Modernizing a classic: The evolution of Agatha Christie onscreen

The Queen Of Crime has cast a long shadow over the world of entertainment for decades.

By Lacy Baugher Milas  |  October 12, 2026 | 9:00am
Agatha Christie's Seven Dials (Photo: Netflix), Agatha Christie's Poirot (Photo: BritBox/ITV), The Pale Horse (Photo: Prime Video)
Film Features Agatha Christie
Modernizing a classic: The evolution of Agatha Christie onscreen

Agatha Christie is a British institution. A shockingly prolific writer, she wrote 66 novels, 154 short stories, and 20 plays. The bestselling novelist of all time and the third most widely published author—her books rank just slightly behind William Shakespeare and The Bible—her work has sold roughly 2 billion copies worldwide and been published in over 100 languages. But she’s not just in bookshops. Her influence can be felt far and wide in the world of entertainment too.

There have been (at least) 300 adaptations of Christie’s stories, from feature films and television series to stage plays, radio dramas, and even video games. These projects have brought some of her most iconic characters to life, featured some of the greatest actors of multiple generations, and perfected the art of depicting the puzzle-box whodunit onscreen. Yet, because we keep returning to these stories again and again—And Then There Were None has been adapted at least a dozen times in various formats—they not only reflect the specific interests of the cultural moments in which they were created, evolving from star-studded mysteries and prestige series to cozy comfort viewing and subversive reimaginings that wrestle with more contemporary themes. 

Let’s take a look back at the way that Christie’s work has been interpreted and re-interpreted over the past near-century, from a TV movie that Christie wrote herself to BritBox’s brand new, very modern take on Agatha Christie’s Tommy And Tuppence. 

The Wasp’s Nest (1937)

The only film that Christie herself adapted for television, The Wasp’s Nest is based on a Hercule Poirot short story in which the detective attempts to stop a murder before it even happens. It stars Francis L. Sullivan as Poirot and was only broadcast in the London area due to the technical restrictions of the time. It was not recorded, and the film is considered lost media. In fact, the only evidence of its existence is a Radio Times listing and a three-line review in The Observer. (Feels like a case for Poirot to solve!) Luckily, Christie’s script survived and is available to be used by stage productions. If you’re curious about the story itself, you can find it in the U.K. anthology Poirot’s Early Cases.

Three Blind Mice (1947)

Originally a radio play penned by Christie at the request of Queen Mary as a present for her 80th birthday, Three Blind Mice was inspired by a real-life 1945 news case about abuse in foster care. While no text or recording of this original radio play exists, its story was developed into a 30-minute BBC TV short directed by Barrie Edgar and later into an episode of the CBS anthology series Sure As Fate. But most people likely know this mystery by another name—The Mousetrap. Christie ultimately turned her radio play into a short story and, later, a stage play, which is still running in London’s West End today.

Witness For The Prosecution (1957)

Widely regarded as one of the best adaptations of Christie’s works in any format, Billy Wilder’s star-studded feature film version of Witness For The Prosecution nabbed six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. Wilder’s more daring directorial flair is a great fit for the twisty story about the murder of a wealthy widow, and the cast features Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, and Elsa Lancaster.

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)

Is this the most famous Christie film adaptation? Maybe. It’s almost assuredly the one that most people know the ending to prior to seeing it, and yet that foreknowledge dulls none of Murder On The Orient Express’ many delights. Albert Finney garnered an Oscar nomination for his theatrical turn as Poirot, sporting heavy prosthetics and an intense accent. (Fun fact: Christie herself apparently liked this adaptation, save for the fact that she didn’t think that Finney’s mustache was impressive enough.) Directed by Sydney Lumet, the supporting cast is full of stars, including Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, and Anthony Perkins. 

Death On The Nile (1978)

Peter Ustinov’s warm, witty take on Poirot isn’t particularly book accurate, but the 1978 feature film version of Death On The Nile is entertaining enough that you probably won’t mind much. An intricate mystery that revolves around the murder of an heiress on a luxury cruise, the film’s starry supporting cast includes Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, and Mia Farrow. It was shot on location in northern and southern Egypt (including at a hotel where Christie herself stayed while writing the novel) and won an Oscar for its lavish costume design. 

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1980)

The first Christie adaptation to be produced after her death, this version of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Is notable for several reasons. It marked the return of Christie’s work to British TV—the author wasn’t a fan of the medium, having been particularly irked by a sloppy 1949 production of And Then There Were None, which featured several glaring errors. Though the three-hour miniseries ended up being broadcast as a single special, its notable cast—which included Francesca Annis, John Gielgud, James Warwick, and Eric Porter— and attention to detail were a success with audiences and critics alike, and influenced many of the adaptations that came after it, including Miss Marple, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and more. 

Miss Marple (1984-1992)  

Many women have played Miss Marple over the years, including Geraldine McEwan, Angela Lansbury, Julia McKenzie, Margaret Rutherford, Helen Hayes, and Gracie Fields. But it’s Joan Hickson who is widely accepted as the best version of Christie’s beloved spinster who solves crimes in between knitting and faithfully going to church. (Even Christie herself said she had always envisioned Hickson in the role.) 

Hickson starred in the BBC’s Miss Marple, which ran for eight years and adapted all 12 of Christie’s original Marple novels. An octogenarian herself during most of the series’ production, she delivers a performance that is a deft blend of sharp intelligence and quiet gentleness, as befits a woman who solves crimes primarily through her powers of observation. (Well, that, and the fact that everyone constantly underestimates her.) The series is considered a much more faithful and traditional version of the author’s works than Agatha Christie’s Marple, which premiered in 2004 and freely shuffled pieces from various stories around, even going so far as to insert Miss Marple into mysteries that Christie did not originally write for her. 

Agatha Christie’s Poirot (1989-2010)

When you say “Agatha Christie adaptation,” the 1989 series Agatha Christie’s Poirot is likely the first that crosses most people’s minds. Essentially the Platonic ideal of what an adaptation of Christie’s work should look like, the series was remarkably faithful to both the author’s text and its beloved Belgian detective’s character. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that it starred David Suchet, an actor who has essentially become synonymous with the role in the years since the ITV series (which aired on PBS Masterpiece in the U.S.) premiered.

He played the character for 24 years, ultimately starring in every single Poirot novel and short story, including the TV series’ 2013 finale, Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case. The actor even wrote a memoir about his multi-year journey alongside the character, which chronicles the extensive preparation he did to play Poirot. The very likable Edward Bluemel is preparing to play a young Poirot in the BBC and BritBox’s forthcoming prequel series, Hercule, but it’s Suchet’s performance against which he’ll truly be judged.

The Pale Horse (2020)

Long-running series like Miss Marple and Agatha Christie’s Poirot were comfort viewing for many in the 1980s, 1990s, and well into the early 2000s. Bolstered by a near-constant presence on local PBS stations, these particular adaptations were warm, familiar favorites that hewed predictably close to their source material. Writer Sarah Phelps decided to shake all that up with her series of darker, grittier Christie stories, which purposefully leaned into psychological tension and moral complexity. Her 2015 take on And Then There Were None and its 2016 follow-up, Witness For The Prosecution, were both buzzy and bloody, but the 2020 two-parter The Pale Horse stands as a truly unique Christie series from this period.

One of the less frequently adapted Christie stories, likely thanks to an occult-tinged mystery that wrestles with fear, superstition, and the power of belief as much as it does murder, this take on The Pale Horse stars Rufus Sewell and Kaya Scodelario and is not particularly faithful to the letter of its source material. But it’s remarkably true to its spirit, albeit jazzed up a bit with some swear words and sex. 

Murder Is Easy (2023)

BritBox’s latest wave of Agatha Christie streaming adaptations has a decidedly more modern feel and a goal of shaking up the existing canon in interesting new ways, often focusing on diverse casting choices and gender dynamics. Christie’s work is, after all, a product of her time, and can include xenophobic characterizations and some language that modern readers might find offensive when it comes to race and/or gender. Murder Is Easy, released in 2022, reimagines protagonist Luke Fitzwilliam as a Nigerian diplomat who ends up investigating a murder in 1950s England. In addition to its traditional country village mystery, the two-part drama also explores post-colonial racial politics and the immigrant experience in post-war Britain. 

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (2026)

Netflix’s fizzy adaptation of The Seven Dials Mystery puts Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, one of Christie’s lesser-known sleuths, front and center in a period mystery with a surprisingly contemporary feel. A plucky Bright Young Thing who decides to solve a murder after her friend/crush is killed, Bundle feels a bit ahead of her time (and perhaps a bit too good for the uneven pair of stories in which she stars). Unlike its source material, this Seven Dials overtly embraces both contemporary and feminist politics, and its brisk pace keeps the occasionally labyrinthine plot moving. But the real star here is Mckenna Grace, whose Bundle feels like a modern Christie heroine for a new generation. 

Agatha Christie’s Tommy And Tuppence (2026)

BritBox’s latest Christie adaptation is the thoroughly charming Tommy And Tuppence, a purposefully modern update on the Queen Of Crime’s famous pair of married detectives and the only characters she allowed to age in real time across their various adventures. The first contemporary-set adaptation of this story, Tommy And Tuppence recasts our leads as a pair of young exes thrown back into one another’s orbit at a mutual friend’s wedding (where, of course, a murder has occurred). 

Familiar modern-day additions like cell phones and search engines add an intriguing new layer to their investigations, and setting the show while the pair’s relationship status is still in flux means plenty of opportunity for yearning. (It certainly doesn’t hurt that stars Josh Dylan and Antonia Thomas are adorable together.) It’s easy to imagine these two solving cases while engaging in will-they/won’t-they banter for years to come.

 
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