And Then There Were None

This is a very watchable adaptation, but any Christie purist should find there are some arbitrary modifications to the story for no good reason. Most of them can't be explained as necessary adaptations for translation to the screen. Some of them are relatively inconsequential, and a couple might even be enhancements Dame AC would have endorsed (such as the play on the "bee sting" that has always struck me as a weak point in the book, which Christie even seems to acknowledge in the epilogue); but other changes did nothing to improve the story and some arguably weaken it. Namely, one of the elements of the book that makes it so intriguing is that the prior sins of those being picked off on the island have some element of moral ambiguity, or at least uncertain culpability. Turning some of those into blatantly cold-blooded crimes takes away from the murderer's motivation of serving justice for crimes "the law couldn't touch" for various reasons. Anyone who's not a purist won't be phased, and the series is worth watching. Good production value and great cast.

I'm a big fan of Agatha Christie, and I would say this adaptation did not disappoint me at all. The cast are strong, the plots are entwined yet intriguing, and the settings are on point! The only thing I could possibly argue about are those solider figurines. They are quite postmodern and different from what I expected haha! Anyway, I highly recommend this miniseries to everyone! If you're not sure whether or not to give it a try, I'll say it only takes 3 hrs to go through all the episodes. Why not give it a shot?

Reading back several reviews I had posted back in 1998 that I wished for a remake of And then there were none. Considering it's the world's biggest selling mystery it's taken a while for a new adaptation. Well done BBC with 2015's new interpretation, talk about hitting the mark, having not long read the book it's almost as I'd picture it. Fantastic casting, particularly impressed with Charles Dance and Aidan Turner, both have such a commanding personality. The scenery is utterly breathtaking, again the island and house are exactly as I picture them, the interior of the house was jaw dropping, you really believed it to be owned by a Hollywood star.

I was really pleased when I heard the news that this was being remade, I approached with caution, as some of the recent adaptations of Dame Agatha's work haven't been works of brilliance, but this hit the mark, one of those shows you don't want to end!! 10/10

An absolutely fantastic adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's masterpieces. There have been countless film and stage versions produced over the years, but now we finally have something closer to the tone of the original novel. Yes, they've updated it with a few changes (some work, some don't) but overall this is an extremely entertaining miniseries that understands what made the book work so well in the first place.

Everything about this BBC production was pitch-perfect…the casting, locations, cinematography, atmosphere, music. It was a terrific visual representation of how I pictured everything in my head when first reading the book. I was also extremely happy to see we finally have an English language version that keeps the book's original ending!

Running almost three hours long means they've added some padding to the source material, but there's no denying what a wonderfully gripping and suspenseful murder mystery this is. Great performances, terrific production values and filled with a constant sense of dread and paranoia. This is Agatha Christie done properly and gets my highest recommendation.

I read Agatha Christie's source novel several times and lost count of how many different versions of the story I watched on film as well as on stage, but one thing is for certain: I will never grow tired of "And then there were None". The very first film-adaptation, released in 1945 already, still stands proud as the best version (and my personal favorite), but this mini-series is the completest version and perhaps also the most accessible one, suitable to introduce the genius of Mrs. Christie to younger audiences! "And then there were None" was produced by the BBC to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth. My sincerest respect to the makers, because they truly took the time and effort to achieve a qualitative and detailed enactment of the story with top-notch casting choices, stunningly accurate filming locations, precise decors, continuous underlying tension an ominous atmosphere throughout.

The only real difference with the original story is the nature of the 10 little protagonists of the infamous nursery rhyme! For obvious reasons, the use of words referring to "black people" is unacceptable, but apparently it's nowadays also racist and discriminating to use little Indians! Hence, we're following the elimination of ten little soldier boys here, and they're illustrated via ugly modern art ornaments (???) standing on the dinner table. I guess the rest of the plot is universally known and doesn't need a further summary? Oh heck, just because I love the story: ten people, complete strangers to each other, are heading out towards the minuscule Soldier's Island off the English coast. They were all lured to the island, via a formal invitation or a job offer, by a certain Mr. and Mrs. U.N. Owen (read that out loud) but upon their arrival their host and hostess aren't present. After dinner, the guests are suddenly confronted with a recording in which every single one of them is accused of being responsible for the death of a fellow human being even though they weren't punished for it. Immediately after the recording and the initial panic, the guests are killed one by one in ways that are reminiscent to the "10 Little Soldiers" rhyme. Since they are the only people on the island, the rapidly shrinking group of survivors realize that U.N Owen doesn't exist and that one of them is the murderer.

This is probably the longest version of "And then there were None" ever filmed, but you never get the impression that it's tedious. It's slow-paced and atmospheric, with the screenplay digging deeper into the details of the guests' previously committed crimes. The horror fan in me somewhat regrets that the actual murders are either too briefly or even entirely off-screen, but the lack of spectacle is widely compensated by the subtle tension-building and the profound character portraits. The cast is downright fantastic. Admittedly I only knew two names at first (Charles Dance and Sam Neill), but the rest of the cast is experienced and multi-talented as well. I doubt if Mrs. Christie would have approved of the "drunken orgy" sequences that were inserted close to the finale, but apart from that I've never seen a more version more faithful to the source novel. Agatha Christie is more alive than ever, in fact, since writer/director Kenneth Brannagh recently also delivered a brand new version of "Murder on the Orient Express".