Magpie Murders, the meta-mystery novel by Anthony Horowitz about a mystery novel manuscript within a novel, is coming to Masterpiece on PBS here in the US. This most likely means it's already scheduled for UK television and will probably air before we get it over here.
Unlike the recent spate of mangled Christie programs this is one TV adaptation I'm looking forward to seeing. It will be scripted by Horowitz himself so we can surely expect a faithful adaptation with no ludicrous monkeying around with characters and plot. I'm fascinated to see how a book so much about writing and manuscripts will be translated to the television screen. Can the very excellent Daniel Hawthorne mystery novels also written by Horowitz be next on the slate?
For more on this six part (!) series in co-production with Eleventh Hour Films see this publicity piece on the PBS Masterpiece website.
This is fantastic news!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is! I only wish I knew the actual air dates so I can mark them on my iPhone calendar. It's that important to me. HA!
DeleteJohn, John, John, John, John!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is the most exciting news anyone has announced in quite a while! Maybe I'm just a bit Covid-Crazy, but I can't wait to watch this one! And if we're really good, maybe Horowitz will end up adapting the entire Atticus Pund canon to TV! On second thought, I guess that's not possible . . . unless he can worm the modern day publisher into each plot! Oh well, I've got the sequel winging its way across the ocean to me, and now your good news! All in all, one of the better Mondays of my last six months!
I meant to post this the day after I got the email two weeks ago! I can't believe not a single person in our coterie of mystery blogs has written about it. I'm on a mailing list created by the head PR person at WGBH and I get all the news about "Masterpiece Mystery" programs. Never asked for it; she found me apparently. While I'm helping to promote "Masterpiece Mystery," let me add that Endeavor, Series 7 (the finale of the series) starts next Sunday night on a PBS station near you.
DeleteHi John, there has been no news about this in the UK. It looks like it will be Britbox in the UK which is streaming only like Netflix. So it looks like you'll see it on free to air unlike us. I've had a look on the Eleventh Hour and there is no news, they are probably best known for Foyle's War. Having had a look around at the usual sources it looks like it's still in production. Wayne Mook
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Wayne. There's nothing at Anthony Horowitz' own website either. Maybe he's not allowed to publicize the series before it airs. Could be a term in his contract. I did learn about another series he's working on, but I have no interest in that one. It's called Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue and it's being developed for the struggling streaming service Quibi. The brief plot summary makes it sound like an insane melding of And Then There Were None and the TV show "Survivor." A big pass from me!
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