Whodunit? Before long it’ll be which suspect hasn’t dun it?
The estate of Agatha Christie expects ‘‘saturation’’ when the copyright on her books runs out, writes
Agatha Christie’s creations are still proving highly lucrative, with new Miss Marple short stories, a Hugh Laurie television adaptation, a bigbudget Hollywood film and a computer game in the pipeline.
Not to forget the long-running plays, the full-length ‘‘continuation’’ novels, the recent and upcoming movies, and a smattering of mugs, silk scarves and tote bags. So, yes, the controller of the grande dame of crime fiction’s estate admits, there is a danger of ‘‘saturation’’. But what he is more concerned about is the flood of stuff that will emerge when the copyright runs out.
James Prichard, the chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd and a greatgrandson of the author, said the estate was prepared for the day, which in Britain will be in 2047, when everybody will have free rein to create adaptations. ‘‘There will be a lot of very different adaptations, some of which I imagine will be brilliant and some of which will be less brilliant,’’ he said. ‘‘We will do what we can until then. And I would hope we still have a role past that date for other reasons – like that we know what we are doing.’’ Prichard was speaking before the launch of the first Death on the Nile mobile game, developed by British company Outplay Entertainment, which gives players the opportunity to solve the mystery alongside the Belgian detective.
Expected next year are a Miss Marple short story collection featuring tales by Val McDermid and Kate Mosse, among others, and a Hugh Laurie three-episode adaptation of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? for Britbox, starring Emma Thompson and Jim Broadbent.
The world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap, continues in London. It has been joined in the
British capital’s theatres by Witness for the Prosecution. There are also the BBC and Amazon adaptations of The Definitive Christies, the French series Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie ,a Swedish production revolving around Sven Hjerson – a fictional detective created by Ariadne Oliver, a crime writer who appears in some of Christie’s novels – burgeoning book sales in China and elsewhere, and a fourth Poirot continuation novel.
Next year a new version of Death on the Nile, directed by
Kenneth Branagh and starring Gal Gadot and Annette Bening, should come to cinemas, and film adaptations of Witness for the Prosecution and And Then There Were None are also planned. All of which left Agatha Christie Ltd with £17.7 million revenues last year despite the closure of theatres and cinemas, and profits before tax of more than £10m.
Prichard said they were already planning for a post-copyright future, with the films and continuation novels having their own copyrights. And with Christie now available on gaming platforms, small screens and large screens, and in a panoply of literary forms, could we ever have too much Agatha? ‘‘I do worry about it but I think chance would be a fine thing. The complication of developing things will see to it that we will not reach that point,’’ Prichard insisted.
While he understood concerns over the Hollywood-led ‘‘obsession with prequels and sequels’’, he was confident Christie’s ‘‘extraordinary stories’’ would always have a place.
‘‘Particularly now there is a reengagement and resurgence in the crime and mystery genre with films like Knives Out. Until she is replaced as the greatest exponent of [crime and mystery], we will have a place,’’ he said. ‘‘One of my missions in life is to share my great-grandmother’s stories with as many people, and to some extent in as many ways, as we can.’’