{"id":42625,"date":"2023-12-27T20:00:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T19:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1946880"},"modified":"2023-12-27T20:22:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T19:22:43","slug":"murder-is-easy-screenwriter-explains-changes-from-agatha-christie-novel","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/murder-is-easy-screenwriter-explains-changes-from-agatha-christie-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder Is Easy screenwriter explains changes from Agatha Christie novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Si\u00e2n Ejiwunmi-Le Berre has brought the Christie tale to life for the new BBC series. <\/p>

By Morgan Cormack\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 27 December 2023 at 19:00 PM<\/p>

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If you\u2019re a fan of the long list of Agatha Christie<\/a> novels, chances are that you\u2019ll have spotted some changes to her novels over the years, as they\u2019ve been the basis for countless TV and film adaptations.<\/p>\n

In BBC\u2019s Murder Is Easy<\/a>, though, there are some noticeable changes from the source material \u2013 with some aspects remaining to provide an Alfred Hitchcock element to the tale.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other press at a screening of the first episode, screenwriter Si\u00e2n Ejiwunmi-Le Berre revealed that most notable change is the identity and career of lead character, Luke Fitzwilliam.<\/p>\n

She explained: \u201cThe lead character is no longer a policeman, I didn\u2019t want him to be a policeman. In the original, obviously Luke Fitzwilliam is a white man, he is a returning colonial police officer from a fictional place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the book, Christie describes him as being \u2018brown\u2019. Now, I am a brown woman and when I think about men, I don\u2019t necessarily think about white men initially, and I just started thinking about him as a Black person, pretty much from the get-go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to put it in the \u201850s, and my grandfather came over in the \u201830s, and my father came over in the early \u201860s and I really wanted to talk about their experience as Black immigrants in the year where we\u2019re celebrating Windrush, which is a narrative we know very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to talk about the other Black entries into this country and how that happened. So that is one very obvious change.\u201d<\/p>

The new series sees Rye Lane<\/a>\u2018s David Jonsson take the lead as Luke Fitzwilliam, who isn\u2019t a police officer, but is just a regular man who meets Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton) and is informed of her suspicions about her village murderer.<\/p>\n

When she winds up dead herself, Fitzwilliam takes it upon himself to travel to the village to uncover the truth for himself.<\/p>\n

\"David\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
David Jonsson as Luke Fitzwilliam. BBC\/Mammoth Screen\/Mark Mainz<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Ejiwunmi-Le Berre also continued, talking about other things she changed from the novel: \u201cWe conflated quite a lot of characters because it was a very over-populated village, despite all the efforts of the murderer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really struck me about this story is \u2013 as well as being a classic whodunnit \u2013 it\u2019s also a romance, it\u2019s kind of equally both in a very Hitchcock-y way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I didn\u2019t want to change, I really wanted to run with those strands equally to play with that Hitchcock thing \u2026 the screwball comedies and having a duo, a sexy, flirtatious comic duo batting it forwards and back with each other. That\u2019s what we didn\u2019t change, it was always kind of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n