Agatha Christie's Seven Dials

Although Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig are working hard to introduce the classic 'whodunnit' subgenre to a more modern audience, one could still argue that in the broader entertainment landscape, it's a genre that is conspicuous by its absence, despite the fact that an entire series or feature film constructed around a single, central crime seems perfectly suited to our modern times, where it feels as if TV series in particular are watched almost in plenary session, and where online discourse is crucial to a series' continued success.

Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall seems to agree. Through the aforementioned series, he has already dealt with murder and police investigations, and now he is tackling an Agatha Christie classic, Seven Dials, a novel that was somewhat controversial in its day because the author broke with her traditional style and told a broader story that was not just about a single, almost unsolvable murder.

The novel has been turned into three episodes of just over an hour each, a curious decision that means this story is quickly caught between the more consistent pace and plot structure of a film and the more methodical and in-depth structure of a series. In England in 1925, an aristocratic family holds a grand, pompous party, which ends with a young man from the Foreign Office dying under mysterious circumstances. This puts the tenacious, sensible Eileen Brent (called Bundle), played by a competent Mia McKenna Bruce, on the trail of a larger conspiracy, and she gets some help from Martin Freeman as Superintendent Battle.

To give away more would be a shame, as the methodical, step-by-step investigation and unravelling of a web of lies and evidence is the beating heart of any crime mystery. Unfortunately, this particular crime mystery is pretty much dead on arrival.

There are no particularly poor performances as such, but from Freeman's slightly fumbling Battle to even Helena Bonham Carter's somewhat indifferent Lady Caterham, Seven Dials' suitably sharp opening quickly dulls with events that seem to be fired off like buckshot, disjointed and irrelevant. We're not talking about separate threads that are woven together over time into an effective narrative; no, we're talking about stylistic confusion; awkward scenes that may advance the central plot line, but leave you scratching your head.

Bundle has a personal connection to the murders that are committed, and her zeal and determination are admirable, but everything around her just seems a bit random, and it's hard to figure out, for pretty much the entire three hours, what it's all about. A formula for a stronger metal alloy that could mean a lot for future English warfare, post-World War I trauma, a secret order, the three episodes have to cover a lot in a relatively short time, and thanks to a confusing pacing approach, which is perhaps more Christie's misstep than showrunner Chibnall's, it feels rushed and slapdash. Several murders are treated in a typical whodunnit manner, with a limited cast of characters and a focus on open questions and methodical investigation, while one is completely forgotten, and only in a single instance is there any real step-by-step development towards an actual climax.

It ends in a wet fart of a conclusion, where you are not left with any open questions, but where you have not once been surprised by effective methodology, exciting, substantiating explanations or even a single 'aha' moment. Despite McKenna Bruce's best intentions, Seven Dials loses all momentum about halfway through and from then on fails to surprise or impress.