74. Why didn't they ask Evans?

 

I'm sure I've made it clear by now, but I am a massive Agatha Christie fan, and while I haven't yet gotten around to the book of Why didn't they ask Evans? I certainly enjoyed the version they adapted for the Marple TV series. This version, unfortunately, just didn't cut it.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved Lucy's take on Frankie, she was much more empowering and straightforward than the Frankie Georgia Tennant played who I found too bubbly and less willing to get stuck in to the nitty gritty. This version was much happier to pull a punch and get up close and personal with a dead body. If I had the chance to play her I'd do the same as Lucy.

I also love Will Poulter and his Bobby was really good. I liked his hands on approach and the portion of innocence he brought to the character. It was experienced naivety which sold it, Bobby is meant to be a bit of a clever all around type. Not high status like lady Derwent but also not bottom rung. He's meant to be a bit dense though when it comes to manipulation especially from women. Bobby sees the best in people so it's hard for him to alter his perspective sometimes.  Poulter was great in this role, which is high praise as I absolutely loved Sean Biggerstaff in the role, love me a bit of Oliver Wood. I'm a Potterhead, what you gonna do?

I was a shame really, with such a great cast and true to the book material, that this was so rushed. I mean that ending, I blinked and we were all tied up and finished. I don't even know what the motive was and I was watching it the whole time. I'll admit I did check my phone through some of it, but not towards the end. I just didn't get it. There is usually a point but I missed it this time around. I mean it took us three episodes to even guess at who Evans could have been, let alone is. I know that is significant and meant to be that way to reveal the MO but in the other version we had an idea a little sooner and just needed to find her. Maybe some reordering of plot details was in order. But we went faithful and I assume Mrs Christie also threw that one in towards the end as a curveball.

I feel like I'm starting to have a love/hate relationship with Agatha you know. She's my role model, but I end up picking so many holes in her work. Maybe I just dont get it or the books haven't aged as well as everyone makes out. But I feel like sometimes she just chucks stuff in to throw you off or just ends the book mid conversation (still angry about one of the earlier Poirot books.)

I'll make it clear now, I haven't yet read the book just purely due to time management. I was explaining to my friend Nathan this morning about my backlog in Christie books. I haven't read any of the stand alones because I want to do them in a relative order after I finish the Poirots. Due to this I have no idea what the actual motive was. I know who the killers were, but I have no idea why. I'm going to assume the Marple version was not the true ending and that it was not as elaborate as that, although that would have been true Christie. 

I was just a bit disappointed with this adaptation if I'm honest. It was a bit of a slow start, then it picked up and got interesting, then it dipped again and just finished. I liked the happy ending and all but they either needed to cut out some other stuff to fit back into that last hour air time, or made another episode. To be honest it quite easily could have been condensed down into a 90 minute special and still have had the same outcome. I respect and like Hugh Laurie greatly, I so wanted this to work out. The talent was there, the premise was there, just the final product lacked a little. This might have been due to editing or covid or whatever, but it was a miss for me. I'd watch it again as background noise just for the actors, it was an alright sort of Sunday afternoon summertime show. Day time telly vibes. But putting it on over Easter weekend was daft, and having the finale on the Tuesday everyone went back to work was even dafter. I missed that last episode and had to wait a week before I was free to catch it up.

Star appeal unfortunately just wasn't enough to save this. I mean we had great names in there even aside from those already mentioned. Emma Thompson and Paul Whitehouse anybody? This was abundantly British but it let the side down. I want more Christie adaptations, but if they are going to be as rushed as this then I'm not interested. Where is the complexity? Where is the villainy? Marple managed it and she wasn't even meant to be in this story!

I liked the scenery and settings in this little series. I liked the tension and friendships between our characters too, although I think there should have been more Frankie and Bobby to work with. I even liked certain aspects of the plot, if that ending had been stronger then I think everything else would have been forgiven.

I've googled it. This series worked with its source material and was faithful it seems. We were spoilt with the elaborate Marple ending. I don't know why Christie does this sometimes, her endings just fizzle out. So Why didn't they ask Evans? was perhaps not at fault here after all, but maybe some creative license was needed. I think maybe if they had dropped a few more clues along the way for us to suspect the murderers, like Agatha herself would have then maybe it would have made more sense. Knowing what I do now I don't know how this could have been made better and that makes me sad. 

Overall then I'm going to give Why didn't they ask Evans? a 6/10. Daytime telly at best, not god awful but not my favourite adaptation. I'm still a little disappointed, but that isn't so much aimed at this anymore. I just hoped for a little more pizazz and instead I got dreary murder in the country but I was wearing a blindfold. Perhaps I needed to pay more attention and that was the problem. I liked it, I did despite all the negativity, but it was good and that was all. Nothing special, I expect to see this on whichever ITV channel broadcasts the murder mysteries during the afternoon and at like 2 in the morning when I'm awake. 

Thoughts? Share on my socials! Do you agree with me and the critics or did you have something else to say?