Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

If you’re having a deja vu moment, don’t worry – you’re not going mad.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? received heaps of publicity when it premiered on the streaming service BritBox last year, and now it’s doing the same thing all over again as it makes its regular TV debut this week.

One of the reasons it garnered so much column space first time around is because Hugh Laurie wrote the screenplay, based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name, and directed all three episodes. He also managed to attract a wonderful cast to bring the Queen of Crime’s characters to life, including his old friend Emma Thompson, who pops up in the opener as Lady Marcham; Jim Broadbent makes a brief appearance as her husband.

They’re the parents of central character Frankie, played by Lucy Boynton, an adventurous young woman who joins forces with her ex-naval officer friend Bobby (Will Poulter) to investigate the titular dying words of a man who fell from a cliff.

“I’m deeply honoured to have been given the opportunity to co-lead this project with Lucy,” said Poulter, whose previous credits include The Revenant and Midsommer, while promoting the programme last year. “Agatha Christie’s such a well-loved name in literature, so you’re off to a good start anyway, but Hugh captures the spirit of the book and delivers on the things that people love. “There’s the thrill of the chase, but it’s peppered with jokes throughout and that was fun to play.”

Laurie was just as pleased, if not more so, about his cast, describing them as “an extraordinary bunch” in an interview with the website Deadline.

He went on to say: “If I had to vote for the top department in production, it would be the actors and that’s quite rare. I wouldn’t say it’s common, because actors can be a bit of a handful at times.

“But, this lot, absolutely every single one of them came to the set knowing what the scene required, what the character required, having some idea of how they were going to do it. And they just came with such good humour and energy, and they were on time and they knew their lines, and all of those things that directors dream of.”

What’s particularly refreshing about the series is that it’s based on one of Christie’s lesser-known works; Laurie opted to do something different rather than go down the well-trodden path of either a Poirot or a Miss Marple tale. It has, however, been adapted for the screen before, most notably in 1980, when it became the first Christie novel to appear on TV since her death in 1976 – the show’s success led directly to further productions based on her work.

These days Christie’s work pops up on TV so regularly, it’s hard to imagine a time when it wasn’t a staple part of our viewing – and in Laurie (who also has a small role as Dr Nicholson), it now has an excellent new adaptor. Here’s hoping he returns to do more in the future.