The undisputed queen of whodunits, Agatha Christie’s works have been adapted to both the big and the small screen multiple times in the past, and Netflix’s new offering based on her work is potentially targeting a young viewer base with The Seven Dials Mystery.
Starring How To Have Sex breakout star and BAFTA Rising Star Award winner Mia McKenna-Bruce, the show is being developed by former Doctor Who show runner Chris Chibnall. Executive production team includes Chibnall, Suzanne Mackie, Andy Stebbing, Chris Sussman, and Chris Sweeney, who has also been tasked with directing the three-part series. Agatha Christie’s great-grandson James Prichard is one of the executive producers, via Agatha Christie Limited. The media company has been managing the literary and media rights to the eminent author’s works since 1955, since she founded it.
A release window is not known yet, although it’s difficult to see the series premiere before 2025 considering it started filming this summer.
In terms of cast, McKenna-Bruce is joined by British stalwarts Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. Bruce will portray the lead character of the smart and young detective Lady Eileen Brent aka. Bundle, with the aforementioned actors supporting her as Lady Caterham and Battle, respectively.
The plot of Christie’s story is centered around a practical joke gone wrong, as a man famously known for his sleeping prowess wakes up dead with eight alarm clocks programmed to sound around him. One of the clocks is found missing, which sends the amateur detective on the murderer’s trail.
Some of the recent movies based on Christie’s adaptations include Death on the Nile (2022), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Crooked House (2017), and A Haunting in Venice (2023). However, none of the films have managed to capture the audiences’ imagination, and Chibnall and his team will hope that they can change that trend with The Seven Dials Mystery.
