Vicars, tennis and a black sleuth… it would be a mystery if the BBC hadn’t updated Agatha Christie
Martha Gill
Feminism, folk horror and an outsider hero: how I brought Agatha Christie’s Murder Is Easy to the small screen
Perfect escapism: why cosy crime stories are a Christmas essential
Agatha Christie’s family welcome diversity in new BBC adaptation
November 2023
Dagger awards adds categories for ‘cosy crime’ and psychological thrillers
The annual Crime Writers’ Association awards wanted to acknowledge the changing tastes of readers ‘looking for the next thrill, the next murderous innovation’
September 2023
A Haunting in Venice review – Branagh improves on his Agatha Christie formula
With smart casting and suitably murky Venice setting, the director improves on last year’s Death on the Nile, though his moustache-fondling Poirot remains the same
Agatha Christie statue takes seat on bench in Oxfordshire town
Memorial by Ben Twiston-Davies is sited in Wallingford, where the mystery writer lived for more than 40 years
A Haunting in Venice review – Branagh’s Agatha Christie whodunnit given horror makeover
No amount of spooky jump-scares can save Kenneth Branagh’s latest Christie adaptation, which wastes its atmospheric setting and stellar cast
July 2023
Jane Birkin: a tremendous screen presence with a gift for creative collaboration
Peter Bradshaw
Birkin made a sensational impact in Blow-Up, and went on to become a classy performer for a number of major French directors – notably Godard and Agnès Varda
May 2023
Crossword blog
Crosswords that are too puzzling and an Agatha Christie mystery
We consider clues that are harder than they were supposed to be and Hugh Laurie’s TV adaptation of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
April 2023
From the Guardian archive
The Orient Express makes its final run to Istanbul – archive, 1977
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Obsession; Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?; Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields; Colin from Accounts – review
March 2023
Agatha Christie novels reworked to remove potentially offensive language
Top 10s
Top 10 criminal duos in fiction
February 2023
Top 10s
Top 10 cads in fiction
Dangerously handsome young men carelessly ruining women’s lives are a rarer breed than they were. But their hatefulness still makes compelling reading
January 2023
Audiobook of the week
Marple: Twelve New Stories by various authors audiobook review – the sleuth reimagined
A dozen acclaimed authors, including Val McDermid and Naomi Alderman, create new mysteries for Agatha Christie’s detective to solve
December 2022
Weekend
Weekend podcast: best of 2022 – part 1
Guess who? Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Sophie Hannah and other crime writers reveal their favourite detectives
November 2022
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: World Cup 2022; David Baddiel: Jews Don’t Count; Wednesday; Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen
The Mousetrap: Agatha Christie’s West End hit to make Broadway debut after 70 years
