Netflix show Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials hopes to introduce queen of crime to new generation
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Mia McKenna-Bruce in Agatha Christie's Seven Dials.
PHOTO: NETFLIX
LONDON – Makers of the new Netflix series Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials hope to introduce the queen of crime, the iconic English author of more than 60 mystery novels, to a new generation.
The three-part show premiering on Jan 15 is based on Christie’s 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery and stars English actress Mia McKenna-Bruce (Persuasion, 2022; How To Have Sex, 2023) as a bright young aristocrat, Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent.
When a guest dies in suspicious circumstances during a glitzy gathering at her country mansion, Bundle takes it upon herself to find out what happened. Her wits, determination and seven clocks left on the scene lead her to a shadowy scheme.
“The fact that Bundle’s kind of leading the charge, this young, fearless, feisty girl, something that we haven’t seen very much of, I think that really gives it a new, exciting feel,” said McKenna-Bruce, 28, at the London premiere on Jan 13, the day after the 50th anniversary of Christie’s death at age 85.
The whodunnit also stars Helena Bonham Carter as Bundle’s mother and Martin Freeman in the role of Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Battle.
(From left) Helena Bonham Carter, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Martin Freeman at the London premiere of Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials on Jan 13.
PHOTO: NETFLIX
The show has “a lot of energy and it’s done with a lot of gusto”, said English actress Bonham Carter, 59.
The engine for that energy is Bundle, whom director Chris Sweeney described as a “cannonball of a person”.
Unlike a typical country house mystery where there is a lot of sitting and talking, Bundle is always moving, he said.
Mia McKenna-Bruce in Agatha Christie's Seven Dials.
PHOTO: NETFLIX
With writer Chris Chibnall, Sweeney also set out to energise the story with a vivid depiction of the era. “It takes place in September 1925, in the shadow of war, but also with lots of bright young things who are partying through the 1920s,” said Chibnall.
Famous for characters like Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and amateur sleuth Miss Marple, Christie became the world’s best-selling fiction writer with more than two billion copies sold.
“If this show can be the gateway to introduce a whole new generation to Agatha Christie’s books and adaptations, that would be a joy. It would be repaying all the joy that she’s brought to my life and billions of readers,” said Chibnall. REUTERS
