Few names are as synonymous with the mystery genre asAgatha Christie — over the course of her decade-spanning career, the English author penned 66 detective novels and another 14 short story collections, and along the way created some of literature’s most beloved fictional sleuths like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Those works not only made Dame Christie one of the most famous writers in the world — she’s the most best-selling novelist of all time, with two billion books sold, surpassed only by William Shakespeare and the Bible — but also an enduring go-to for page-to-screen adaptations.
There have been 30 feature films based on Christie’s work, not to mention countless TV series, video games, graphic novels and more. And that laundry list is continually growing, with the debut of Agatha Christie's Seven Dials — adapted by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall from the author's 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery, the three-part limited series centers on socialite sleuth Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce) as she investigates a murder at a lavish country house party in 1925 England. Roped into the mystery are Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Caterham, Martin Freeman as Superintendent Battle and Edward Bluemel as Jimmy Thesige, among others.
With Seven Dials premiering on Netflix on Thursday, January 15, here’s a look back at the best Agatha Christie screen adaptations, ranked.
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The Best Agatha Christie Screen Adaptations, Ranked
Searchlight Pictures
12. A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Loosely based on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel Hallowe'en Party, A Haunting in Venice is the third — and best — of Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot film series, which sees the actor-director reprise his role as the world-renowned, heavily-mustachioed detective, picking up with Poirot during his retirement in post-World War II Venice.
He is reluctantly pulled back into field work, though, when a guest is murdered during a Halloween séance at a haunted palazzo, thrusting the detective into a sinister world of shadows, secrets and supernatural forces. Joining Branagh in the delightfully spooky flick are Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Ali Khan, Emma Laird and more.
Endless Night (1972)EMI Films
Equal parts psycho-thriller and neo-noir, Sidney Gilliat's adaptation of Christie's 1967 novel Endless Night follows working-class chauffeur Michael Rogers (Hywel Bennett), whose station in life greatly increases when he marries wealthy heiress Fenella "Ellie" Thomsen (Hayley Mills).
However, when the newlyweds go to build their dream home, it becomes clear that the construction is happening on cursed land, setting the stage for sinister events and shocking twists. It's a moodier, edgier watch than your conventional mystery, but no less engaging.
10. The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Associated Film Distribution
The legendary Elizabeth Taylor plays — what else? — a glamorous movie star in this Miss Marple mystery, where grandmotherly detective Jane Marple (played by Angela Lansbury) delves into a deadly poisoning at a party celebrating visiting film siren Marina Gregg-Rudd (Taylor) in 1950s St. Mary Mead.
With Inspector Dermot Craddock (Edward Fox), Marple's nephew from Scotland Yard, helping her crack the case, Marple's investigations soon reveal a much deeper motive connected to both Marina's past and her recent mental breakdown. Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Kim Novak also star.
Related: We Ranked the 101 Best Thrillers of All Time, From ‘Psycho’ to ‘Parasite’
9. Ordeal by Innocence (2018)
Ordeal by Innocence (2018)BBC One
When wealthy philanthropist Rachel Argyll (Anna Chancellor) is found murdered at her estate, her adopted son Jack (House of Guinness star Anthony Boyle) is quickly convicted of her murder and dies in jail before he can stand trial. Months later, a stranger named Dr. Arthur Calgary (Luke Treadaway) arrives and tells the remaining Argyll clan — led by patriarch Leo (Bill Nighy), who is quick to remarry his much younger secretary Gwenda Vaughn (Alice Eve) — that he has a rock-solid alibi for the late Jack and that the real killer might still be among them.
The three-part series garnered wide critical acclaim when it aired in spring 2018, with an excellent 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For The Guardian, Lucy Mangan called the adaptation "rich, dark, adult" and a "far cry" from other Christie adaptations like the Miss Marple series.
8. Even Under the Sun (1982)
Even Under the Sun (1982)EMY Films
Peter Ustinov plays a holiday-minded Hercule Poirot in this Guy Hamilton-directed British mystery, which screenwriter Anthony Shaffer revealed in his 2001 memoir, So What Did You Expect?, was the personal favorite of his Agatha Christie adaptations.
Even Under the Sun transports viewers to an isolated island resort in the Adriatic, where Poirot must investigate the murder of a notorious actress, Arlena Stuart Marshal (Diana Rigg), while uncovering secrets among the hotel's glamorous and suspicious clientele. It has the chichi setting and sharp social satire of a classic Christie adaptation, but its scorching summer sun enjoyably turns up the heat on this Poirot puzzler.
7. Why Didn't They Ask Evans (2022)
Why Didn't They Ask Evans (2022)BritBox
One of television's more recent — and excellently witty — forays into a Christie page-to-screen adaptation, this BritBox miniseries dutifully takes on the plotline of the author's 1934 detective fiction novel of the same name. After a man dies with the title's question as his cryptic final words, amateur sleuth Bobby Jones (The Bear's Will Poulter) and his socialite pal Lady Frankie Derwent (Lucy Boynton) set off on a thrilling investigation that pulls them into a perilous world of drug rings, false identities and determined murderers.
Related: 101 Best Mystery Books of All Time
6. Murder, She Said (1961)
Murder, She Said (1961)MGM
The first film adaptation to feature Miss Marple — played here by the iconic Margaret Rutherford, who gave a dottier, more whimsical interpretation of Christie's beloved investigator — Murder, She Said would go on to spawn three sequels throughout the early 1960s, but George Pollock's original mystery comedy is a standout from the pack.
Here, Rutherford's Marple witness a murder from the window of a passing train, but when no corpse is retrieved by law enforcement, she goes undercover as a maid at Ackenthorpe Hall, where she believes the killing took place, to sniff out clues and catch the criminal among the family's heirs. It's more fun than it sounds!
5. And Then There Were None (1945)
And Then There Were None (1945)20th Century Fox
Director René Clair had such confidence in the high suspense drummed up by this 1945 drama that the first ten minutes are completely without spoken dialogue — though that doesn't mean the grim story is devoid of comedic flair or lively performances.
A brilliant interpretation of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel, the film eschews the usual central detective for an ensemble working to collectively unpack the mystery, as eight strangers are summoned to an isolated island off the English coast by an unknown host. (The splendid cast includes Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young and June Duprez, among others.)
4. Death on the Nile (1978)
Death on the Nile (1978)EMI Films
We're in 1930s Egypt aboard a luxury paddle steamer with yet another A-list cast — including Peter Ustinov back as Hercule Poirot and supporting stars Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jane Birken and George Kennedy, to name just a few. As usual, there's been a murder (of wealthy newlywed heiress Linnet Ridgeway, played by Lois Chiles), which requires Poirot to sift through the suspects, Linnet's jilted former friend and new husband among them, and untangle a dangerous web of jealousy, infidelity and duplicity.
John Guillermin's Death on the Nile didn't quite match the wide critical acclaim of its predecessor Murder on the Orient Express, but it still chugs along with campy fun and considerable wit, not to mention sweeping. sumptuous visuals via its beautiful Egyptian locations, Oscar-winning costume design and opulent setwork.
Related: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Agatha Christie
3. Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced (1985)
Miss Marple: A Murder is AnnouncedAn exceedingly faithful rendition starring arguably the most quintessential take on Christie's Miss Marple character — played by English actress Joan Hickson — this three-part series is the third of twelve Marple adaptations created by BBC and we consider it the bunch of the bunch, balancing the inherent darkness of the whodunnit with quirky humor and beautiful cinematography.
The story brings us to Chipping Cleghorn, where the local villagers are confused and horrified when a newspaper advertisement announces that a murder will take place at an upcoming date at the home of Miss Blackcock (Ursula Howells). People initially assume it's a joke, until a dead body turns up.
2. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Anglo-EMI Film Distributors
Sorry to Kenneth Branagh's 2017 remake, but we highly prefer Sidney Lumet's lavishly directed 1974 production, populated with a legendary cast — among them Ingrid Bergman (who took home the Academy Award for her conflicted turn as Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson), Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall and Albert Finney as famed detective Hercule Poirot — and plenty of entertaining intrigue.
An adaptation of Christie's 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express finds Poirot trekking from Istanbul to London aboard the titular train, only to find an American tycoon has been brutally stabbed during the journey. The detective is forced to investigate the locomotive's high-society suspects and find the culprit before they have the chance to strike again.
1. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
IMAGO / United Archives
Nominated for six Academy awards, including Best Picture, this Billy Wilder-directed courtroom drama adapts the Agatha Christie play of the same name (itself a take on her 1925 short story “Traitor’s Hands”). In it, Tyrone Power plays Leonard Vole, a man accused of killing a wealthy widow (Norma Varden), who had named him as the main beneficiary in her will — things get exponentially more dramatic when Leonard’s wife (played by the one and only Marlene Dietrich) testifies against him.
Christie herself reportedly considered it "the finest film derived from one of her stories," and we're inclined to agree, powered with a tense pace, sharp dialogue, brilliant acting and one of the most genuinely shocking finales in the author's oeuvre.
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