Everyone knows Agatha Christie’s heavy hitters. Maybe you’ve seen an old episode of Poirot or Miss Marple, or maybe you’ve caught one of Kenneth Branagh’s recent movie adaptations. But behind Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None, there’s a vast back catalog of different mysteries solved by different detectives.
Netflix recently brought one of these deep cuts to life in a new series, and it comes with the introduction of one of Christie’s most underrated sleuths.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials follows young 1920s socialite Eileen “Bundle” Brent, a plucky heiress with a bob that, to borrow some modern parlance, is bobbing. After WWI took her brother and father’s lives, she spends her days in a large manor house with her slightly agoraphobic mother (a perfectly-cast Helena Bonham-Carter).
But it seems like her life is about to begin when a dashing Foreign Office worker (Corey Mylchreest) hints that he’s about to propose. However, Bundle’s hopes are dashed when he’s found murdered in his bed the next morning. It’s officially ruled a suicide, but Bundle sets out to uncover who was truly behind it — and along the way gets caught up in a vast conspiracy involving scientific innovations, underground societies, and family secrets.
Seven Dials comes from British TV showrunner Chris Chibnall, who created the hit murder mystery drama Broadchurch and also had a stint as the head honcho of Doctor Who, so he knows how to take the (admittedly simplistic) plot of the Seven Dials book and turn it into a launching point for more adventures. There’s a reason why this is a series, not a movie — there could easily be more seasons of Bundle’s journey in the future, perhaps by adapting some of Christie’s other unsung works.
And this show’s star more than proves she can handle more seasons. Mia McKenna-Bruce has the slight naïveté needed for a role like this, but also brings a joyfulness that can often fall by the wayside in stories with stakes as high as these. If Poirot’s great contemporary equivalent is Columbo and Miss Marple’s is Jessica Fletcher, then Bundle is Poker Face’s Charlie Cale, a carefree detective who seems more like your best friend than an inaccessible mental superpower.
While there’s a clear open option for more mysteries with Bundle going forward, there’s no sign of a Season 2 at this point. But if you want to see a new face enter the Agatha Christie adaptation pantheon, then check out this breezy 1920s adventure.
