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Another ensemble cast is assembling for the next major Agatha Christie adaptation for the BBC and Amazon.
The ABC Murders, a three-part retelling of Christie’s 1936 classic and adapted by Sarah Phelps, will see John Malkovich in the lead as Hercule Poirot, with Rupert Grint (Harry Potter, Sick Note), Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch, The Honourable Woman), Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks, Chained), Tara Fitzgerald (Game of Thrones), Bronwyn James (Harlots) and Freya Mavor (The Sense of an Ending) also set to star. Further casting will soon be announced.
“The ABC Murders is one of my great grandmother’s most unsettling and intense stories and Hercule Poirot one of her most intriguing characters,” said James Prichard, executive producer and CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd. “I am humbled by the quality of cast we have lined up for the show and I am most excited to experience the unique approach John Malkovich will bring to the role in this thrilling one-off television adaptation.”
BAFTA-nominated writer Phelps returns to explore the 20th century through Christie’s work. This time the setting is the 1930s; a time when the nation is dangerously divided, with suspicion and hatred on the rise. In the midst of this tension, Poirot faces a serial killer known only as “A.B.C.” First the killer strikes in Andover, then Bexhill. As the murder count rises, the only clue is the copy of the ABC Railway Guide at each crime scene. Poirot’s investigations are thwarted at every turn by an enemy determined to outsmart him. If the detective is to match his nemesis, then everything about him will be called into question: his authority, integrity, past and identity.
“Set in the seething, suspicious early 1930s, ABC Murders is a brutal story of violence and lies, the long shadow of the past and the slaughter to come,” said Phelps. “At its center, one of the most familiar, famous characters in crime fiction. We may all think we know Poirot, but do we really know Hercule?”
Filming on the project is set to begin next month and will be directed by Alex Gabassi (The Frankenstein Chronicles, El Hipnotizador) and produced by BAFTA-nominated Farah Abushwesha (Irreplaceable You, The Party).
ABC Murders is a Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Ltd. production for BBC One. Executive producers are Phelps, Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler for Mammoth; Prichard and Basi Akpabio for Agatha Christie; and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for the BBC. Amazon has U.S. rights to the series, the second in a deal for seven dramas based on the author’s works.
The previous drama, Ordeal by Innocence, was forced to reshoot scenes after it recast Ed Westwick following allegations of sexual assault against the actor.
Endeavor Content will handle sales for The ABC Murders in all territories internationally.
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