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Am a huge Agatha Christie fan, have been ever since the age of 11 since reading 'And Then There Were None' (still one of my favourite books) and watching the Joan Hickson and David Suchet adaptations of 'A Murder is Announced' and 'Sad Cypress'. 'Ordeal By Innocence' may not be one of her very best works, but it is an expertly crafted work with an ending that one does not expect.

While there are worse Agatha Christie adaptations (i.e. the 'Partners in Crime' series from a few years ago, 'The Alphabet Murders', the 1989 'Ten Little Indians' and the worst ITV Marple adaptations, so 'At Bertram's Hotel', 'A Sittaford Mystery' and 'Why Didn't They Ask Evans'), 'Ordeal By Innocence' was a disappointment. Of Sarah Phelps' Christie adaptations, it is the weakest having loved 'And Then There Were None' and being mixed on 'Witness for the Prosecution. Don't know which is weaker between this and the Geraldine McEwen adaptation, both are underwhelming in their own way and neither do the book justice.

It is not that it is a poor adaptation of the book where my disappointment with 'Ordeal By Innocence' lies, not completely at least. It for me had far more issues on its own terms.

There are good things. The best thing about 'Ordeal By Innocence' is the production values. Gorgeously shot, sometimes imaginatively edited, sumptuously costumed, atmospherically lit and evocative in period detail with well chosen locations, visually 'Ordeal By Innocence' is exceptional.

Found too that it started off on a promising note. The opening scene was utterly transfixing and looking away was impossible, one of the few instances in the adaptation where chills were sent down the spine and goose-bumps were on my arm.

Didn't think highly of the acting really, but Bill Nighy does underplay with dignity and is sometimes affecting, a perfect approach towards the character that one feels most for in the source material. It may come over as dull and like he was slumming it to some but that is only when comparing it to the rest of the acting, which had a jarringly broad approach, someone had to take things seriously as ought and Nighy does that.

On the other hand, the rest of the cast play their roles too broadly and others are very bland, the latter especially applying to Matthew Goode. Instead of feeling much for the characters and their plight which one is meant to considering that in the book there is more emphasis on the family ordeal, one is irritated by that most of them do not come over as real people and more stale archetypes that have sketchy at best development, inexcusable for a three part mini-series.

Unfortunately, the mystery also doesn't engage. There are some dark and twisty moments in the last episode (another small plus point), but most of the time they are outweighed and over-shadowed by the overblown melodramatic tone pretty much the whole series adopts, the lack of tension and suspense and bad pacing. While the last episode is rushed and over-stuffed (packing in too much in a short space of time), most of 'Ordeal By Innocence' is long-winded and padded out by self-indulgence, overlong scenes and repetition, making the running time feel further over-stretched. Spacing the series over three weeks rather than days was a mistake, in danger of forgetting what happened before.

Much of the dialogue felt soapy and ham-fisted, as well as being too jarring for the period. The music is too brashly orchestrated and intrudes far too much. Furthermore many have expressed disappointment with the ending and count me in as another person who found it absurd and contrived, questioning the point of the changes and frustrated at how it misses the point. Anything included to spice things up to seemingly bring more grit or appeal to a wider audience instead comes over as mean-spirited and out of kilter as well as gratuitous.

In summary, disappointing. 4/10 Bethany Cox

A darker adaptation of an A.C. work. No Marple or Poirot (good) a straight forward mystery with plenty of red herrings. Re-worked by Sarah Phelps ,sometimes these are overworked, get boring. This one wasn't. Morven Christie, who I'm a big fan of, was certainly in total control of her part and acted out in style. Nice to see Bill Nighy playing it straight to the end, not his usual cameo of an aging rock star. I also liked that they used a reverse of film and clock as not to confuse you in stating a look back in time. A mystery with twists and turns to the very end, supported by a fine cast.

First, I didn't read Agatha Christie and didn't know the story before hand.

I found the whole thing a bit of a mess. The editing, directing, story/script, and acting were all annoying. There was no tension or real suspense, but I did stick through to the end because it was bearable and I did want to see the reveal. I also hoped it would get better...which it did, slightly. The last episode was the best because it had movement, but the whole of the story plodded along with unlikeable characters, flashbacks, and just didn't have anything clever or gripping in the way it was written or acted out IMHO!

5.5 stars for me. Feb2024.

Let's be honest about this. If this hadn't been advertised as an Agatha Christie adaptation, I would have rated it a lot higher. As it was, my wife gives it a 9, I give it a 3. Average score: 6.

Why the huge difference? Because I knew the story before we started watching and she didn't.

This is NOT an Agatha Christie adaptation. This is taking an Agatha Christie title, using the same characters, starting out with the same opening of a son convicted of killing his mother ..... and then changes pretty much everything that follows.

I could almost accept that. What I can not accept is having reached the final episode and expecting character "A" to be revealed as the killer in the closing scenes because I knew the original story but instead finding out that in this 'adaptation' it is actually character "B" that did the deed because the screenwriter knows better than the incomparable Agatha Christie.

Imagine if you were going to an 'adaptation' of a Shakespeare play about a couple of star crossed lovers. You know the story. You know what to expect. You are confused by a few of the director's changes as you watch and you are doubting your memory of the original story but then you get to the final scene and the boy ... let's call him Romeo ... rushes to the girl's tomb ... let's call her Juliette ... to find her apparently dead. Surprisingly (because you KNOW the story), he decides to join her and kill himself but ... just before he can plunge the sword into his chest, Juliette awakens in the nick of time. Furious at being so cruelly deceived into thinking his beloved was dead, he stabs Juliette instead and then launches into a long soliloquy on the tyranny of women before fleeing the stage. Would you be happy with the rewrite?

An adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ordeal by Innocence? It is nothing of the sort.

However, if this had been given a completely different title, with different unrecognizable characters, set in a different time and place, I probably would have enjoyed it.

As it was, I was left immensely frustrated by the writer, director and producer's decision to capitalize on the Christie name and not willing to let the production stand on its own merits.

In future Christie 'adaptation' by the BBC, I'll be carefully checking the screenwriter and avoiding it if it has Sarah Phelps name on it.

On the other hand, if I see an original production where Sarah Phelps is the writer, I'll give it a go because, as I said, other than the con of presenting it as an Agatha Christie it wasn't too bad.

I binged this on a transatlantic flight, and was initially quite impressed at the style and mood-setting, as well as the acting (though Bill Nighy is overexposed). But as episode 3 progressed, it became apparent that the entire premise of the plot (including the identity of the murderer and the motive) had been upset. I agree with all the other reviewers who said that Christie's name should be removed from the title. She supplied the set-up and cast of characters, but it wasn't the same plot. In fact, the ending felt more like one of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected than the resolution of a murder mystery.