Agatha Christie is one of those revered writers whose name alone is enough to warrant the audience’s attention. Her works have been continuously adapted into every major form, to the point where even her lesser efforts have found their way to the big and small screens. Such is the case of The Seven Dials Mystery, her 1929 mystery novel, which earned some of the weakest reviews of her career. However, it’s still Christie we’re talking about, and since there are already six versions of Murder on the Orient Express and over twenty of And Then There Were None, surely there can be two takes on Seven Dials.
When the source material isn’t the greatest, it’s up to the masterminds behind any adaptation to elevate it for a new medium. Sadly, that’s not the case with Netflix’s Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. This three-episode miniseries ends up on the duller side of Christie adaptations, with a bizarre tone that unevenly shifts between comedy and mystery and a central case that, as mentioned, is not compelling enough to hold the viewer’s attention.
What Is ‘Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials’ About?
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is set in London in 1925 and follows Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce), a young woman living with her mother, Lady Caterham (Helena Bonham Carter), in a large country house. Financial trouble has led them to rent their house to the wealthy Sir Oswald Coote and his wife, who are throwing a masquerade. In attendance are Gerry Wade (Corey Mylchreest), a friend of Bundle’s late brother and her apparent intended, and Jimmy Thesinger (Edward Bluemel), another friend. As the party dies, two of Bundle and Gerry’s friends, Bill Eversleigh (Hughie O’Donnell) and Ronny Devereaux (Nabhaan Rizwan), play a prank on Gerry by hiding eight alarm clocks in his room.
Things quickly change when, in the morning, one of the guests turns up dead. On his mantle are seven of the eight clocks, sending Bundle into an investigation that will challenge everything she thinks she knows and will lead her to trust no one. Joining her are Jimmy, her closest ally, her supportive but distrustful mother, and the mysterious Superintendent Battle (Martin Freeman), a character who will be well known to Christie diehards.
‘Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials’ Suffers From an Uninteresting Mystery
The issues with this adaptation come directly from its source material, as the novel marks a stark departure from Christie’s usual formula. In addition to a more light-hearted, youthful tone, there’s less emphasis on the investigation and more on the adventurous aspects of the story, as well as a quasi-shift into espionage territory rather than the traditional murder mysteries that were her bread and butter. The book itself isn’t bad because Christie was simply too talented a writer to produce anything truly mediocre, but, in the context of her overall career, it is the closest thing to forgettable.
All episodes are directed by Chris Sweeney and written by Chris Chibnall, best known as the creator and writer of the acclaimed British mystery-crime drama Broadchurch, which should, theoretically, make him the perfect choice to adapt an Agatha Christie mystery. However, in Chibnall’s hands, the Seven Dials mystery is more confused than effective. Pretty much every great mystery movie toys with the audience, using its large ensemble of suspects to craft a twisting web of lies and misdirections. However, Seven Dials keeps its cast relatively small while still trying to build a mystery of international proportions. The result is a story that feels like it’s trying to sell itself as a major deal when, in reality, it’s small peanuts.
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Visually, the show has nothing to make it stand out. The clothes are pretty, the manors are stately, and the accents are posh, but the cinematography is weirdly flat, and the show’s choice of a distinctly sunny, yellow palette makes for an experience that seems more suited to another Christie mystery from last year, BritBox’s Less Than Zero. The use of green screen is also very apparent in a few scenes, which is a shame, because the environments feel quite tactile.
‘Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials’ Fails Its Cast
On the acting side, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials also suffers. Bundle is an interesting character on the page, a classic flapper: spirited, outgoing, and the embodiment of “it.” As described by Christie, Clara Bow would be jealous of this girl. Her live-action counterpart, as played by McKenna-Bruce, is less lively, but at least no less driven. Bundle quickly takes command of the investigation, turning amateur sleuthing into an outright career rather than a hobby. McKenna-Bruce is fine in the role, but needs a bit more fire in her belly. As a character, Bundle isn’t necessarily intriguing, but she’s compelling enough to warrant following her for three hours.
The supporting cast fares a tad worse. Freeman and Bonham Carter, experienced scene stealers that they are, do what they do best in roles that are more average than what they’re used to. Freeman, however, is particularly wasted. Battle is far from the strongest of Christie’s detectives, less eccentric and more wooden than other stars in the writer’s canon, and Seven Dials does little to improve that characterization, giving Freeman very few opportunities to stand out.
If any member of the cast fares better than most, it’s Bluemel. Those who loved him as the dashing Guilford Dudley in Prime Video’s unfairly cancelled gem My Lady Jane will be well aware of his charms. He doesn’t get to flaunt them as much here, but he’s the most entertaining character in the cast, which, in a show that genuinely struggles to keep one engaged, ultimately makes him the standout. As for the rest of the cast, everyone is sort of just there — Milchreest, O’Donnell and Rizwan all barely do anything before being sidelined.
Those looking for a compelling mystery to watch on a lazy afternoon could do a lot worse than Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. However, the show is far from a great entry into the ever-expanding canon of TV murder mysteries. Too slow to be riveting and too needlessly drawn out, it’s a run-of-the-mill adaptation of one of Christie’s most run-of-the-mill novels, and the strongest proof that not every work from the renowned author warrants a fresh take.
