Agatha Christie Meets Only Murders In The Building In Groundbreaking New 6-Part Detective Series
El is a Junior TV Features Editor for ScreenRant, with previous experience as The Mary Sue's UK and Weekend Editor. She holds a Bachelor's in International Media and Entertainment Management, as well as an MA and Ph.D. in Creative Writing. There is little she loves more than discussing her favorite TV shows with fellow fans. One day, she hopes to publish an original fantasy novel.
Agatha Christie is given the Only Murders in the Building treatment in a groundbreaking new six-part detective series. Over the years, the Brits and Hollywood have produced hundreds of great Christie adaptations. One of her most iconic sleuths, Miss Marple, is still beloved because Christie wasn't just good at crafting twisting plots and complex mysteries; she was also great at characterization. Audiences love Miss Marple because she's the ultimate amateur detective, a relatable heroine who could be a neighbor or a friend, even when her stories are set in the 20th century.
Marple wasn't Christie's only great amateur detective, however. In fact, a full eight years before Miss Marple even existed (and only two years after Hercule Poirot's first adventure was published), Christie created the enthusiastic, underrated amateur detective duo of Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley. Their debut in 1922's The Secret Adversary began a decades-long journey, with each novel bringing the married couple back at different stages of their lives, ready to crack another case.
66 Novels · 14 Story Collections · Two Billion Copies Sold How Well Do You Know Agatha Christie? “The little grey cells, mon ami — they are everything.”
🕵PoirotLittle Grey Cells
🧶Miss MarpleThe Village Knows
🚆Orient ExpressTwelve Suspects
⚗PoisonHer Weapon of Choice
📖The Canon1920–1976
01
Christie’s first published novel appeared in 1920 and introduced the world to Hercule Poirot. What was it called?
✓ Correct! The Mysterious Affair at Styles — written on a wartime dare from her sister, and rejected by six publishers before it saw print.
✗ Not quite! It’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The Murder at the Vicarage came a decade later — and gave us Miss Marple.
02
Poirot bristles every time someone assumes he is French. Which country is the retired police detective actually from?
✓ Correct! Poirot is Belgian — a refugee of the First World War, which is exactly how he lands in England in Styles.
✗ Not quite! He is Belgian, and he will correct you at length if you suggest otherwise.
03
Miss Jane Marple solves murders by comparing them to the petty scandals of her own tiny English village. Name it.
✓ Correct! St. Mary Mead — where, as Marple insists, human nature is much the same as it is anywhere else, only closer to hand.
✗ Not quite! It’s St. Mary Mead. Styles St. Mary is Poirot’s village, and Kingsmarkham belongs to Ruth Rendell.
04
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) scandalised readers and nearly got Christie thrown out of the Detection Club. What was the twist?
✓ Correct! Dr. Sheppard tells the whole story — and the whole story is a confession, hidden in what he leaves out. The narrator did it.
✗ Not quite! The narrator, Dr. Sheppard, is the murderer — critics called it cheating; it’s now considered one of the greatest twists ever written.
05
In December 1926, Christie herself disappeared for 11 days, triggering a national manhunt. How did it end?
✓ Correct! She was recognised at a hotel in Harrogate, registered under an assumed surname. Christie never explained the episode — not once, not ever.
✗ Not quite! Her car was found abandoned, and 11 days later she turned up at a Harrogate hotel under a false name. She never publicly explained why.
06
Which Christie novel is her best-selling book — and the best-selling crime novel of all time, at over 100 million copies?
✓ Correct! And Then There Were None — ten strangers on an island, no detective at all, and Christie’s own pick for the hardest book she ever wrote.
✗ Not quite! It’s And Then There Were None, the best-selling mystery novel ever published.
07
Her play The Mousetrap opened in London in 1952. What distinction does it hold?
✓ Correct! It has run in the West End since 1952 — the longest-running stage production anywhere, and audiences are still asked to keep the ending secret.
✗ Not quite! The Mousetrap is the longest-running stage production in the world — over 70 years and counting.
08
Christie wrote Poirot’s last case during the Blitz and locked it in a bank vault for 30 years. When Curtain was finally published in 1975, what followed?
✓ Correct! In August 1975 The New York Times gave Hercule Poirot a front-page obituary — the only fictional character ever to receive one.
✗ Not quite! The New York Times put Poirot’s obituary on its front page — an honour no other fictional character has ever been given.
The Drawing Room · Everyone Is Assembled Your Detective Rank
🔎
/ 8
Order and method, mon ami — or merely a lucky guess? The grey cells will know the difference.
The last time Tommy and Tuppence were on TV was 11 years ago, in the BBC's miniseries Partners in Crime. Like all mainstream Agatha Christie adaptations, their story was framed as a period drama, with David Walliams and Jessica Raine unraveling two complex conspiracies in the 1950s. Now, however, the duo is about to make their long-overdue return in BritBox's new series, Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence. This six-episode comedy-drama comes with a massive twist, however, one that brings it much closer to a show like Only Murders in the Building than any other Christie adaptation that's come before.
BritBox's Tommy & Tuppence Is The First Modern English Agatha Christie Adaptation
BritBox's Tommy & Tuppence has the distinct advantage and honor of being the first-ever contemporary English-language Agatha Christie adaptation. Set in present-day London, these versions of Tommy (The Buccaneers' Josh Dylan) and Tuppence (Lovesick's Antonia Thomas) are both looking for something new in their lives. Tuppence, an actress, and Tommy, a famous crime novelist struggling with writer's block, are unexpectedly reunited at a wedding when a guest is brutally killed. What can they do but try to solve the case, especially when someone is being framed for murder?
Though there are only two of them, Tommy and Tuppence are just as wonderfully chaotic and surprisingly insightful as the Only Murders in the Building trio, driven by a love of true crime, thrills, and genuine investigative work. Rather than launching their own podcast, they instead revive Tommy's aunt's retired detective agency, using Tuppence's theatricality and impulsivity (very Oliver-coded) and Tommy's down-to-earth, analytical mind (sounds like Mabel) to find vital clues the police have missed. They're an unlikely dream team, their professional chemistry made all the more interesting by their shared romantic past.
The pair will solve three cases across six episodes, as they try to establish themselves as a reliable crime-solving force in the posh but stunning London neighborhood of Hampstead. The setting has always been important in Agatha Christie's stories, essentially functioning as another character, just as the Arconia influences every case Mabel, Charles, and Oliver investigate in Only Murders in the Building. Luckily, Tommy lives above a proper English pub, The Lady Albert, the perfect spot to use as a home base for their new (old) business, Blunt's Brilliant Detectives.
Only Murders In The Building Is Moving Into Tommy & Tuppence's Territory
Just as Tommy and Tuppence embark on a new career path in North London, the Only Murders trio is also headed across the pond. Only Murders in the Building season 6 has officially been retitled Only Murders in London, as the podcasters try to solve the mysterious death of their pseudo-mentor and fellow true-crime aficionado, Cinda Canning. The new season is chock-full of A-list British talent, including Martin Freeman, Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, Simone Ashley, Derek Jacobi, Richard Ayoade, an actual Spice Girl, and more.
Thankfully, though, as the wait for Only Murders in London will take a bit longer than usual — the show is scheduled to premiere in December rather than its normal summer slot — BritBox's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence is the perfect show to fill this season's void. With these two amateur sleuths on the case? The killers don't stand a chance.
Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence premieres September 15 on BritBox, with new episodes arriving weekly on Tuesdays.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.