Is Easy we have one of the Queen of Crime’s finest page-turners in a new adaptation that both speaks to us today and honours her incredible talent for brilliantly entertaining, skilfully-told mystery. BBC One and iPlayer viewers will be gripped.”

The thriller is produced by Mammoth Screen (part of ITV Studios) and Agatha Christie Limited, and is a co-commission between the BBC and BritBox International.

The BBC said filming for Murder Is Easy will take place later this year and casting will be announced in due course. It will air on BBC One and iPlayer, and on BritBox International’s streaming service in the US, Canada and South Africa.

Dame Agatha’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, introduced Belgian detective Hercule Poirot to the world when it was published in October 1920. The novel ushered in a golden age of mystery novels in the 1920s and 1930s and Dame Agatha’s tales have been published in more than 50 languages and distributed in some 100 countries.