Partners line up for new Agatha Christie drama

A raft of international broadcasters have prebought Partners in Crime, the new BBC Agatha Christie series.

David Walliams (Little Britain) was in Cannes this week to promote the show as All3Media launched it internationally, and TBI understands several broadcasters have already acquired the series.

The ABC has bought it for Australia, and pay TV operator Sky has it for New Zealand.

There have also been a raft of Scandi deals, with TV2 in Norway, TV4 in Sweden and DR in Denmark all acquiring the show.

Icelandic pubcaster RUV has also picked up the drama series, which also has comedic elements.

Partners in Crime will bow on BBC One later this year and Agatha Christie Productions and Red Arrow-owned prodco Endor are making the six-part series.

It is a TV adaptation of the Tommy and Tuppence crime caper books. It follows the eponymous detective couple from Christie’s Partners in Crime series of books, which were the first and last penned by the author.

Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) plays Tuppence and Walliams is Tommy and also exec produces.

With Poirot coming to an end on ITV in the UK, the company that manages the author’s estate hope Partners in Crime will become the next long-running Agatha Christie TV series.

“We felt very strongly that with the natural end of David Suchet’s Poirot, it was time to do something new,” Hilary Strong, managing director at Agatha Christie Ltd, told TBI. “We want this to have a broad appeal and also re-engage a young demo with Christie.”