David Suchet was always going to be a tough act to follow in the iconic role of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective extraordinaire.
But after Kenneth Branagh took the plunge in Murder on the Orient Express, BBC1 has landed another Hollywood heavyweight for the leading role for their new TV adaptation of The ABC Murders: John Malkovich.
He’ll be joined in the adaptation by a starry supporting cast for the show, including Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint (aka red-headed, Christmas-jumper-toting Ron Weasley).
- Meet the cast of The ABC Murders
- Rupert Grint and John Malkovich exchange frosty words in first look at Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders
- What is on TV this Christmas?
Here’s everything we know so far about the show.
When is The ABC Murders on TV?
The ABC Murders will air over three consecutive nights at 9pm on BBC1 this Christmas, starting on Boxing Day (Wednesday 26th December).
Who is in the cast of The ABC Murders?
Hollywood legend John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich, In The Line Of Fire, Dangerous Liaisons) will lead the cast as Hercule Poirot.
Harry Potter star Ruper Grint will play Inspector Crome — hopefully a character similar to Inspector Japp, whom Poirot can bounce off.
Also cast in The ABC Murders are Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch’s Mark Latimer) as Franklin Clarke, in addition to Twin Peaks: The Return’s Eamon Farren in the part of Cust.
Tara Fitzgerald meanwhile plays Lady Hermione Clarke, Shirley Henderson is Rose Marbury, Jack Farthing is Donald Fraser, Bronwyn James appears in the role of Megan and Freya Mavor features as Thora Grey.
Is there a trailer for The ABC Murders?
Yes!
What is The ABC Murders about?
The three-part drama is written by Sarah Phelps, the same writer behind BBC Christie adaptations The Witness For the Prosecution, And Then There Were None and Ordeal by Innocence. The show is produced by Mammoth Screen, the production company behind Victoria and Poldark.
The show is based on Agatha Christies 1936 thriller, The ABC Murders. The story is about the race against time to stop a serial killer travelling the length and breadth of Britain in 1933. The killer strikes first at Andover and then Bexhill, leaving only one, intriguing, clue at each crime scene: a copy of The ABC Railway Guide.
“As Poirot attempts to investigate he is thwarted on every front,” the BBC teases in the official synopsis. “If he is to match his most cunning nemesis, everything about him will be called into question: his authority, his integrity, his identity.”
Phelps said, “Set in the seething, suspicious early 1930s, The ABC Murders is a brutal story of violence and lies, the long shadow of the past and the slaughter to come. At its centre, one of the most familiar, famous characters in crime fiction. We may all think we know Poirot but do we really know Hercule?”
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