Agatha Christie's 'Murder Is Easy' to Ease in to U.S. in March

It's been just over three years since Sarah Phelps ended her run as the BBC's appointed scribe for Agatha Christie adaptations with 2020's The Pale Horse, a series done in conjunction with Amazon's Prime Video. Since then, the BBC has moved to a joint venture with BritBox International for the new set of Christie mysteries, starting with 2022's Hugh Laurie passion project Why Didn't They Ask Evans. The second of this new group, Murder is Easy, is set to arrive in the U.S. after receiving rapturous reviews in the U.K.

This latest Agatha Christie adaptation from BritBox, ITV, and Mammoth Screen debuted in the U.K. over the holidays at the end of 2023 to controversy, though not the kind Phelps provoked with her aging Poirots and unconventional spins on Christie classics. Murder Is Easy cast Industry breakout David Jonsson as the leading amateur detective in this series, which does not feature any of Christie's usual sleuths. However, his casting is not color blind but color conscious, with the script explicitly making his character a Nigerian immigrant.

The series also reset Murder Is Easy in the 1950s, making Fitzwilliam part of the post-Windrush generation and adding a racial element to how upper-class suspects dismiss his investigations. The mystery doesn't just tackle murders in a small quaint village, exposing the ugly underbelly of the small-town atmosphere, but also tackles the horrible attitudes towards colonialism and immigration of the era, attitudes that are still far too relevant in post-Brexit England today.