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Hugh Laurie Developing Agatha Christie Project for the BBC (EXCLUSIVE)
By Stewart Clarke
Stewart Clarke
International Correspondent @varietystewart	FOLLOW
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Hugh Laurie is working on a small-screen Agatha Christie adaptation, Variety has learned. The star of "The Night Manager" and "House" is developing a script, but which of the Queen of Crime's books he is adapting is being kept strictly under wraps.
The project is through ITV-owned producer Mammoth Screen and is being developed for the BBC. Mammoth has made several successful Christie adaptations for the BBC, which Amazon has taken for the U.S. The latest coming down the pike is "The Pale Horse," which was adapted by BAFTA-nominated Sarah Phelps, who won acclaim for her earlier TV version of the Christie classic "And Then There Were None." Endeavor Content has sold those adaptations .
Laurie, who appeared in the P.G. Wodehouse adaptation "Jeeves and Wooster," has not been confirmed to star. On screen, he parodied one of Christie's most famous characters, Hercule Poirot, in the Spice Girls film "Spice World." The most recent Poirot adaptation for the BBC, "The ABC Murders," which was also written by Phelps and aired last Christmas, starred John Malkovich as the mustachioed Belgian detective.
Multi-hyphenate Laurie has a long list of TV and movie credits. He has directed and exec produced multiple projects, released blues albums, and is a published novelist, writing "The Gun Seller."
Christie's work remains ever-present on stage and screen. In March, Bruna Papandrea's Made Up Stories said it is partnering with Agatha Christie Ltd. on a new adaptation of "Miss Marple," one of the author's most popular creations.
In 2016, the BBC and Agatha Christie Ltd. inked a deal for seven adaptations. The BBC's Mammoth-produced projects since include three-parter "Ordeal by Innocence" and "The ABC Murders."
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