Poldark’s Aidan Turner, famed for his topless scything in the Sunday night drama, will return to BBC1 to star in an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
Producers say this is the first time the book has been adapted into a British TV series. The drama is expected to be a centrepiece of the broadcaster’s Christmas schedule this year.
Turner will be part of an illustrious cast that includes Charles Dance, Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson, Anna Maxwell Martin and Toby Stephens.
The production, described as a “searingly modern” adaptation, is part of a recent deal between the BBC and Christie’s estate to bring some of the author’s best-known works to the small screen in the 125th anniversary of her birth.
Christie’s stories have largely been associated with ITV over the past two decades. The corporation’s commercial rival aired the long-running Poirot series, starring David Suchet, as well as its take on the Miss Marple mysteries.
The three-part series for the BBC is being produced by Mammoth Screen, the same company that made Poldark. Sources on the drama said And Then There Were None would be darker than Christie stalwarts Poirot and Marple and was more like a thriller. It is being adapted by Sarah Phelps, whose previous work includes the BBC’s 2011 costume drama Great Expectations.
The story is set in 1939 and sees 10 strangers invited to the isolated Soldier Island, near the Devon coast, by mysterious hosts Mr and Mrs UN Owen, who are absent when they arrive. Each of the guests is accused of a “terrible crime”. After one of them dies, the group realise there may be a murderer among them.
Turner will play Philip Lombard, a mercenary soldier with a murky past who is short on money. It will be his first UK TV appearance since Poldark, the finale of which was watched by 5.9 million viewers. Dance will appear as Justice Lawrence Wargrave, Neill as General John Macarthur and Maxwell Martin as Ethel Rogers.
Mathew Prichard, chairman of Agatha Christie Limited and the author’s grandson said: “I am so excited that this, the most iconic of Agatha Christie stories, is being made for television with this truly extraordinary cast. My grandmother would be thrilled to know that a new generation will be able to enjoy And Then There Were None when it appears on the BBC.”
Damien Timmer, managing director of Mammoth Screen, added: “We’re really proud to be working with Sarah Phelps on her searingly modern adaption of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece. With this extraordinary cast and director Craig Viveiros at the helm we’re treating it with the ambition and scale befitting one of the great classic novels of the 20th century.”
The programme is due to air in the US next year. The BBC has previously announced that David Walliams will star in a six-part series based on the adaption of two Christie books, set in the 1950s, called Partners In Crime, which is expected to air soon.
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