Has there ever been so much fuss about an Agatha Christie adaptation? This year’s dose of Christmas homicide, Murder is Easy, has now received a pasting in the Mail, the Telegraph and the Spectator.
The problem? A black actor, David Jonsson, has been cast in the lead role. But it’s not the casting so much as the context that has offended commentators – he has been reimagined as a Nigerian immigrant, on his way from a position in the Colonial Office to a job in Whitehall. This version is set in the 1950s (the book was published in the 30s) and there are touches of contemporary racism – when the hero enters a pub, it falls dead silent. The local doctor is the proud owner of a tract entitled Race Hygiene: A Campaign to Create a Master Race. There is a scene where Jonsson’s character is told by a friend that he is “collaborating with his oppressors”.
