MURDER IS EASY - wed 27&thur28. Bbc 1 9pm - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

The new drama (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/murder-is-easy-agatha-christie-bbc-trailer-newsupdate/) stars David Jonsson as Luke Fitzwill
iam, a man who is travelling on a train to London and meets Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton).

On their journey into the city, she notifies him of some mysterious deaths in her sleepy English village of Wychwood under Ashe.

Then, when she's later found dead on her way to Scotland Yard, Fitzwilliam takes it upon himself to travel to said village to see what's going on for himself.

Along the way, he's met with suspicion and intrigue, but wants to get to the bottom of the mystery before the killer has the chance to strike again. But will he be able to figure out who's responsible in time?

Alongside Jonsson is a cast (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/agatha-christie-murder-easy-first-look-newsupdate/) jam-packed with well-known talent, including Morfydd Clark (Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/rings-of-power-star-criticism-newsupdate/)
), Tom Riley (
The Nevers (https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-3y828c/the-nevers/)
) and more. Keen to learn more about the new Agatha Christie adaptation? Read on to find out.

The two-part series will premiere on BBC One and iPlayer on Wednesday 27th December at 9pm.

But for the keenest of Christie fans, both episodes will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer from 6am that day.

For those wanting to watch it across the two evenings, the final second episode will then air the following night, Thursday 28th December, at 9pm.

But remember this will be tv paced

The cast of the new adaptation is led by Rye Lane (https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/rye-lane-soundtrack/) and Industry star David Jonsson as Luke Fitzwilliam, who is keen to investigate the string of mysterious deaths happening in Wychwood under Ashe.

Jonsson is joined by Morfydd Clark as Bridget, Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/downton-abbey-return-season-7-newsupdate/)) as Miss Pinkerton, Mark Bonnar (Guilt (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/guilt-season-4-explained/)) as Reverend Humbleby and Douglas Henshall (Shetland (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/shetland-season-9-release-date-bbc/)) as Major Horton, plus more.

Of course, as with any Christie tale, there's a batch of characters who we'll come to learn about over the episodes, and who may well be suspects in this twisty murder case.

The full cast for Murder Is Easy is as follows.
• David Jonsson as Fitzwilliam
• Morfydd Clark as Bridget
• Penelope Wilton as Miss Pinkerton
• Sinead Mat
thews as Miss Waynflete

•	

Tom Riley as Lord Whitfield

•	

Douglas Henshall as Major Horton

•	

Mathew Baynton as Dr Thomas

•	

Mark Bonnar as Reverend Humbleby

•	

Nimra Bucha as Mrs Humbleby

•	

Tamzin Outhwaite as Mrs Pierce

•	

Jon Pointing as Rivers

•	

Phoebe Licorish as Rose

I said to my DH that it's not really Christmas until there's an unnecessary shot of an extremely handsome Agatha Christie male character without his top on. See also Aidan Turner in And Then There Were None.

I haven't seen any other version

Dull. Like a bad radio play

Is it too obvious it's the doctor

I thought it was awful. Previous Christies on the BBC have been dark, rather nasty and usually stylish. This felt more like a Miss Marple on ITV at teatime or Midsomer Murders . I know lots of MN like Ghosts but it is , after all, a cosy sitcom and this was like watching Ghosts. I guess the casting of Baynton was a clue to tone. Scenery chewing acting, garish primary colour palette, a weak lead (who looks 15 at times?). What on earth was Mark Bonnar thinking? Easy money?

Disappointing - some Christie purists will never like adaptations meddling with plots and characters but , if done well, it can be totally forgotten about. This was just badly done.

I’m enjoying it, but I love Miss Marple type stories and this has that feel.

I enjoyed it, it was a fresh and colourful take on a fairly textbook Christie.

Yes, definite ITV Marple vibes! The high colour, the hammy/jokey tone. I’m just going to take it on that basis and enjoy it as a bit of fluff. But holding ATTWN as the height of AC quality productions, the BBC have really lost it.
I do like the way they’ve managed to introduce BME characters, to shake up the inevitable completely white casting requirements, but without pretending to be ‘colour blind’. The story feels pretty thin as a flagship Xmas AC adaptation, so this is adding some more storylines which helps.
After tonight’s second part I’m going to dig out ATTWN to get back to a really dark Christie story though!

Not watched this yet , not many appear to like it but I'll give it a go .

I gave up before the end - too much BBC tick boxing, poor acting from some and the tone was all wrong. I felt embarrassed for some really good actors...then again I guess this was a nice payday for them - school fees paid for a year.

I'm glad it wasn't just me! I couldn't decide if they were trying to play it for laughs sometimes - Douglas Henshall's character, for example seemed like a deliberate pastiche.

I'd far rather that an Agatha Christie-type story was either completely OTT (like Knives Out, for example), or played dead straight.

And it could easily have been a 30 minute episode. Far too many 'deep and meaningful' glances at the camera.

Not even sure we'll be tuning in for the next episode to be honest.

One thing though - I have to take issue with your comment @1975wasthebest about it being too woke. Not really sure why you have a problem with a black man being the main character?

(I'm assuming btw, that's what you meant about 'woke', as I couldn't see anything else about it that could possibly be described as such)

No, that’s not what I mean about woke. Here, the woke was about the clunky references and symbolism to the evils of the empire and colonialism. The conversations Luke has with his Nigerian friends about pride and obligation. It was all very boring and inappropriate.

I thought the change of the main character from an ex-colonial policeman in the book to a Nigerian attaché worked quite well. I thought it added an interesting dynamic and they fitted it into the original story well.

I think perhaps this illustrates how very good Sarah Phelps is at adapting Christie.

I couldn't care less about the so called wokeness. Many people won't know the original anyway. That conversation is running on two threads now so perhaps leave that to the other one, and this one for commenting in the programme at face value, otherwise it hijacks both threads. Telly Addicts does seem to attract the anti woke police now...

@1975wasthebest But colonialism is quite a feature of her books? Both in her attitudes towards the colonies, the number of stories set there and the colonial links many characters have. You can also trace changing views of the colonies through the course of her work. I'm also not sure it's woke to think that colonialism was a bad thing!

I don’t think it was a feature of this book, was it? It’s why and how certain elements are introduced in some TV shows (when they don’t need to be) that intrigues me, and it’s usually to suit a tedious agenda.

Take the point from earlier this thread is being derailed.

I really wanted to like it. I'm a life long Christie fan and this gave me Marple vibes. But the casting wasn't brilliant. I like the switch for main character but the cast wasn't right and acting at times odd.

Ah well. It killed a couple of hours. On the whole enjoyable.

I'm not sure what you mean about Sarah Phelps because this adaptation isn't by her. It's by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre.

I knew it didn't look like England (particularly the big house). It was filmed in Scotland.

I enjoyed it. I don't know this particular story though and I don't usually like it when the storyline are messed about with. I think the main character being Nigerian works well. It has a Christie-like mood.
Can't abide Kenneth Branagh's Poirot films.

That's exactly what I meant! People are comparing it to And Then There Were None which was Phelps and a gazillion times better.

Which is presumably why Bonnar and Henshall are in it...nice commute, easy money...

Oh good, I hoped that is what you meant. Sarah Phelps was busy last year writing the superb The Sixth Commandment instead.

Oh, she is very talented. Shame she can't do everything.