Murder Is Easy (TV series)

*Murder Is Easy*
Murder Is Easy
Genre	Mystery; Drama; Thriller;
Based on	Murder is Easy; by Agatha Christie
Written by	Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre
Directed by	Meenu Gaur
Starring	David Jonsson; Penelope Wilton; Morfydd Clark
Music by	Segun Akinola
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	2
Production
Executive producers	Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre; James Prichard; James Gandhi; Damien Timmer; Danielle Scott-Haughton; Reemah Sakaan; Stephen Nye
Producer	Karen Kelly
Production companies	Agatha Christie Limited; Mammoth Screen
Original release
Network	BBC One; BritBox International
Release	27 December –; 28 December 2023

Murder Is Easy is a British mystery thriller television serial, based on the 1939 Agatha Christie novel of the same name. It is adapted by Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and directed by Meenu Gaur. It premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 27 December 2023.

Premise

Luke Fitzwilliam (Jonsson) is a Nigerian attaché on his way to Whitehall when he meets the mysterious Miss Pinkerton (Wilton) on a train. Pinkerton discusses with him that a series of deaths in the village of Wychwood-Under-Ashe are not accidental and there’s a killer on the loose. Later, Miss Pinkerton is killed in a hit-and-run, and Fitzwilliam steels himself to discover the murderer before they strike again.^[2]^[3]

Cast

David Jonsson as Luke Obiako Fitzwilliam
Morfydd Clark as Bridget Conway
Penelope Wilton as Miss Lavinia Pinkerton
Sinead Matthews as Miss Honoria Waynflete
Tom Riley as Lord Whitfield
Douglas Henshall as Major Horton
Mathew Baynton as Dr Thomas
Mark Bonnar as Reverend Arthur Humbleby
Nimra Bucha as Mrs Humbleby
Tamzin Outhwaite as Mrs Pierce
Jon Pointing as Rivers
Phoebe Licorish as Rose Humbleby
Joe Fagan as the Butler

Episodes

No.	Episode	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
1	Episode 1^[4]	Meenu Gaur	Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre	27 December 2023 (2023-12-27)	6.82
2	Episode 2^[5]	Meenu Gaur	Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre	28 December 2023 (2023-12-28)	5.68

Production

Produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited, it was a co-commission between the BBC and BritBox International. The Agatha Christie novel of the same name is adapted by Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and directed by Meenu Gaur. It was produced by Karen Kelly. Executive producers are Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, James Gandhi and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC and Reemah Sakaan and Stephen Nye for BritBox International.^[6]

Filming took place in Scotland in the summer of 2023 on the two-part drama series.^[7]^[8] First-look images from the production were released in November 2023.^[9]

Broadcast

The show aired on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK on 27 December 2023 and will be broadcast on BritBox International in the US, Canada and South Africa.^[10]^[11]

Reception

Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian awarded it three out of five stars, praising its promising reworkings but finding the second episode unfocused, and that it "both overexplains and underexplains what is going on".^[12] Nick Hilton in The Independent awarded it two out of five stars.^[13]