BritBox, Hugh Laurie adapt Christie novel

The BBC and ITV’s joint-venture streaming service BritBox in North America has commissioned a miniseries based on Agatha Christie’s novel Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, to be adapted by actor Hugh Laurie.

Hugh Laurie

Produced by Agatha Christie Ltd and Mammoth Screen, whose previous collaborations include The ABC Murders, And Then There Were None and The Pale Horse, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? will be adapted into a three-part limited series written, directed and exec produced by Laurie.

The plot follows a man and woman who, while on the hunt for a lost golf ball, discover the crumpled body of a dying man who gasps the cryptic question of the title with his last breath.

Armed with only a photograph of a woman found in the dead man’s pocket, the amateur sleuths embark on a crime-solving adventure and prove surprisingly adept at unearthing clues.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? will debut on BritBox in the US and Canada next year. Endeavor Content brokered the commission and will handle international sales outside the UK, Ireland and the Americas.

Laurie said: “I loved this book as a nipper and still do. The hairs on the back of my neck haven’t properly settled down from the first time I grasped the beauty of the essential mystery. Since then, I have fallen deeper and deeper in love with the characters, and feel immensely honoured to have been given the chance to retell their story in this form. I will wear a tie on set and give it everything I have.”