BBC swoops on Agatha Christie estate
The BBC has moved to acquire the rights to Agatha Christie’s estate, clearing the way for a new adaptation starring David Walliams to be screened in time for the 125th anniversary of the writer’s birth.
Small screen adaptations of the crime writer’s work have been broadcast on ITV for the past 20 years; including Miss Marple and Poirot – famously brought to life by David Suchet.
The six-part BBC1 series, partners in Crime, will be set in the 1950s and will be based on two Christie novels; The Secret Adversary and N or M. In addition a new three-part take on And Then There Were None will form the centrepiece of the corporation’s 2015 Christmas schedule.
Walliams commented: “It is our ambition for Tommy and Tuppence to finally take their rightful place alongside Poirot and Marple as iconic Agatha Christie characters. They are among Christie's very best work."