"But Joan Hickson's terrific run as Marple ended in 1992. As a lifelong admirer of Christie's works, it gives me no pleasure to report that the latest attempt to adapt the Queen of Crime's work is a dismal failure: There's no regard for Christie's prose, no idea who the series' audience is meant to be, and no goal except to further increase Netflix's intellectual property resources."
"For starters, it doesn't help that the source material, "The Mystery of the Seven Dials," starring amateur sleuth and plucky aristocrat Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent, is one of Christie's worst mysteries. (The novel was written during what the author referred to as her "plutocratic period"; because she'd begun receiving massive payments for American serialization rights, Christie used the time to write capers that were absolute rubbish compared to her Hercule Poirot/Miss Marple-based output.)"
"The opening is fairly standard for a modern-day Christie adaptation. England, 1925. A raucous masquerade party in the country. The hostess is a world-weary widow-Lady Caterham ( Helena Bonham-Carter, largely on droll patrician autopilot)-putting on a smile for show as Foreign Office lackeys and nouveau riche industrialists vie for her attention. Her intelligent, curious daughter, Bundle ( Mia McKenna-Bruce), observes it all from a staircase."
Agatha Christie frequently expressed displeasure with film and television adaptations of her novels. Joan Hickson had been hoped for the role of Miss Marple and later portrayed the character through 1992. The Netflix adaptation of The Mystery of the Seven Dials fails to respect Christie’s prose, misunderstands its audience, and appears driven by corporate IP goals. The original novel, featuring amateur sleuth Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent, is considered one of Christie’s weaker mysteries from her 'plutocratic' period. Chris Chibnall complicates the straightforward plot by splitting the solution, making much of the outcome obvious early. The series opens in 1925 England at a masquerade where a guest is found dead.
Read at Roger Ebert
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