Ordeal By Innocence is heading overseas. Endeavour Content has racked up a slew of deals for BBC One’s Agatha Christie adaptation with a range of international broadcasters including the ABC in Australia, Canal+ in France, TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in Norway and MTV3 in Finland. BBC Studios has taken rights for its BBC First channels across the Middle East, Africa and the Benelux regions.
“Agatha Christie is such an internationally iconic writer – outsold only by the Bible and works of Shakespeare – and we are thrilled to be partnering Agatha Christie Limited on seven miniseries adaptations of her work”, said Gary Marenzi, Head of Entertainment Sales and Partnerships for Endeavor Content. “Our first in this series, Ordeal by Innocence is an expertly crafted and brilliantly executed thriller that will keep global audiences riveted”.
Ordeal By Innocence is set during Christmas 1954 when wealthy philanthropist Rachel Argyll is murdered at her family estate Sunny Point. Her adopted son Jack Argyll, a young delinquent, is arrested for her murder. He vehemently protests his innocence. Eighteen months later, Dr Arthur Calgary, a scientist, walks onto the velvety lawns of Sunny Point claiming to have just returned from an expedition to the Arctic. Even more extraordinary is his claim to hold the alibi that can prove Jack’s innocence. But Jack died in prison before the case could come to trial, and the Argyll family is reluctant to dig up the secrets of the past.
Rachel’s widower Leo is about to remarry his secretary Gwenda and none of Rachel’s other adopted children Mary, Mickey, Tina or Hester, nor longstanding housekeeper Kirsten, is willing to reopen that most horrendous chapter of their lives. However, the shattering implications of Calgary’s story are too big to avoid; if he is telling the truth then the wrong person was arrested for Rachel’s murder. And if Jack was not the killer, then it must have been somebody else at Sunny Point. The drama, which is based on Christie’s 1958 novel, is produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited and stars Bill Nighy, Catherine Keener, Matthew Goode, Eleanor Tomlinson, Anthony Boyle, Christian Cooke, Luke Treadaway, Morven Christie, Crystal Clarke, Ella Purnell and Alice Eve.