BELOW AVERAGE

In the early 1950s, a young Nigerian attaché (David Jonsson) on his way to Whitehall runs into an elderly woman (Penelope Wilton) who tells him about her village where she believes a killer is on the loose.

A great Agatha Christie novel gets a modern update of sorts, where a lot of effort has gone into discussing colonial sins and women’s rights. No problem, as long as the mystery delivers, but in this case lackluster treatment, a lack of thrills and a bland cast add to the burden of the dialogue’s excessive preaching.

2023-U.K. 134 min. Color. Directed by Meenu Gaur. Novel: Agatha Christie. Music: Segun Akinola. Cast: David Jonsson (Luke Obiako Fitzwilliam), Morfydd Clark (Bridget Conway), Penelope Wilton (Lavinia Pinkerton), Sinead Matthews, Tom Riley, Douglas Henshall. 

Trivia: Shown in either two or three episodes. The novel was previously filmed in the U.S. as a 1982 TV movie.