search
Donate

Communiqué

Retrace the Queen of Crime’s footsteps in AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND – January 24 at 10 pm


Posted on:

< < Back to

Explore the Fascinating World of Bestselling Novelist Agatha Christie

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND

Premieres Sunday, January 24 on PBS

Surpassed only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is the most successful writer of all time; her books have sold over a billion copies in English and a billion in translation. She wrote an astounding 66 murder mysteries, several plays including The Mousetrap -— the longest-running play of all time — and her classic works continue to be adapted for film and television. But how did a refined, upper-class British girl evolve into the queen of crime, poison, and murder?

Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie, the most successful writer of all time, wrote 66 murder mysteries and several plays, including the longest-running play ever, The Mousetrap.

A new special —  AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND — attempts to solve this mystery, exploring the life and times of the woman who transformed crime fiction and continues to win loyal readers across the globe. Narrated by Samantha Bond, the program is filled with clips from movies and television series based on Agatha Christie novels, as well as home movies and audio recordings of Christie. AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND premieres Sunday, January 24, 10:00-11:00 p.m. on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video app.

Agatha Christie with her first husband, Archie Christie.
Agatha Christie with her first husband, Archie Christie. Following the breakdown of their marriage, Christie mysteriously disappeared for 11 days, which became a national news story.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND explores how the settings of Christie’s stories and novels were, in fact, drawn from real places. There is no more quintessentially English writer than Christie. Through her sensational murder mysteries, she created a literary universe that almost singlehandedly shaped the world’s image of England. Retracing Christie’s footsteps, this new special visits Beacon Cove, where a young Agatha swam with her nephew when he narrowly escaped drowning, the memory of which would be reprised in her 1939 novel And Then There Were None. In Ealing, Christie witnessed her great-aunt, affectionately known as Granny, devouring local gossip and news of gruesome murder trials, the blueprint for the author’s fictional world of Miss Marple and the village of St Mary’s Mead. And the influx of Belgian refugees into her hometown of Torquay during World War I inspired another of Christie’s great characters, Hercule Poirot.

Agatha Christie walks the grounds of Greenway, her beloved country home, with her second husband Max Mallowan.
Agatha Christie (right) walks the grounds of Greenway, her beloved country home, with her second husband Max Mallowan.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND explores how the author drew on her surroundings and the people she encountered to create her extraordinary and timeless canon of work. Among the many stops during this tour are Ugbrook House, where she met first husband Archie; Abney Hall, the original inspiration for the author’s inimitable country house murder template; Brown’s Hotel, immortalized in 1965’s At Bertram’s Hotel; and her country retreat Greenway, the boathouse of which plays host to a scene in Dead Man’s Folly.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENGLAND is filmed, produced and directed by Toby Roebuck. Executive Producers are Jonathan Stadlen and Natalie von Hurter.