Pourquoi pas Evans?

I was wary of watching this version of Agatha Christie's story after recent dreadful Sarah Phelps' penned dramatisations. Fortunately this screenplay was written by Hugh Laurie and he did a tremendous job. There is not a wasted line, every word, while not essential to the plot, adds humour and colour, and brings the characters to life. The drama is beautifully shot, and the character acting is top drawer.

A partially faithful adaptation of the book, although it rearranges certain lines of dialogue, and changes certain conversations up to include bits of the prose that weren't verbalized by the roles . The opening titles shows characters running through a maze , subsequently the vicar's (Alistair Petrie) son Bobby Jones (Will Poulter) and Dr. Alwyn Thomas play a round of golf, Bobby slices his ball over the edge of a cliff. His ball is lost, but on the rocks below he finds the crumpled body of a dying man. With his final breath the man opens his eyes and gasps, 'Why didn't they ask Evans?'. Becoming convinced the man's death may have been a murder , Bobby and his socialite friend Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent (Lucy Boynton) set about solving the mystery.

This TV movie happens to be a murder mystery in three episodes dealing with dying man's enigmatic last words send vicar's son, Bobby Jones, and his socialite friend, Lady Frankie Derwent, on a crime-solving adventure . It is very well-made, actually looking authentic without being too heavy on scenarios including gorgeous photography , as well gowns and sets that are both sumptuous and brilliant . There are some enjoyable elements to this story, Lucy Boynton and Will Poulter drive the film , they literally are pretty good for the material and script they're given . The dialogue is faithful to Agatha Christie and helps to make the mystery interesting throughout, and the story, while paced slowly but adequately, is both suspenseful and intricate , if seemingly implausible on first viewing . This is a fine decision, as it fits better with the TV format than the novel's version of the scene would . As a result this adaptation is quite good, but there are some problems dragging it down. "Why Didn't They Ask Evans ?" is three hours long, and it really doesn't need to be . There are numerous scenes that could have easily been trimmed . There are a lot of scenes where the camera is just aimlessly surveying its surroundings, or characters are taking forever in walking/sneaking around . The acting in ¨Why Didn't They Ask Evans?¨ is all good , the actors are all British giving sympathetic interpretations , such as : Will Poulter, Lucy Boynton , Daniel Ings, Alistair Petrie , Jonathan Jules , Nicholas Asbury , Richard Dixon and director Hugh Laurie himself , among others .

This nice adaptation with some mistakes was professionally written and directed by Hugh Laurie. This notable actor , producer and director is known for playing : House series (2004), Catch-22 (2019) , Tomorrowland (2015) , The Flight of the Phoenix (2004) , Stuart Little (1999) . And he has written produced or directed various films or television movies , such as : Chance ,The Night Manager , Live On The Queen Mary , The Laughing Prisoner , The Crystal Cube and various episodes of House.

There're other versions about this story : ¨Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1980) with Francesca Annis , John Gielgud , Bernard Miles , Eric Porter , Leigh Lawson. And Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2009), which was episode 4 of Season 4 of Marple directed by Nicholas Renton with Julia McKenzie , Samantha Bond , Richard Briers , Rik Mayall , Rafe Spall , Natalie Dormer , Warren Clarke , Mark Williams .

Having been produced for Britbox last year, Hugh Laurie's adaptation of the Agatha Christie story aired on ITV around Easter of 2023, which is when I saw it. There were aspects of it that I loved but I felt one fairly major failing too.

Bobby Jones (Will Poulter) and Lady Frankie Derwent (Lucy Boynton) investigate the 'accidental' death of a man, who fell from the cliffs of the small Welsh town they live in. Their light-hearted probe turns serious when there is an attempt on Bobby's life. They track a man who was in the village that day, Roger Bassington-ffrench (Daniel Ings) back to his family home and decide to go in undercover.

I liked the presentation of this. There's some lovely 1930's cars and clothes. Laurie calls in a few favours with the cast, including a single but impactful scene from Emma Thompson and a couple of scenes with Jim Broadbent as Lord and Lady Derwent. The rest of the performers are really good, and it feels like a classic ITV Agatha Christie ensemble. Morwenna Banks, Conleth Hill, Miles Jupp, Paul Whitehouse, Amy Nuttall and Alistair Petrie round it out. There's a great chemistry between Poulter and Boynton, and Boynton especially is magnetic throughout, funny, and charming and she's clearly a star.

I think the plot of the story is perhaps a little too complicated for the speed that it's run through though. I think I followed what happened and reading the plot of the story again on Wikipedia I did manage it. I do think that perhaps "show rather than tell" would be the way to go, as there are several scenes of Jones and Derwent putting together what happened that could have done with a bit more video explaining who they were talking about.

Unfortunately, I'd have though that with Marvel stardom coming for Poulter, and for Boynton already having a pretty busy film and TV career, were not likely to see the couple reunite for another adaptation, which is sad. What we have is a good, if not perhaps great time, but one that's worth going with, if only for the performances.

I read the book prior to the release of this, and I have to say it isn't a favourite of mine, nor was the awful Marple adaptation some years ago.

Laurie has managed to make the story into a really enjoyable, watchable whodunnit. The acting was great, I thought most of the characters came to life.

The best element, the visuals, it looks incredible, great fashions and cars, plus some sublime location work, surely one of the most picturesque places in The UK.

Nowadays, it's advisable to approach Agatha Christie adaptations with a degree of caution, you have no idea whether you'll find Poirot taming lions, or Jane Marple making ice sculptures, but credit where it's due, it's a faithful adaptation, without any massive changes.

If I'm honest, I thought it dipped a little in the middle, but overall it was very watchable.

Let's hope we get more quality adaptations soon, this was very good, 8/10.

O.k. I gotta fess up. I'm giving this mini-series 7 stars for having the smarts to hire and feature Lucy Boynton as its female lead. She is everything you want and infrequently get from a lead. The viewer falls for her. And once fallen the viewer cares and cares a great deal about her welfare. And the more peril her character - Lady Franky - is in, the more involved the viewer is. I might not have fully understood everything that's going on, but I fervently hoped that the series would keep Lady Franky safe.

A man is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Another is found hanged in his home. What is the connection, if any, between these two apparent murders? There is, in fact, an answer. And along the way to that answer there are (a) other deaths (b) look-a-like-ladies (c) photos purloined and (d) hospitals for the mentally unfit.

All well and good. But the problem (for me) was this.

Huh? So much happens and happens so fast that I simply could not keep up. Worse still the climactic scene(s) happens in the dark, an ill-advised decision when the complex story would be hard enough to follow in broad daylight.

And, yes, I could have re-watched the 3-part series before writing this, I could have made notes and put the pieces together. I could have. But isn't that asking too much? Yes, I think so.

So then, I'm saying, See this series if only for the sake of actress Lucy Boynton. And stick around for the story. Maybe you'll be luckier, and more astute, than I.

Maybe you'll 'get it'.