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Airdate: And Then There Were None

An all-star cast features in a miniseries based on Agatha Christie's best-selling novel of all time.

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Later this month BBC First will screen the 3 part US / UK mystery, And Then There Were None.

Based on Agatha Christie’s novel (originally titled Ten Little Niggers before being retitled in the US) it has sold over 100 million copies worldwide.

Airing in the UK in December, the cast features Sam Neill, 2 Aussies in Maeve Dermody and Noah Taylor plus Douglas Booth, Charles Dance, Aidan Turner and Miranda Richardson.

Adapted for the small screen by Sarah Phelps, it is directed by Craig Viveiros.

Voted in 2015 as the World’s Favourite Christie by fans in over 100 countries, And Then There Were None is a timeless story about ten strangers. A reckless playboy. A decrepit judge. A nervous businessman. An unhinged Harley Street doctor. A God-fearing spinster. A secretive governess. A guilt-ridden general. A remorseless mercenary and two anxious servants.

These individuals are drawn away from their normal lives to an isolated rock off the Devon coast. But as the mismatched group waits for the arrival of the hosts – the improbably named Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen – the weather sours and they find themselves cut off from civilisation.

Very soon, the guests, each struggling with their conscience, will start to die – one by one, according to the rules of the nursery rhyme ‘Ten Little Soldier Boys’ – a rhyme that hangs in every room of the house and ends with the most terrifying words of all: “…and then there were none.”

Arguably Christie’s most parodied work ­– the noteworthy examples include a Superman comic book that borrowed heavily from Christie’s plot and the animated television series Family Guy which produced a parody titled ‘And Then There Were Fewer’.

7:30pm Saturday April 23 on BBC First.

5 Responses

  1. Surprised it didn’t get a better slot than Saturday nights months after it’s UK airing. It benefitted hugely from airing on consecutive nights here in the UK – meant less temptation to read up on it and find out the likely ending.

    BBC drama on a real role at the moment – seems to be hit after hit after hit.

    2. Even though the book’s been around for decades, not everyone has read it or seen the movies based on the novel. So for those people, yes, your comment is a spoiler.

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