Adaptations (with Sarah Phelps)

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2018

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For many people, their main contact with detective fiction is via film and television adaptations. For a huge global audience, Agatha Christie's work is as often watched as it is read. Any new production is greeted with intense scrutiny, so what is it really like to adapt these stories? Screenwriter Sarah Phelps, the woman behind the recent BBC versions of And Then There Were None, Witness for the Prosecution, Ordeal by Innocence and now The ABC Murders, explains. Find more information about this episode and links to the books discussed at shedunnitshow.com/adaptations. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Contributors: —Sarah Phelps, who is on Twitter as @PhelpsieSarah. Books and stories mentioned in order of appearance: —The 1928 film "The Passing of Mr Quin" is based on the short story "The Coming of Mr. Quin", which part of the Agatha Christie collection The Mysterious Mr. Quin —And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie —"Witness for the Prosecution" by Agatha Christie —Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie —The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie —The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie —Mrs McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie —Agatha Christie on Screen by Mark Aldridge Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/adaptationstranscript NB: Links to Blackwell’s are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell’s is a UK independent bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Fly better to your perfect winter getaway with Emirates,
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0:26.0	entertainment.
0:27.0	Emirates, fly better. We think about murder mysteries as page turnets.
0:38.0	For lots of fans, the physical act of reading these books,
0:42.0	of racing through the story and seeing the number of unread pages dwindling
0:45.6	towards the solution is part of the joy but for a great many people their
0:50.3	main contact with detective fiction in particular the stories of Agatha Christie,
0:54.5	is via film and television adaptations. For a huge global audience,
0:58.8	Christie's work is as often watched as it is read. This is nothing new.
1:07.0	The first film based on a Christie short story was The Passing of Mr Quinn,
1:12.0	which appeared in 1928, and many more followed throughout her life and afterwards.
1:16.8	Interest in transforming Christie's stories and novels for the screen is still as strong as ever.
1:21.7	In the last few years the BBC has produced a succession of new adaptations by the screenwriter Sarah Phelps, with a new one shown every Christmas.
1:30.0	The national interest in these productions is so great that newspapers write stories about every aspect of them and speculate endlessly as to what bits of the plot will remain the same and what will change.
1:44.3	Given the intense scrutiny and the vast existing canon, I wanted to investigate this phenomenon
1:49.5	further. What does it really like to adapt an Agathristy today?
	...

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