Having been produced for Britbox last year, Hugh Laurie's adaptation of the Agatha Christie story aired on ITV around Easter of 2023, which is when I saw it. There were aspects of it that I loved but I felt one fairly major failing too.
Bobby Jones (Will Poulter) and Lady Frankie Derwent (Lucy Boynton) investigate the 'accidental' death of a man, who fell from the cliffs of the small Welsh town they live in. Their light-hearted probe turns serious when there is an attempt on Bobby's life. They track a man who was in the village that day, Roger Bassington-ffrench (Daniel Ings) back to his family home and decide to go in undercover.
I liked the presentation of this. There's some lovely 1930's cars and clothes. Laurie calls in a few favours with the cast, including a single but impactful scene from Emma Thompson and a couple of scenes with Jim Broadbent as Lord and Lady Derwent. The rest of the performers are really good, and it feels like a classic ITV Agatha Christie ensemble. Morwenna Banks, Conleth Hill, Miles Jupp, Paul Whitehouse, Amy Nuttall and Alistair Petrie round it out. There's a great chemistry between Poulter and Boynton, and Boynton especially is magnetic throughout, funny, and charming and she's clearly a star.
I think the plot of the story is perhaps a little too complicated for the speed that it's run through though. I think I followed what happened and reading the plot of the story again on Wikipedia I did manage it. I do think that perhaps "show rather than tell" would be the way to go, as there are several scenes of Jones and Derwent putting together what happened that could have done with a bit more video explaining who they were talking about.
Unfortunately, I'd have though that with Marvel stardom coming for Poulter, and for Boynton already having a pretty busy film and TV career, were not likely to see the couple reunite for another adaptation, which is sad. What we have is a good, if not perhaps great time, but one that's worth going with, if only for the performances.
Bobby Jones (Will Poulter) and Lady Frankie Derwent (Lucy Boynton) investigate the 'accidental' death of a man, who fell from the cliffs of the small Welsh town they live in. Their light-hearted probe turns serious when there is an attempt on Bobby's life. They track a man who was in the village that day, Roger Bassington-ffrench (Daniel Ings) back to his family home and decide to go in undercover.
I liked the presentation of this. There's some lovely 1930's cars and clothes. Laurie calls in a few favours with the cast, including a single but impactful scene from Emma Thompson and a couple of scenes with Jim Broadbent as Lord and Lady Derwent. The rest of the performers are really good, and it feels like a classic ITV Agatha Christie ensemble. Morwenna Banks, Conleth Hill, Miles Jupp, Paul Whitehouse, Amy Nuttall and Alistair Petrie round it out. There's a great chemistry between Poulter and Boynton, and Boynton especially is magnetic throughout, funny, and charming and she's clearly a star.
I think the plot of the story is perhaps a little too complicated for the speed that it's run through though. I think I followed what happened and reading the plot of the story again on Wikipedia I did manage it. I do think that perhaps "show rather than tell" would be the way to go, as there are several scenes of Jones and Derwent putting together what happened that could have done with a bit more video explaining who they were talking about.
Unfortunately, I'd have though that with Marvel stardom coming for Poulter, and for Boynton already having a pretty busy film and TV career, were not likely to see the couple reunite for another adaptation, which is sad. What we have is a good, if not perhaps great time, but one that's worth going with, if only for the performances.