Journalist and broadcaster Peter Whittle has hit out at the BBC for “straying” from Agatha Christie’s storylines.
He spoke on GB News about Andrew Wilson, an expert on the famous novelist, hitting out at the broadcaster for their plot rewrites.
Whittle believes this is symptomatic of an institution that is sniping at British values.
“We all know what is going on here”, he said.
Peter Whittle says there are 'attacks' on things we associate with England
GB NEWS
“When it comes to changing of the plots, all it shows is there’s a real major dearth of creative talent.
“Whether it’s Agatha Christie or any other classic, they get another writer to reshape it.
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GETTY/BBC“You think, why don’t you come up with your own stuff? Why all this tinkering around? I think it’s terribly important.
“The real targets for these sorts of things are things that are identifiably English. Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse, James Bond.
“Everything people associate with particularly England is under attack and I find it relentless.
“The makers of these programmes tend to be very proud of the authenticity of these programmes.
Christie’s infamous novel series Poirot and Miss Marple are to be rewritten PA“Then they go and make ridiculous casting decisions that would not have happened at the time and could not have possibly happened.”
Recent BBC adaptations of Christie’s tales have stripped major segments of the narrative, including a radical decision to change the identity of the murderer in Ordeal by Innocence.
In the Pale Hole, the protagonist was turned into a murderer, despite not killing anybody in the book.
Wilson told The Telegraph the BBC should consider “writing their own” content if they remain intent on stripping major plot parts.
“The last seven years on the BBC – some of them have been faithful, And Then There Were None was a brilliant production”, he said.
“But some of them are less faithful. I’m thinking of Ordeal by Innocence, in which the murderer was changed and the way they killed was changed.
“And I just think if you want to do that, don’t adapt an Agatha Christie. Write your own novel. Because one thing about Agatha Christie that makes her so brilliant, and what makes her so enduring, is that she’s such an extraordinarily good plotter.”
He went on: “Screenplays, really, are all plot. It’s all about story, how character and story interact, and I think some of the adaptations, particularly the BBC ones, haven’t been as good as they could be.”
