‘Murder is Easy’ reviews round-up: BBC whodunnit ‘isn’t top-tier Christie’
The BBC’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation aired this Christmas!
Based on the iconic author’s 1939 novel of the same name, Murder is Easy is from the producers of Endeavour and World on Fire.
The two-part mystery drama is set in 1954, with Downton Abbey star Penelope Wilton and David Jonsson (Rye Lane) leading the cast.
“On a train to London, Fitzwilliam (David Jonsson) meets Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton), who tells him that a killer is on the loose in the sleepy English village of Wychwood under Ashe,” the official synopsis reveals.
“The villagers believe the deaths are mere accidents, but Miss Pinkerton knows otherwise – and when she’s later found dead on her way to Scotland Yard, Fitzwilliam feels he must find the killer before they can strike again. Because for a certain kind of person, murder is easy…”
Alongside Wilton and Jonsson, the cast also includes Douglas Henshall (Shetland), Mathew Baynton (Ghosts), Mark Bonnar (Guilt), Morfydd Clark (Lord of the Rings), Sinead Matthews (The Crown), Tom Riley (The Nevers), Nimra Bucha (Polite Society), Tamzin Outhwaite (Ridley Road), and Jon Pointing (Plebs), alongside newcomer Phoebe Licorish.
Watch the trailer here:
Murder is Easy premiered in the UK on Wednesday 27 December on BBC One, and is streaming now on BBC iPlayer.
The UK’s newspapers have given it a bit of a kicking, with at least three using the same lazy “murder is easy, but…” gag in their write-ups.
Word of mouth from viewers suggests it’s a lot more enjoyable than critics would have you believe, however, so you might want to give it a go and make your own mind up.
Nevertheless, we’ve rounded up a selection of spoiler-free reviews here to help you decide if you want to watch the series:
“Murder is Easy begins to struggle under the weight of all it is trying to do and, by the second episode, the focus starts to fade, and its light touch is lost, as it both overexplains and underexplains what is going on, depending on the scene…
“It drifts towards the end as if it has run out of steam, and it feels strange for the festive Christie to be set at the height of summer…
“It works perfectly well, though in the end, this becomes more of a routine whodunnit than it first suggests.” ★★★ – The Guardian
“Where Sarah Phelps’s adaptations for the BBC were shrouded in a very modern darkness, Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre’s adaptation of Murder is Easy falls between two stools.
“Too bland to excite the violent impulses of the Line of Duty generation, yet insufficiently zippy or playful to stir Christie aficionados. The script is only part of the problem: more striking, perhaps, is the cheapness of the design…
“Murder might be easy, but a good murder mystery is far less straightforward.” ★★ – The Independent
“Some of the stylistic flourishes were a little jarring but the first episode wrapped up with a healthy body count, simmering romantic tension and a prime suspect who definitely won’t turn out to be the murderer.
“This may be a new take but it’s still Agatha Christie through and through.” ★★★★ – iNews
“….the show seems caught in two minds about whether it wants to be a cosy throwback or a more timely drama that confronts uncomfortable realities. In trying to do both, it struggles to satisfy fully as either… This unevenness extends from the tone to the pacing and plotting…
“Murder is easy; it’s making an exciting murder mystery that’s hard.
“Still, the show does have one great revelation in the form of Jonsson, who gives Fitzwilliam quiet authority and abundant charm.” – Financial Times
“That a black actor has been cast in the lead role of Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy has been making a lot of headlines lately.
“I have read some online commentators declaring they would refuse to watch it amid cries of “wokeism gone mad!” and “It’s just not realistic”, as if Christie’s world of quaint English villages harbouring no end of psychotic killers, who are caught out by a sweet old lady in a twin-set, is forensically true to life (I say that as a diehard Christie fan).” ★★★ – The Times
“…the mundane truth is that this isn’t one of Christie’s top-tier works – her plotting is smart but there is no Marple or Poirot to pep it up.
“Rather than attempt to add interest by making changes, the BBC should have left this one on the shelf.” ★★ – The Telegraph
“It’s hard to take the novel seriously, and it’s impossible to take this silly, self-aggrandising, preposterous adaptation at its own estimation. Give it a miss.
“Look, at this time of year, there are charades to be played, pudding to eat up, relations to entertain; don’t shun any opportunity not to watch this.
“Murder may be Easy; watching it is the hard part.” – The Standard
Murder is Easy will premiere in the US, Canada and South Africa on BritBox in 2024.
Agatha Christie’s novel Murder is Easy is available on Amazon.