BBC announces Hercule, starring Edward Bluemel as Agatha Christie’s legendary detective Hercule Poirot

The series follows Hercule Poirot’s first cases in London before he becomes the world’s most famous sleuth.

Hercule — what makes this new Poirot series different

Agatha Christie is perennially adapted for both small and large screen. It’s fair to say the largest portion is the stories featuring Belgian detective Poirot. What makes this new series different? We took a look at the BBC’s press release. Here goes.

The BBC and BritBox have announced that Edward Bluemel (We Might Regret This, My Lady Jane) will star as Agatha Christie’s iconic Belgian detective in new drama series Hercule – produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited for the BBC and BritBox North America. The six-part series is written by Benji Walters (Code of Silence, The Leopard, Obsession). Jonny Campbell (Am I Being Unreasonable?, Dracula, In The Flesh), will direct the first two episodes. Charlie Palmer (A Woman Of Substance, Extraordinary) is series producer.

The series is an intimate study of Hercule the man and an epic portrait of Britain between the wars. The series takes a magnifying glass to three of Christie’s most celebrated stories, while also charting Hercule’s burgeoning friendship with Captain Arthur Hastings, his early encounters with Scotland Yard’s James Japp, and introducing him to one particular nemesis…

We wonder which three stories this is? Our list includes The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, The ABC Murders and Death on the Nile. We look forward to finding out more.

Filming will begin this summer, primarily in Liverpool. Hercule will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and on BritBox in North America. We’ll keep you posted.