Agatha Christie would ‘welcome changing race’ of protagonist in BBC adaptation, says great-grandson
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Agatha Christie would have welcomed the decision to change the race of the protagonist in a new BBC adaptation, her great-grandson has suggested.
The famous mystery writer’s 1939 book Murder Is Easy is the latest in a string of adaptations which have altered elements of her work, and the previously white main character is played by a black actor.
Christie would have welcomed the casting decision and supported “radical” adaptations, her great-grandson has said.
James Pritchard, executive producer for Agatha Christie Limited, the company which holds rights to her work, said programme-makers had “a degree of license to change things”.
He added: “I also believe these are adaptations, not translations, and you are always looking at the story from where you are now, 90 years after this was first written.”
Mr Pritchard said his great-grandmother accepted that adapting books for the screen often required changes to the story, saying: “The first few adaptations of her plays were done by other people, and she didn’t like them because she didn’t think they were radical enough for the change in medium.”
In the latest BBC adaptation of a Christie work, the lead role of Luke Fitzwilliam is played by British actor David Jonsson, who in 2022 was named best actor at the Black British Theatre Awards.
Fitzwilliam, played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a 2009 series, is tasked with investigating reports of a serial killer in a sleepy English village.
The series starring Dame Penelope Wilton was adapted by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, who has written radio plays for the BBC.
Recent BBC adaptations of Christie’s work have proven controversial, with some fans aghast that a 2015 version of And Then There Were None contained swearing and sex scenes which were not found in the novel.
The three-part series was one of a number of adaptations by TV writer Sarah Phelps, whose tinkering provoked the ire of Christie devotees, who took exception to changes which included one murderer being switched for another character.
Phelps defended her work in 2020, saying: “Yes, of course I’ve taken liberties. Have I changed a load of stuff? Yeah, of course I have, loads and loads and loads of stuff. Otherwise you’d have 30 hours of TV and would you want to watch it? No.
“But, you always go for the beating heart of what she’s getting at.”
While her great-grandson has said that Christie preferred radical changes when adapting her work for another medium, the author herself was unsatisfied with the film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express starring Albert Finney, which came out two years before her death in 1976.
Christie disapproved of the modesty of the detective’s facial hair, saying: “I wrote that my detective had the finest moustache in England, but he didn’t in the film. I thought that was a pity. Why shouldn’t he have the best moustache?”
This was later corrected by Sir Kenneth Branagh in his 2017 adaptation of the same novel, in which he ensured that he sported a large moustache when playing the role of Poirot.
As screen adaptations have deviated from the original work of Christie, reissued editions of her novels and stories have also been altered for a modern audience.
The Telegraph revealed in March that a range of her republished books were reworked for modern sensitivities, with Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries purged of potentially offensive passages by HarperCollins.
The character of a British tourist venting her frustration at a group of children was removed from a recent reissue, while a number of references to people smiling and comments on their teeth and physiques, were also erased.
Mr Pritchard was speaking to Radio Times for its Christmas issue.
