“We keep thinking of the 50s as though it was this dull age when we’d won, and everything was calm and nice with non-stop street parties but behind that is a very different story…There’s a fear simmering all the time and a sense that even though we’re all smiling away, there’s blood running through the bunting. In an article by The Guardian, Sarah Phelps talked about her creative choices on this adaptation: There is an air of greater tension and mystery to Ordeal by Innocencebecause of the time period (1956), the changed setting (Scotland), and the more complex back stories of the characters. I will get into more detail on these later on in this review. Most of the characters are also very different from their book versions, with some changes working to their favor while others were not so successful. The stories became darker, which is saying something since all Agatha Christie novels involve at least one murder.īut unlike And Then There Were None, which was a pretty faithful adaptation of the original novel, Phelps took more creative liberties with the plot of Ordeal, drastically changing the ending including the culprit and the motive for the murder. Like Witness for the Prosecution, which was based on a short story, the characters of Ordeal by Innocence were given more detailed backgrounds, with some changed completely (but I’ll get to that later), and the already somber plot was given another layer of post-war trauma and paranoia. This, I feel, is an Agatha Christie adaptation done right. Every member of the cast delivers a fantastic performance and the whole series plays out with so much suspense and even some element of terror. Like its predecessors, Ordeal by Innocence boasted an all-star cast, period-appropriate costumes, and a luxurious setting. Mary’s paralyzed husband, Phillip (Matthew Goode), can be excluded but not the loyal housekeeper, Kirsten Lindstrom (Morven Christie.) Creative Liberties But now that his story proves true, suspicion must fall on everyone else who had been in the house on the night of the murder, including the other adopted Argylls: Mary Durrant (Eleanor Tomlinson), Mickey (Christian Cooke), Tina (Crystal Clarke), and Hester (Ella Purnell). Unfortunately, he has come too late as Jack had already died in prison. Arthur Calgary (Luke Treadaway), suddenly arrives at the family home on the eve of Leo Argyll’s (Rachel’s widower, played by Bill Nighy) wedding to his former secretary, Gwenda Vaughn (Alice Eve.) One of her adopted sons, Jack (Anthony Boyle), had been convicted of the crime though he insisted that he was innocent, saying he had an alibi – he hitchhiked with a stranger on the night of the murder. Ordeal by Innocence begins many months after the murder of wealthy heiress Rachel Argyll (Anna Chancellor). These Agatha Christie specials are supposed to be part of the BBC Christmas programming and this was the case for the first two but because of some necessary re-casting, Ordeal by Innocenceaired only this April. The three-part miniseries was written and produced by Sarah Phelps, who was also behind the two previous successful adaptations of And Then There Were None and Witness for the Prosecution. Ordeal by Innocenceis the latest Agatha Christie television adaptation by the BBC, based on the novel of the same name about the death of the mother of five adopted children. Warning: This review contains spoilers for all three episodes of Ordeal by Innocence.
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