Agatha Christie: Twelve Radio Mysteries: Twelve BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations

by Mike Walker (Adapter), Mike Stott (Adapter), Bill Morrison (Adapter)

Twelve classic Christie short stories are given a modern spin in these BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations.

Agatha Christie is the acknowledged 'Queen of Crime', and these twelve short stories showcase her skilful plotting and talent for producing compelling mysteries. First broadcast in the early 2000s, the stories were adapted and brought up-to-date for a contemporary audience.

Among the star cast are Tom Hollander, Emilia Fox, Patricia Routledge, Julia McKenzie, Neil Dudgeon, Richard Griffiths, Rebecca Front and Andrew Sachs.

Unconventional detective Parker Pyne features in two of the stories, all twelve of which are infused with Agatha Christie's trademark tension and suspense. These tantalising tales of revenge, jealousy, love and death will thrill her many fans.

The stories are:

Philomel Cottage
Swan Song
Magnolia Blossom
Witness for the Prosecution
The Gates of Baghdad
The Hound of Death
In a Glass Darkly
The Dressmaker's Doll
The Case of the Perfect Carer
The £199 Adventure
The Gypsy
The Last Séance

Duration: 5 hours 30 mins approx.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Agatha Christie, Crime, Short Stories, Plays

1 pages, Audio CD

First published February 4, 2016

About the author

Mike Walker is an award-winning dramatist, as well the author of several books for adults. He traveled extensively abroad, particularly in the region around the eastern Indian Ocean, although he is now living in the UK. BAD COMPANY is his first children’s book.

Reviews

[Deb Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many others who have already listened to this audio treatment of twelve of Agatha Christie's short stories, I was disappointed in the quality of some of the presentations, finding them not suitable for oral story-telling. The presentations often detracted from the stories themselves.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good way of listening to the short stories, though not direct readings, more like theatrical adaptations. Plus, they modernized some elements, which wasn't my favorite, but the cast was amazing, and the sound effects were super fun.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought these would be great to listen to while getting ready for work or on my commute as each of the 12 stories is under 30 minutes. Although they are modern spin offs of Agatha Christie novels I think it might be helpful to be familiar with the originals first. The problem for me was that the stories are so well dramatized with sounds and effects that I often could not discern what was happening. Then I would lose the thread of the story.

[Cara Phillips · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally like both Agatha Christie and audio dramas. As such, I thought I would love this. It ended up being one of the most boring thing I've listened to in quite a while. I kept finding myself drifting off and having to re listen to sections. Disappointing as whole.

[Cindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't realize these were "updated" versions of Christie's work. The modernization just didn't work for me at all. couldn't e even finish them all. So disappointed.

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible; the acting is good and the sound effects were fun, but also not great.

The update to modern times confused me at first -- one of the characters texted and I had to double-check I downloaded the correct audiobook.

And then the stories seemed a lot more supernatural than I remember Agatha Christie being? Like there's one about a creepy doll, and another one where it seems a character hallucinates being trapped in a rainstorm? Admittedly, I listened to the audio while doing other things, so it's possible I missed stuff, but often, the stories seemed to end abruptly, without a (to me) super clear resolution to a mystery. And then I started to consider if maybe I missed something because of the modern interpretation, so overall, I think I ended up just confusing myself a bit.

Still, the acting is good, and it's nice to see Parker Pyne in action, because I rarely read his stories.

[Les Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disgusting misuse of Agatha Christies work. She must be turning in her grave over this work having the audacity to add her name to this rubbish. As with the Hobbit, I don't understand why the BBC think they can improve on the wonderful original writers. Glad I purchased this from Audible and was able to send it back. Defiantly not worth buying, I wouldn't have it given me.

[Child · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know many of Agatha Christie's o
stories, but they're probably not this boring. These are "modern day" adaptations, which wod have been nice to know beforehand. You've been warned now. Some of the stories are fine and entertaining. Good acting and sound effects. But most of them are poorly written for audio and you get lost in the action. And their ending made no sense!

[Karmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much of Agatha Christie feel in the adaptations but as standalone mysteries they are quite interesting.

[Claire Tomonaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite an uneven collection. While I appreciated the attempt to update some of the stories I am not sure that this added anything to the original stories.

[Stiina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to these on my phone during a long drive back to Saskatchewan. They kind of all ran together for me - it would have been better if I only listened to one at a time so I could remember them better. Some of them weren't that interesting, but they are nostalgic and remind me of being a little kid, listening to similar stories on the AM dial. I like the older ones better, but these "modern" ones were still enjoyable. I like guessing how they make the sound effects and the engaging ways they tell the story through Foley art and dialogue.

[Jennifer]

Listened to the audio. The cast was good and the stories impactful. I didn’t care for the breathy noises though. Made it hard to understand some of what was said and also just a bit cringy. But good stories!

[Amy]

Though I’m a big fan of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, I wasn’t a fan of this radio play format. I much prefer getting all the description of an audiobook and some elements, like the passage of time and differentiating characters when the actors’ voices sound similar, were difficult to convey and made things confusing. The title of this collection is somewhat misleading; only a couple of the stories are what I’d consider true mysteries (Witness for the Prosecution and one Parker Pyne story); the others are more domestic suspense or supernatural tales. Of the stories, the very first — Philomel Cottage — was my favorite. I also enjoyed Richard Griffiths as the voice of Parker Pyne.

TW for domestic violence, death of a child.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 12 Agatha Christie stories, adapted for radio by the BBC. Some of them date from the 1940s, such as Witness for the Prosecution, and others have been updated with current events like the dot-com bust and the second Gulf War. The stories are cut down significantly so that they fit nicely into about half an hour each. If you find one of them interesting, I recommend that you read the original story.

Not all of the stories had consistent audio quality.

[Janira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought short stories were more on the frightful side than mystery. Still entertaining.

[micki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook
Narrator: BBC Radio Dramatisations

It's Agatha Christie so I give it an automatic five stars because nostalgia lol.

However, while the production on these was mostly great (a few had volume issues with the dialogue versus the music), the quality of the stories themselves is uneven.

But I'm a fan of radio dramas and full cast productions of books so I hope they never stop making these. It's also always interesting to see how older, of their time, stories can be adapted for new audiences. Unlike some people I didn't have a problem with works being modernised to attract new listeners/viewers. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. But I always have the original (or the previous adaptation) if it's something I love. We all just like what we like. Some people love Peter Ustinov as Poirot, others consider David Suchet the definitive performance (me, lol). Others like both (also me--I've come to appreciate Ustinov's portrayals).

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable set of stories with full casts, sound effects, the whole works. I truly enjoyed them, though I do have to say that some of the effects were a bit cringy or giggle inducing. Specifically any kissing. The stories were adapted for the radio reading, but still very much sounded like Agatha Christie stories. If you listen to all of them in a row as I did you will recognize most of the voices from story to story. Which isn't a bad thing, it was simply noticeable to me each time the stories started.

[Tom Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magnolia Blossoms - 5/5, interesting.

Witness for the Prosecution - 4/5. See the Charles Laughton film of the same name instead though.

The Gate of Baghdad - 3/5. too embellished.

The Hound of Death - 2/5. Needed better pace better.

In a glass darkly - 3/5.

Dressmaker's Doll - 1/5. Weak end

The perfect carer - 2/5. slow.

The 199£ adventure - 2/5. Mafia weird

The gypsy - 4/5, sometimes hard to track the story but pretty decent.

The Last Seance - 4/5, grim. The meat beginning was also odd.

[Megan Fetterolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think what took me by surprise in some of these stories was the mystical, black magic, fortune, teller, séance type content. That was not what I had in mind with an Agatha Christie mystery, and the main reason for only ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Things I liked about this audio book;

1. The actors and background/sound effects were great!

2. So reminiscent of family car trips when I was a child listening to stories on the radio.

3 I liked the length of each short story. They were perfect for a something to listen to while making a quick round of errands.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike several listeners I found these dramatisations of the Agatha Christie very reasonable and the updating didn’t bother me. But any such collection is probably going to be a mixed bag for most listeners. I certainly found some of the stories to be rather depressing and a few left me cold but I very much enjoyed others—hence the three star rating. If one can get the audiobook from a library it is worth a listen. I wouldn’t buy it though.

[Laura Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy a good radio play every so often. It feels old-fashioned and fun. These Agatha Christie short stories have been adapted and modernized with conflicting results with varying results. Occasionally it works but too often it doesn't. In particular, the supernatural stories do not work well when taken off the paper. I did enjoy hearing the familiar voice hear and there.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

#BorrowBox
#audiobook
#read23in2023
#23in23
#play

Read a book by an English author

This is difficult to review as the modern take on some of the Christie stories doesn't compute, with televisions and computers thrown into the storylines especially if you're a Christie fan.
They might work better as actual plays rather than dramatisations.

[Roberta Lynne Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful Agatha Christie murder mysteries that have been modernized by the BBC. Fabulous acting of well known stories that are not about Miss Marple. They are scary and have twisted endings. Included is “Witnesses for the Prosecution.”

[Rob Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twelve mysteries featuring well regarded and well known casts with the majority updated to a 'modern' (2002/3) setting. Some of the updates (references to Graham Norton and George W. Bush) do jar. I particularly liked the initial Parker Pyne story.

[TheLittleCarrotThatCould · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I love Agatha Christie but these stories did not lend themselves to radio performances. The updating of the storylines to make them more “contemporary” erased something quaint and essential from the quality and content of the stories. Very disappointed. I would not recommend.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing olio of short story dramatizations; updated to reflect the early '00s. Varying in interest and intrigue, but certainly a great way to spend a grey winter afternoon huddled near the fireplace channel with a cup of tea after a brisk walk within a 5 km radius!

[Julia Shumway · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at about 50%. Short stories of Agatha Christie's that we're adapted, sometimes modernized, and dramatized in ways that made them less engaging and occasionally tedious. I couldn't force myself to finish. I've read several of the short stories, and the originals are just so much better.

[Alli_aye · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a later story, one of the guys said something about Julia Roberts... didn’t realise some of these were modernisations. Not sure the modernisations I recognised were any better for the update.
A nice mix of mystery, action and the supernatural. Great story to end on

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it's because I'm not a great fan of short stories, maybe it's because I've never really wanted to list to radio plays (maybe I chose the wrong thing to listen to...) but I found these hard to follow, a bit boring, and ultimately unsatisfying for the most part.

[I like what I like · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many changes - “updating “ - to the stories. I’ll go back to the originals.

I will continue to try BBC adaptations. The Jane Austin collection was a great way to introduce my family to her stories while traveling together in the car.