I have been on a complete Agatha Christie kick these past few months, enjoying both the Poirot and Miss Marple series streaming on Netflix. So, when Seven Dials landed on Netflix, we binge-watched it the very weekend it came out.
The Seven Dials Mystery is one of Christie’s more playful, youthful mysteries. It’s standalone, so there’s no appearance by her stalwart detectives, although Superintendent Battle, another favorite detective, does make an appearance. The protagonist in this story, Bundle, is an aristocratic lady who stumbles upon a mystery and starts detecting. IMO, Bundle is a key reason for the book’s success. The story is rather weak, but Bundle’s liveliness and joie de vivre carry you through. She’s one of those typical bright young things of the 1920s.
So, when I embarked on the mini-series, that’s what I was expecting. A fun and lively Bundle, a mystery that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and lots of fun hi-jinks.
Imagine my surprise when I saw the show! I watched it with my family, none of whom had read the book, and so they quite enjoyed it. But I was quite disappointed with it.
And this is coming from someone who doesn’t mind changes to fit the medium or a modern audience. For example, I looked forward to Helena Bonham Carter play a female version of Bundle’s dad. She would have been hilarious. Mia McKenna-Bruce as Bundle was ok; she acted as per the brief, but I did not like the way her character was developed.
I did not think the book’s core needed to be changed at all to appeal to a modern audience. The protagonist is a witty, brave young woman, and it’s a perfect jab at the English upper class. Plus, there were so many interesting red herrings in the book that were just mildly alluded to in the series without any adequate development. It’s an utter shame that both Socks and Pongo (such fun characters!) were underutilized so badly in the show. They need not even have been introduced in the series if they were just going to be part of the scenery.
And then, there’s that last twist in the show. Without any spoilers, all I can say is that the twist might have worked better if the actor playing the villain were not so well-known.
Overall, it’s not a bad show, but it completely turned the idea of the book upside down, and that was just not okay for me.
