The Queen of Crime · Eight Decades on Screen
From the golden age of BBC drama to gripping modern reimaginings — your complete guide to streaming and buying every Christie adaptation.
No writer has been adapted for screen as many times as Agatha Christie. Her 66 detective novels and 14 story collections have spawned hundreds of hours of television and film, with productions from Britain, the US, Japan, and beyond. This page covers the essential screen adaptations — where to find them, how to watch them, and why each one earns a place in your viewing queue.
★ Essential Viewing
The gold standard of Christie adaptations. David Suchet spent 25 years inhabiting Hercule Poirot — working through every single Poirot novel and story ever written. The result is one of British television's greatest achievements: meticulous, witty, and in its final seasons, genuinely moving. The early episodes are frothy period confections; the later ones tackle darkness head-on.
★ Essential Viewing
Joan Hickson was Agatha Christie's own choice to play Jane Marple — and the BBC delivered magnificently. These adaptations are unhurried, deeply English, and pleasingly faithful to the books. Hickson plays Marple as genuinely sharp and formidable beneath the genteel surface. Essential for anyone who loves classic British mysteries at their most refined.
BBC One · Three-part miniseries
Sarah Phelps's adaptation of Christie's best-selling novel is a revelation — dark, stylish, and genuinely terrifying. Ten strangers, an isolated island, and a nursery rhyme counting them down. This is Christie stripped of coziness and played as pure psychological horror.
BBC One · Two-part miniseries
Another Sarah Phelps gem. Kim Cattrall plays the glamorous murder victim at the centre of this taut courtroom thriller, with Toby Jones as the weary solicitor and Andrea Riseborough as the enigmatic Romaine. Nothing is what it seems.
BBC One · Three-part series
John Malkovich plays an ageing, diminished Poirot in this bold reimagining that reworks the novel's themes around xenophobia and identity. Divisive but riveting — and beautifully designed throughout.
BBC One · Three-part series
A family is rocked when a man who could have cleared their convicted son arrives too late. Lush 1950s production design and a cast that includes Bill Nighy and Anna Chancellor elevate this tense, atmospheric thriller.
BBC One · Two-part series
Rufus Sewell stars in this gripping adaptation of one of Christie's non-series novels. A list of names found in a dead woman's shoe leads to murder, witchcraft, and a sinister village. Stylish and genuinely unsettling.
ITV · Geraldine McEwan & Julia McKenzie
The ITV series took liberties with the source material — adding characters, changing endings — but produced some genuinely enjoyable mysteries. Geraldine McEwan's mischievous first three series are the highlight. Enormous casts of British acting talent throughout.
BBC / LWT · Various Christie specials
A run of standalone Christie TV films from the late 1970s and early 1980s — including Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1980) and The Seven Dials Mystery (1981). Warm, charming productions with impeccable British casts. Now harder to find but rewarding.
"I have a fondness for short stories... one can get so much more in."— Agatha Christie
Streaming availability changes. Always verify current availability on each platform's website.
| Show | Platforms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989–2013) | BritBox Prime (add-on) | All 13 series. BritBox most reliable. |
| Miss Marple — Joan Hickson (1984–1992) | BritBox | Complete set. Also available on DVD. |
| Agatha Christie's Marple — ITV (2004–2013) | BritBox Acorn TV | All 6 series. |
| And Then There Were None (BBC, 2015) | Prime Video BritBox | All 3 parts. |
| Witness for the Prosecution (BBC, 2016) | BritBox PBS Passport | Both parts. |
| The ABC Murders (BBC, 2018) | Prime Video | All 3 episodes. |
| Ordeal by Innocence (BBC, 2018) | BritBox Prime Video | All 3 parts. |
| The Pale Horse (BBC, 2020) | Prime Video | Both parts. |
| Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2022) | BritBox | BritBox original — exclusive. |
The adaptations are wonderful — but Christie's prose is something else entirely. These are the essential titles to start with.
All 39 Poirot novels in one collection. The natural companion to David Suchet's definitive adaptation — and endlessly re-readable.
Buy on AmazonAll 12 Miss Marple novels. Perfect for fans of the Joan Hickson BBC classics — and a lovely way to spend a rainy afternoon.
Buy on AmazonThe world's best-selling mystery novel. Read it before or after the BBC adaptation — either way, the ending will stun you.
Buy on AmazonThe twist that changed detective fiction forever. Still astonishing nearly a hundred years on — and best read knowing as little as possible.
Buy on AmazonPoirot at his most theatrical. Essential reading alongside any of the screen adaptations — and one of the great puzzle plots in all of fiction.
Buy on AmazonChristie's own life story — candid, warm, and surprisingly funny. A wonderful companion to a lifetime of her fiction.
Buy on AmazonNew to Christie? Start with And Then There Were None — it requires no prior knowledge of Poirot or Marple, works as a standalone, and is genuinely impossible to put down.
All 13 series · 33 discs
The definitive home for David Suchet's complete run. All 70 episodes from 1989 to 2013, presented in original broadcast order. A proper collectible set for Christie enthusiasts.
Joan Hickson · All 12 films
All twelve BBC films starring Joan Hickson in one elegant box set. These productions are a masterclass in British period television — unhurried, well-observed, and beautifully cast throughout.
Modern adaptations box set
Collects the Sarah Phelps-scripted BBC adaptations — And Then There Were None, Witness for the Prosecution, Ordeal by Innocence, and The ABC Murders. The darker, contemporary face of Christie on screen.