What could be more of an Easter treat than a new Agatha Christie? This week, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, an adaptation of Christie’s 1934 novel, launched on BritBox. Written and directed by Hugh Laurie, it’s a stylish, sparky romp that plays out as an Evelyn Waugh-style comedy of manners. Bright young leads Will Poulter and Lucy Boynton’s fizzing, flirtatious dialogue recalls a screwball romance.
This represents a marked departure from recent small-screen efforts. The trend in the past decade was towards darker, more hard-hitting, morally murky Christie. The five memorable BBC mini-series by award-winning screenwriter Sarah Phelps, which aired between 2015 and 2020 – And Then There Were None, The Witness for the Prosecution, Ordeal By Innocence, The ABC Murders and The Pale Horse – upset traditionalists (although the critics were generally more effusive) by turning down the lights but turning up the swearing and sex.
Phelps always argued that this black heart was beating in the books all along. The prolific author’s 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections are full of violent imagery, harsh judgment and subversive social commentary. Phelps believed Christie’s murder mysteries were “dressing” for bigger, murkier themes of greed, power, corruption and lies.
Of course, Christie suffered her fair share of problems. Her father died when she was 11. She worked in medicine during both world wars, picking up her extensive knowledge of poisons. In 1926, she disappeared for 11 days, due to what is widely believed to be a nervous breakdown.
This seemingly privileged socialite was drawn to the dark side. Fascinated by our capacity for evil, she wrote about serial killers, stabbing, strangling and brutal bludgeoning. She told tense tales of family dysfunction, child death and, as Phelps described it, “the quotidian savagery of marriage”.
