Agatha Christie’s novels are still popular fodder for TV adaptations; this time around the BBC is to adapt her famous 1936 novel, The ABC Murders. The cast will include Harry Potter and Snatch’s Rupert Grint and John Malkovich.

Malkovich becomes the latest in a line of seasoned actors to play the Belgian detective with the impressive ‘tache, Poirot. Grint will take on the role of Inspector Crome. Also joining the cast are Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch, The Honourable Woman) as Franklin Clarke, Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks, Chained) playing Cust, Tara Fitzgerald (Game Of Thrones, Requiem) as Lady Hermione Clarke, Bronwyn James (Harlots) in the role of Megan and Freya Mavor (The Sense Of An Ending, Sunshine On Leith) as Thora Grey. Further casting to be announced.

Also on the news – Idris Elba teams up with Netflix for The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Executive producer and Agatha Christie Limited CEO, James Prichard said “‘The ABC Murders’ is one of my great-grandmother’s most unsettling and intense stories and Hercule Poirot one of her most intriguing characters,” he went on to state “I am most excited to experience the unique approach John Malkovich will bring to the role in this thrilling one-off television adaptation.”

Sarah Phelps, Writer and Executive Producer, says: “Set in the seething, suspicious early 1930s, The ABC Murders is a brutal story of violence and lies, the long shadow of the past and the slaughter to come. At its centre, one of the most familiar, famous characters in crime fiction. We may all think we know Poirot but do we really know Hercule?

The ABC Murders novel features characters  Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp, as they contend with a series of killings by a mysterious murderer known only as “A.B.C.”

Filming for The ABC Murders begins next month and will be directed by Alex Gabassi (The Frankenstein Chronicles, El Hipnotizador) and is a one-off three-part drama.