Netflix is adapting an Agatha Christie novel to series as it takes on The Seven Dials Mystery. Chris Chibnall, whose credits include Doctor Who and Broadchurch, will write the scripts and executive produce.
Production begins this summer.
“Agatha Christie’s storytelling has been thrilling mystery lovers for generations but there is still more for us to explore for audiences at Netflix,” said Anne Mensah, Netflix VP of content.
Suzanne Mackie, an executive producer on The Crown, will executive produce the Christie project through her Orchid Pictures outfit.
“I am excited to be bringing The Seven Dials Mystery to life, and to be introducing a new generation of iconic Christie characters to the screen,” Mackie said. “It has been a joy to work with Chris Chibnall in creating this bold and ambitious vision for the series. Together with Chris Sussman and Agatha Christie Ltd. and, under the masterful direction of Chris Sweeney, we are thrilled to embark on this creative journey. I could not think of a more exciting first project for Orchid Pictures, or a more perfect home for this story than Netflix.”
Chibnall, who was the Doctor Who showrunner from 2017 to 2021, will executive produce Seven Dials through his company Imaginary Friends. James Prichard of Agatha Christie Limited is also an executive producer, as is Chris Sussman.
The book is about an aristocratic couple hosting a party. Since one guest has a habit of oversleeping, the others play a joke on him by stashing eight alarm clocks around his room, and timing them to go off at different times. The guest is found dead, and one of the eight clocks is missing.
A series of other cryptic murders follows.
Other Christie projects brought to screen in recent years include The Pale Horse and The ABC Murders on Prime Video, Murder is Easy on Britbox, and films A Haunting in Venice and Death on the Nile.
The Seven Dials Mystery was previously adapted as a TV movie in the U.K. in 1981.
