EXCLUSIVE: The self-proclaimed “greatest detective in the world” is about to get his latest screen incarnation. Deadline can reveal that the BBC has committed to reimagining Hercule Poirot in a major television series based on the beloved novels of Agatha Christie.
Sources said the British broadcaster secured the adaptation in a highly competitive situation, with other networks and streamers bidding. The BBC is understood to have made a significant commitment to the project, meaning it could run for up to three seasons over the coming years. Season 1 is expected to premiere in the second half of 2027.
Deadline hears that the Poirot reboot is housed at Mammoth Screen, which has a long track record of adapting Christie’s work, having produced BBC series including And Then There Were None and Murder is Easy. Mammoth founder Damien Timmer executive-produced many episodes of Poirot, the David Suchet series that ran for nearly 25 years on ITV.
Responsibility for adapting Christie’s work has fallen to Benji Walters, a relatively unknown writer who has credits on BBC series Noughts + Crosses and spent time developing an adaptation of Brideshead Revisited with Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino in 2020. The project was in with the BBC and HBO, but ultimately never made it to the screen.
Sources said Walters has breathed new life into the fictional Belgian detective, but script details are currently being kept under wraps. The adaptation, which will be produced with Agatha Christie Limited, is expected to be filmed in Liverpool and the north-west of England over the summer.
The search for Poirot, Christie’s most famous and longest-running character, is underway. The role will likely attract significant interest, with several high-profile actors portraying the detective over the years. British audiences will associate Poirot with Suchet, but he was played by John Malkovich in the 2018 limited series The ABC Murders (also produced by Mammoth). Kenneth Branagh donned the detective’s distinctive moustache in two movies: Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
Poirot appeared in 33 novels and 51 short stories, comprising some of Christie’s most celebrated work. The Christie canon is as in demand as ever. Netflix recently streamed Seven Dials, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Mia McKenna Bruce, while BritBox is planning to bring crime-fighting couple Tommy and Tuppence back to TV in Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence.
The BBC declined to comment.
