Agatha Christie
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Stylish Films: A Haunting In Venice
Last weekend, Kenneth Branagh returned with his latest Agatha Christie adaptation. A Haunting in Venice is based (very loosely it must be said) on Agatha’s ‘Halloween Party’, one of her lesser known books, , and the reviews are showing that this adaptation may well be his best yet. Branagh is definitely growing into the role of Poirot with each outing, and this thriller has supernatural elements that make it more of a chiller, a real treat as those Autumn nights draw in. Loyal fans of Agatha will recognise elements of the original Halloween Party, including key character names like Joyce Reynolds and Rowena Drake. The action does take place at…
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Stylish Television: Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
I had rather an up and down Easter, with glorious sunshine to start my weekend, and rain upon rain to end it. But despite all this, it was rather wonderful, as with Magpie Murders on Saturday night on BBC1, and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? starting for three nights on ITV I had some classic modern television to keep me warm and occupied. Why Didn’t You Ask Evans? is one of Agatha Christie’s stand alone novels, not featuring Marple, Poirot or any of her other, lesser known detectives. It has been dramatised as part of the Marple series in 2009, with Miss Marple shoehorned into the episode (rather successfully I…
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Another Agatha Christie Trail
Last year I was lucky enough to pay two visits to Agatha Christie’s neck of the woods, that is, the English Riviera area of Devon. This is my second post featuring some of the places you can visit to enjoy Agatha, without having to pay an entrance fee (you can find the first here.) Galmpton -The Greenway Walk Galmpton is one of the nearest villages to Greenway, Agatha Christie’s holiday home, and is a gorgeous place to visit for a Sunday lunch. Galmpton has links to Agatha, and if you look around the village you can see signs which highlight the Greenway walk, a 1 and 3/4 walk to the…
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The Mousetrap At The Alexandra: The Classic Whodunit Returns To Brum
The most iconic whodunit of all time? That would have to be The Mousetrap, the Agatha Christie classic which has been thrilling audiences for 70 years, and is the longest running West End show of them all. Last night it had its press night in Birmingham at The Alexandra Theatre, and, although I, along with the rest of the audience, have been sworn to secrecy about who-actually-did-it, I can say it is a gloriously entertaining piece of theatre that has its tongue more than firmly in cheek. The snow is beating down, and Monkswell Hall Guest House is welcoming its first visitors, unfortunately, one of them may just be a…
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An Agatha Christie Trail
It is hard to go to Devon without noticing the influence and presence of Agatha Christie. She was born in Torquay and spent her early life there, getting married to first husband Archie there and spending their honeymoon in the towns Grand Hotel. She often featured places from Devon in her books, most notably in Dead Man’s Folly, which featured an instantly recognisable Greenway, her holiday home in Galmpton, situated in an idyllic spot on the River Dart, and now open to the public through the National Trust. Devon is home to the Official Agatha Christie Theatre Company, based at Torquay’s Princess Theatre, and to the International Agatha Christie Festival,…
