And Then There Were None 

Ten strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious host, and start to get killed one by one. Could one of them be the killer?

Creator:

Agatha Christie

Stars:

Maeve Dermody, Charles Dance, Toby Stephens

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Maeve Dermody	...	Vera Claythorne 3 episodes, 2015
Charles Dance	...	Judge Lawrence Wargrave 3 episodes, 2015
Toby Stephens	...	Doctor Edward Armstrong 3 episodes, 2015
Burn Gorman	...	Detective Sergeant William Blore 3 episodes, 2015
Aidan Turner	...	Philip Lombard 3 episodes, 2015
Harley Gallacher	...	Cyril Ogilvie Hamilton 3 episodes, 2015
Miranda Richardson	...	Emily Brent 3 episodes, 2015
Paul Chahidi	...	Isaac Morris 2 episodes, 2015
Sam Neill	...	General John MacArthur 2 episodes, 2015
Charlie Russell	...	Audrey 2 episodes, 2015
Tom Clegg	...	James Stephen Landor / ... 2 episodes, 2015
Noah Taylor	...	Thomas Rogers 2 episodes, 2015
Catherine Bailey	...	Olivia Ogilvie Hamilton 2 episodes, 2015
Ben Deery	...	Henry Richmond 2 episodes, 2015
Rob Heaps	...	Hugo 2 episodes, 2015

Storyline

It's 1939 and Europe teeters on the brink of war. Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island an isolated rock near the Devon coast in southern England. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime. As members of the party start to die one by one, the survivors realize that one of them is a killer and start to turn on each other.

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Plot Keywords:

1930s | isolation | whodunit | murder mystery | island | 

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Taglines:

Agatha Christie's darkest thriller

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 December 2015 (UK)

Also Known As:

And Then There Were None

Filming Locations:

Newquay, Cornwall, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mammoth Screen, Agatha Christie Productions, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

58 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

And Then There Were None was the first Agatha Christie novel that screenwriter Sarah Phelps read. She admitted that she had never read any of Agatha Christie's stories, nor had she ever watched any Agatha Christie film or TV adaptions prior to this job.

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Goofs

The inside of the house (an actual mansion used; Harefield Grove) does not accurate match the wide exterior shots (which uses a CGI mansion inspired by the real mansion). As a result, rooms in certain locations are inexplicable, if not impossible. Especially many of the bedrooms which are clearly reused for different guests.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits removes an actor's credit when their character has been murdered.

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Alternate Versions

Originally aired as three 60-minute episodes on BBC1 in the UK. It was later re-edited into two 2-hour episodes for it's airing on Lifetime network in the US.

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Connections

Version of Gumnaam (1965)

User Reviews

Adept Transformation of a Whodunit into a Gothic Thriller

Others have remarked on the way in which Sarah Phelps's screenplay transforms Agatha Christie's best-selling novel - which has endured a long life as a play, as well as being repeatedly remade for the screen - into a three-hour epic full of thunder and lightning, both meteorological as well as psychological.

In its latest incarnation, the novel works brilliantly as a Gothic thriller that takes the lid off the civilized veneer of a group of Brits (and one Irishmen) and exposes the guilty passions lurking underneath. General John MacArthur (Sam Neill), an ostensible pillar of the community, cannot forget the time during World War One when he shot one of his officers in cold blood for making love to his wife. Emily Brent (Miranda Richardson), a spinster trying to lead a morally pure existence with plenty of prayer at night, willfully contributed to one of her "companions" throwing herself under a train by refusing her assistance during times of need. Dr. Armstrong (Toby Stephens) has been traumatized by the experience of tending to the wounded during World War One, to such an extent that he was guilty of professional negligence after the conflict had ended.

All ten protagonists have similar secrets to conceal; as the drama progresses, directors Basi Akpabio, Rebecca Keane and Craig Viveiros expose every one of them, just like peeling the skin off a pudding. What we discover is that they are all psychologically disturbed in some way; the visual effects such as the thunderstorm, the flashing lights, the rolling waves surrounding the island (on which they are all marooned), and the biting wind, are physical manifestations of their inner turmoil.

Viewed from this perspective, what might seem visually or verbally excessive - for example, Stephens's capacity to overact during times of extreme stress - is entirely justified. This version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE explores the dark recesses of the human psyche to expose the protagonists' bestial natures. The 1939 setting is significant; in the year the Second World War broke out, everyone begins by behaving complacently, as if believing that their class- conscious attitudes would never alter. By the end, we understand just how precarious British society at that time actually was; few people had ever managed to come to terms with the horrors of the previous war, and the forthcoming conflict would only exacerbate their pain.

Sometimes Phelps's script seems somewhat anachronistic, with attitudes redolent of the contemporary world rather than pre-Second World War society. Yet the decision to adopt this strategy is justified as a means of helping us understand our past, as well as realizing just how difficult, if not impossible, it can be to conceal our sins. A memorable adaptation.