Agatha Christie

And then there were none

This is a BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of a classic Agatha Christie mystery, starring Lyndsey Marshal, Geoffrey Whitehead and John Rowe. Ten guests travel to an island at the invitation of someone named U.N. Owen. All are strangers, but they have two things in common: they have all been responsible for someone's death, and none will leave the island alive. Over the next two days and nights, each of the guests is killed off in a different manner in keeping with the nursery rhyme, 'Ten Little Soldier Boys'. As they are picked off one by one, who could possibly be responsible? The killers are forced to turn detective so they can find the unknown murderer, but one by one they become victims...Billed as 'the famous detective story without a detective', This drama is very reminicient of the type of play broadcast on Saturday Night Theatre which is very much missed. "And Then There Were None" is one of Agatha Christie's darkest and most enduring tales.

On 13 November 2010 as part of its Saturday Play series, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a ninety-minute adaptation written by Joy Wilkinson. Not an original SNT broadcast but very much like one. The production was directed by Mary Peate and featured Geoffrey Whitehead as Justice Wargrave, Lyndsey Marshal as Vera Claythorne, Alex Wyndham as Captain Lombard, Sean Baker as Dr. Armstrong, John Rowe as General Armstrong, Sam Dale as Mr. Blore, Joanna Monro as Emily Brent and Harry Child as Cyril/the Narrator. In this Agatha Christie production, which is extremely faithful to the novel, the rhyme is "Ten Little Soldier Boys".

One problem that Christie seems to have overlooked is the setting for And then there were none, set on a deserted island in a propoerty that is left unoccupied due to the fact that it is a holiday home, this presents a few problems. The infamous U.N.Owen may stuggle to get insurance for a holiday home especially given the amount of murder and death that also occures at the property.