BBC One’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None airs this Christmas.
Based on the best-selling crime novel of all time, the three-part drama has been adapted for TV by Sarah Phelps (The Casual Vacancy, Great Expectations).
The all-star ensemble cast includes Aidan Turner (Poldark) as Philip Lombard, Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) as General John MacArthur, Miranda Richardson (Mapp & Lucia) as Miss Emily Brent, Burn Gorman (Torchwood) as William Blore, Douglas Booth (The Riot Club) as Anthony Marston, Charles Dance (Game Of Thrones) as Justice Lawrence Wargrave, Maeve Dermody (Black Water) as Vera Claythorne, Anna Maxwell Martin (The Bletchley Circle) as Ethel Rogers, Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) as Dr Edward Armstrong and Noah Taylor (Peaky Blinders) as Thomas Rogers.
> Buy And Then There Were None on DVD on Amazon.
1939. Europe teeters on the brink of war. Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock near the Devon coast. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime. When one of the party dies suddenly they realise they may be harbouring a murderer among their number.
Episode 1
Saturday 26 December 2015, 9pm
A reckless playboy, a decrepit judge, a nervous businessman, an unhinged Harley Street doctor, a god-fearing spinster, a secretive governess, a guilt-ridden general, a remorseless mercenary and two anxious servants find themselves cut off from the mainland by appalling weather. Their hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen mysteriously absent, the guests are each accused of a unique and terrible crime by a gramophone recording, timed perfectly to deliver its indictments after dinner.
As the assembled guests begin to realise that not one of them has set eyes on the missing Owens, the true reason for their presence on the island becomes horribly clear: they are to be executed, one by one.
But where is the killer hiding? Could it be true that the group harbours a murderer among their number?
Episode 2
Sunday 27 December 2015, 9pm
As the sun rises and sets on the island and its solitary mansion, the number of guests is whittled down by their invisible enemy – to seven, to six, to five…
The progress of the killings seem to have everything to do with an ominous nursery rhyme, ‘Ten Little Soldier Boys’ – copies of which hang in every room. But the guests’ every attempt to anticipate and outwit the murderer is foiled, and any trust they might have had in one another swiftly crumbles.
Accusations fly; minds unravel; alliances are forged; deals are struck. But as the possibilities for their survival shrink, the guests’ mutual suspicion gives way to a sense of collective doom. There is no great detective coming along to save their lives and identify the villain – they only have each other.
As the night draws in once more, each guest must face up to the darkest truths of their pasts – for retribution is close at hand.
Episode 3
Monday 28 December 2015, 9.05pm
Cut down to half their original number, the guests of Soldier Island are in danger of losing their minds to fear and anxiety.
But after yet another murder, nearly all hope of survival evaporated, and further acts of terrible violence all but guaranteed, their sense of doom gives way to the need for a demented bacchanal – a last hurrah, rife with sexual tension.
Will U.N. Owen – whoever he or she is – finish them off, confirming the prophecy contained in the nursery rhyme hanging on every wall of the house – ‘…and then there were none’? Or can the surviving guests overcome their terror, face up to the darkness of their pasts, and finally escape the island?
There is no great detective coming along to save their lives and identify the villain. These troubled men and women only have themselves – and none of them are to be trusted.
> Buy And Then There Were None on DVD on Amazon.
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