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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
Entertainment
Calam Pengilly & Fahad Tariq

Period drama begins filming in Paisley as camera crews take over town

Paisley has become a hive of stardom and history as camera crews descend on the Renfrewshire town, filming what is understood to be a big BBC adaptation of a classic Agatha Christie novel.

Forbes Place has been taken over by production company Mammoth Screen as they film a period drama based on the iconic writer’s 1939 book Murder is Easy, the Daily Record reports.

The cobbled street is lined with classic cars and actors in attire from another age, while film crews capture the action for what will be a two-part thriller to be screened on BBC One, iPlayer, and BritBox.

The adaptation is to be set in England in 1954.

READ MORE: BBC Antiques Roadshow gears up for filming in Glasgow as tents erected at Pollok Country Park

A man named Luke Fitzwilliamon is on a train to London when he meets Miss Pinkerton, who tells him that a killer is on the loose in the sleepy English village of Wychwood under Ashe.

The villagers believe the deaths are mere accidents, but Miss Pinkerton knows otherwise - and when she's later found dead on her way to Scotland Yard, Luke feels he must find the killer before they can strike again.

Speaking upon the announcement that Murder is Easy was to be adapted earlier this year, screenwriter Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre said: "I’ve watched every Agatha Christie adaptation out, because Christie wrote for the world and the whole world loves her back.

"But somehow I’d never read one of her novels. When I first read Murder is Easy, I couldn’t believe how daring, experimental and furious the book was. Nothing like I’d expected.

Filming on Forbes Place (Andrew Neil)

"From the first read, the book was shouting at me how to enter and adapt it, and what’s so exciting is having everyone at Mammoth Screen and ACL jump right in there with me. It’s like going on an extended train journey with a genius sat next to you, whispering the secrets of storytelling into your ear.”

Mammoth Screen are producing the thriller in collaboration with Agatha Christie Limited, which has managed the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world since 1955.

James Prichard, executive producer for Agatha Christie Limited said: "This is one of my great grandmother’s best and most disconcerting titles. Of course, murder isn't easy. Or is it if you live in a traditional unsuspecting English village?"

What's in the bag? (Andrew Neil)

Murder is Easy will be directed by Meenu Gaur and produced by Karen Kelly. Executive producers are Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Damien Timmer and James Gandhi for Mammoth Screen, Jenny Frayn for the BBC and Reemah Sakaan and Stephen Nye for BritBox International.

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama says: “Agatha Christie on the BBC has become a classic combination, and in Murder is Easy we have one of the Queen of Crime’s finest page-turners in a new adaptation that both speaks to us today and honours her incredible talent for brilliantly entertaining, skilfully told mystery. BBC One and iPlayer viewers will be gripped.”

The release date and cast has not yet been confirmed.

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