Murder is Easy Adaptation Ordered for BBC One, BritBox

The BBC and BritBox International have co-commissioned an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy from Mammoth Screen (The Serpent) and Agatha Christie Limited (And Then There Were None).

In the thriller, Luke Fitzwilliam meets Miss Pinkerton, who informs him that a killer is on the loose in a small English village, but its inhabitants believe the deaths are just accidents. When Miss Pinkerton is found dead on her way to Scotland Yard, Fitzwilliam realizes that murder is easy for the killer, and he must catch them quickly.

Filming will begin for the adaptation later this year. It will air on BBC One and iPlayer, as well as on BritBox International’s streaming service in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Fifth Season will handle international sales outside of the U.K., North America and South Africa.

Murder is Easy is being adapted for the screen by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and directed by Meenu Gaur (Zinda Bhaag, World on Fire). Executive producers are Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Damien Timmer and James Gandhi for Mammoth Screen, Jenny Frayn for the BBC and Reemah Sakaan and Stephen Nye for BritBox International.

“I’ve watched every Agatha Christie adaptation out because Christie wrote for the world and the whole world loves her back,” Ejiwunmi-Le Berre said. “But somehow I’d never read one of her novels. When I first read Murder is Easy, I couldn’t believe how daring, experimental and furious the book was. Nothing like I’d expected. From the first read, the book was shouting at me how to enter and adapt it, and what’s so exciting is having everyone at Mammoth Screen and ACL jump right in there with me. It’s like going on an extended train journey with a genius sat next to you, whispering the secrets of storytelling into your ear.”

“I am part of the worldwide club of Agatha Christie’s fans and followers, and therefore thrilled to be shaping one of her works for the screen,” Gaur said. “I was drawn to the sassy, cool, witty and not-to-be-messed with women of Murder is Easy and blown away again by how delightful her characters are.”

Prichard, executive producer for Agatha Christie Limited, commented, “This is one of my great-grandmother’s best and most disconcerting titles. Of course, murder isn’t easy. Or is it if you live in a traditional, unsuspecting English village?”

Gandhi, executive producer for Mammoth Screen, said, “Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre has written an extraordinary adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, putting the post-war, quintessentially English village under the magnifying glass and exposing the secrets that lurk beneath the picture perfect surface of Wychwood under Ashe. With the amazing Meenu Gaur directing, this adaptation will captivate and delight audiences.”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama says: “Agatha Christie on the BBC has become a classic combination, and in Murder is Easy, we have one of the Queen of Crime’s finest page-turners in a new adaptation that both speaks to us today and honors her incredible talent for brilliantly entertaining, skillfully told mystery,” noted Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama. “BBC One and iPlayer viewers will be gripped.”

Reemah Sakaan, CEO of BritBox International, added, “We are thrilled to partner again with Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited to adapt another gripping Agatha Christie title, working with the BBC and a world-class production team. This new co-commission underlines BritBox International’s standing as a major home of Agatha Christie programming, offering new adaptations like Murder is Easy and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?—with more of these to come–and the largest collection of much-loved Christie classics in our markets.”