Agatha Christie's Witness for The Prosecution to be adapted by BBC1
The tale of love and murder in 1920s London will follow in the footsteps of And Then There Were None
And then there was another one! Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None was such a hit over the Christmas period that the BBC has decided to team up with Mammoth Screen for another adaptation of the author's work.
Sarah Phelps (who penned And Then There Were None) will take The Witness For The Prosecution and work her screenwriting magic on it for BBC1. Julian Jarrold (The Crown, The Girl, Appropriate Adult) will direct, while Mammoth Screen (Poldark, And Then there Were None) and Agatha Christie Productions will co-produce.
The new two-part adaptation will tell the 1925 short story of murder in 1920s London.
“A murder, brutal and bloodthirsty, has stained the plush carpets of a handsome London townhouse. The victim is the glamorous and enormously rich Emily French. All the evidence points to Leonard Vole, a young chancer to whom the heiress left her vast fortune and who ruthlessly took her life,” the official synopsis reads.
“At least, this is the story that Emily’s dedicated housekeeper Janet Mackenzie stands by in court. Leonard however, is adamant that his partner, the enigmatic chorus girl Romaine, can prove his innocence.”
Heralded as one of Christie’s most popular tales, The Witness For The Prosecution has already been turned into a successful stage play and a much-loved film directed by Billy Wilder.
“With the long terrible shadow of the Great War falling across the rackety, feral 1920s, The Witness For The Prosecution is a compelling story of deceit, desire, murder, money and morality, innocence and guilt, heartbreak and - most painful and dangerous of all - love. At the centre of this dark and tangled net is the astonishing character of Romaine, a noir heroine for all our times”, said Sarah Phelps.
Casting details have yet to be announced.
