Agatha Christie's Seven Dials, season 1

Review of the mini-series "Agatha Christie's Seven Dials": Why is Netflix's new detective series disappointing?

An English aristocrat investigates a murder at a country estate.

1925. Eileen Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce) lives with her mother Lady Caterham (Helena Bonham Carter) in a country house near London. Despite the luxurious interiors, the family has money problems. The relatives are forced to rent out the house for a party hosted by Sir Oswald Cuth. The estate is filled with England's golden youth, including Jerry Wade (Corey Milcrist), a friend of Eileen's late brother, with whom the young lady exchanges glances and agrees to meet soon. Jerry's friends decide to play a prank on him and hide eight alarm clocks in his room — he is known for being a heavy sleeper. The morning after the dance and many glasses of sparkling wine is overshadowed by tragedy: one of the guests is found dead, and seven alarm clocks and a bottle of sleeping pills are found next to the body. Despairing of the police's inaction, Eileen begins her own investigation.

Agatha Christie's works are regularly adapted for the screen. In recent years, Kenneth Branagh has been responsible for popularizing the good old detective stories, having already adapted three of the writer's works and played Hercule Poirot three times. The Seven Dials Mystery is not Christie's most famous work, and it was also panned by the press. Neither Poirot nor Miss Marple appear in the plot: the detectives familiar to the general public are replaced by the lesser-known Superintendent Jim Battle, who appeared in only five of the author's novels. Ironically, Battle is played by Martin Freeman in the series: almost 10 years after the end of Sherlock, the actor has the opportunity to play a mysterious and talented detective. All episodes of Agatha Christie's Seven Dials were directed by Chris Sweeney, and the screenplay was written by Chris Chibnall. Sweeney is known for his music videos and work on the series The Tourist, while Chibnall is one of the writers of Doctor Who.

At the time of its announcement, Agatha Christie's Seven Dials looked like an extremely appealing detective series for the coming year, one that we would watch with a cup of tea in the evenings, rack our brains over, and then recommend to friends. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties, a murder in a posh mansion, a young lady as a detective—what could go wrong? As it turned out, a lot. When describing this new Netflix release, it's hard to resist using the word “insufficient” dozens of times: insufficiently intriguing, insufficiently funny, insufficiently comfortable... The characters also seem to fall short of the level needed to be memorable to the audience. Mia McKenna-Bruce feels perfectly at home in the early 20th-century setting and charming hats, but Eileen lacks the energy and charisma you would expect from a central character. And Martin Freeman, in the role of an intelligent superintendent, doesn't get enough screen time to win over suspects and viewers with his quick wit.

You don't need to be an expert in the genre to understand how a detective story works. An exemplary crime story should confuse viewers with numerous clues, hints, parallel storylines, and skeletons in the suspects' closets. Agatha Christie's Seven Dials unfolds too straightforwardly, allowing savvy viewers to figure out who the culprit is even before Eileen has her moment of revelation. Another problem with the show is its slow pace. Slowness naturally detracts from a classic detective story, whose main task is to draw the viewer in from the very first minutes. Sluggishness and a lack of dynamics are by no means a death sentence for the genre, but this approach hardly corresponds to the spirit of Agatha Christie's novels. So who might like this new Netflix release? First and foremost, fans of retro dramas and connoisseurs of beauty — despite all its shortcomings, we are presented with a very aesthetic spectacle with lovely dresses and delightful interiors. As for fans of detective stories and devoted admirers of the writer, Agatha Christie's Seven Dials is unlikely to offer them anything impressive.

You can watch "Agatha Christie's Seven Dials" on NEFLIX

This article was sponsored by Bara Esieed