Cast revealed for BBC’s new Agatha Christie thriller ‘Ordeal By Innocence’

The BBC has announced an all-star cast for its latest Agatha Christie adaptation.

From the creative team behind last year’s The Witness for the Prosecution and 2015’s And Then There Were None, Ordeal By Innocence began filming in Scotland this month.

The three-part adaptation of Christie’s 1958 detective novel is being written by Sarah Phelps (Great Expectations, The Casual Vacancy).

The cast of Ordeal By Innocence includes Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey), Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Catherine Keener (Get Out), Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark), Anthony Boyle (Harry Potter And The Cursed Child), Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), Luke Treadaway (Fortitude), Morven Christie (The A Word), Crystal Clarke (Star Wars), Ella Purnell (Churchill) and Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness).

Executive producer Damien Timmer commented: “Sarah Phelps has excelled herself with this spellbinding adaptation of one of Agatha Christie’s most celebrated stories. A gloriously dark deconstruction of an apparently perfect family, we hope it delights and chills viewers when it airs!”

James Prichard, great grandson of Agatha Christie, added: “Ordeal By Innocence was one of Christie’s personal favourites and I cannot wait to see how this outstanding cast will bring her story to life under the skillful direction of Sandra Goldbacher and the Mammoth Screen production team. To have Bill Nighy and Catherine Keener head up this all-star cast really is a testament to the depth and quality of my great grandmother’s writing.”

The official synopsis reads: “Christmas 1954. Wealthy philanthropist Rachel Argyll is murdered at her family estate Sunny Point.Her adopted son Jack Argyll, a young delinquent, is arrested for her murder. He vehemently protests his innocence.

“Eighteen months later, Dr Arthur Calgary, a scientist, walks onto the velvety lawns of Sunny Point claiming to have just returned from an expedition to the Arctic. Even more extraordinary is his claim to hold the alibi that can prove Jack’s innocence. But Jack died in prison before the case could come to trial, and the Argyll family is reluctant to dig up the secrets of the past.

“Rachel’s widower Leo is about to remarry his secretary Gwenda and none of Rachel’s other adopted children Mary, Mickey, Tina or Hester, nor longstanding housekeeper Kirsten, is willing to reopen that most horrendous chapter of their lives. However, the shattering implications of Calgary’s story are too big to avoid; if he is telling the truth then the wrong person was arrested for Rachel’s murder. And if Jack was not the killer, then it must have been somebody else at Sunny Point.”

Directed by Sandra Goldbacher (Victoria) and produced by Roopesh Parekh (Poldark), Ordeal By Innocence is expected to air in the UK this Christmas on BBC One.