Hugh Laurie’s Agatha Christie adaptation on BritBox
February 8, 2022
BritBox UK has announced that Hugh Laurie’s three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, will launch exclusively on the streaming service this spring.
The series is commissioned by BritBox North America and produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited.
The cast features Will Poulter (The Revenant, Detroit, Dopesick) as Bobby Jones, a young naval officer, and Lucy Boynton (Murder On The Orient Express, Bohemian Rhapsody) as Frankie Derwent, a prototype It Girl with a taste for adventure and good hats. Jim Broadbent and Emma Thompson make cameo appearances in the pilot episode as Frankie’s parents, Lord and Lady Marcham.
The series opens with a fine Agatha Christie enigma: a man lies dying at the foot of a cliff, apparently the victim of an accidental fall; with his final breath, he utters the mysterious question of the title and promptly expires. Some people – perhaps most people – might shrug at the impenetrable oddness of the words and move on with their lives. But Bobby Jones and his childhood friend, Lady Frances Derwent, are not most people. They resolve to honour the dead man by deciphering, and then answering, his final question.
In addition to directing, Laurie will also portray Dr. Nicholson, the Clinical Director of the sanatorium near Merroway Court. Executive Produced by Emily Powers, Gina Cronk, and Jonathan Karas for BritBox North America, Produced by Claire Jones for Mammoth Screen, alongside Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler, and James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited.
Endeavor Content will handle international sales outside of the UK, Ireland and the Americas.