No one writes a twisty mystery with a comforting resolution quite like the Queen of Crime. The past few years have seen an explosion of adaptations of Agatha Christie’s novels and short stories, as viewers seek escapist television set in Britain’s glamorous past.
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Now BritBox is adding to its stable of Christie adaptations with “Tommy and Tuppence,” premiering on September 15, 2026. Yet, in true Christie fashion, there’s a twist: these dashing amateur sleuths are now working in 21st-century Britain.
The series is produced by Lookout Point (Pride and Prejudice, Gentleman Jack, To Walk Invisible), part of BBC Studios, in association with Agatha Christie Limited. Watch the official trailer below.
Free Trials of BritBox on Amazon are AVAILABLE HERE
Tommy & Tuppence (2025) is AVAILABLE to STREAM (coming soon)
Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley were first introduced in the 1922 novel The Secret Adversary, where, as young survivors of the Great War, they launched a detective business only to realize they’d fallen in love with each other. Later novels followed the now-married couple as they solved mysteries involving missing persons, Nazi spies, and sinister nursing homes.
Unlike Christie’s more famous sleuths, Tommy and Tuppence work primarily on intuition, which often leads them into sticky situations. James Warwick and Francesca Annis first brought the Beresfords to life on the screen in the 1980s, and more recently BBC Television aired an adaptation starring David Walliams and Jessica Raine.
This new series, written by Phoebe Eclair-Powell, is the first to bring the amateur sleuths into the present day. “Tommy and Tuppence” (2025) blends complicated mysteries, intrepid leads, and a hefty dash of romantic tension into a fizzy, fun adventure that will satisfy die-hard Christie fans and new viewers alike.
Tommy Beresford (Josh Dylan, The Buccaneers) and Tuppence Cowley (Antonia Thomas, The Good Doctor) have both been roped into doing favors for a friend’s Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding when they run into each other after years apart. They’re out of their element at this lavish wedding, and they briefly reminisce about their romance at university before going their separate ways. It seems unlikely they’ll meet again…until Tuppence witnesses a brutal murder.
In shock, she accepts Tommy’s offer for a lift home, and as the two discuss their impressions, they realize they have information the police lack. When Tommy reveals that his Aunt Ada (Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake) used to run a detective agency, the former lovers decide to join forces to reopen the agency and solve the murder. But their feelings for each other reignite as they interview suspects and search for clues, and soon they’re struggling to figure out their relationship as both partners in crime and, perhaps, in love.
This limited series offers three complete mysteries, each of which spans two episodes. This gives the series a chance to build up steam and provides a sense of longevity for Tommy and Tuppence, even as they wrestle with their complex feelings.
While they both bring a plucky determination to their detective work, “they’re totally different characters, really,” says Josh Dylan. “Tuppence is instinctive and impulsive and brave and intuitive, and Tommy is perhaps intuitive, too, but he’s more thoughtful and a little bit more pragmatic and meticulous.”
In time-honored fashion, the two sleuths are, in some ways, total opposites. Tuppence, now a somewhat successful actress, has a flair for disguise and rarely stops to consider whether her next step is a wise course of action. Whether she’s dressing up as a German DJ or pretending to be a nurse, she throws herself wholeheartedly into her work. Tommy, a writer, meanwhile, is more reticent. He approaches each case methodically, building a murder board in his office similar to those he constructs while crafting his crime novels.
Yet there’s a crackle of romantic tension between them whenever they’re together. “Combining these two [personalities] is a potent mix,” Dylan explains, “and they recognize that in each other, and that’s what draws them together.”
Occasionally, of course, things go sideways. In Christie’s original novels, methodical Tommy usually ended up rescuing Tuppence when one of her hunches was wildly off-base; here, they each take turns rescuing the other. That’s part of the fun of the series, says Antonia Thomas. “They’re two very normal people who find themselves in this situation where they just suddenly have to solve a crime and they don’t know what they’re doing! The bumbling, haphazard nature in which they stumble through it will be charming and endearing [to audiences], and then throw into that mix the will-they-won’t-they rom com aspect of it, and I think you get something compelling to watch.”
Christie fans will appreciate the ways in which writer Phoebe Eclair-Powell updated “Tommy and Tuppence” for the modern age while still nodding to the original stories. One of Tommy’s novels bears a name similar to The Secret Adversary, Christie’s first novel to introduce the pair, and the name of Aunt Ada’s detective agency honors the alias Tommy takes on in Partners in Crime. Albert, an errand boy and assistant in the original stories, is reimagined as a stylish pub owner below Tommy’s flat. And the third mystery in the series closely follows the plot of By the Pricking of My Thumbs, a 1968 novel featuring the duo.
Even when the plots are updated for the modern age, the show “retains that quintessential Christie atmosphere,” says Dylan. The sets certainly helped with that atmosphere, adds Thomas. “All of the locations feel quintessentially British, [from] the Hampstead streets [to the] stately homes. It has a real British kind of grandeur to it.” Most importantly, she explains, “Phoebe’s stayed true to the characters, even though they are these modern people. Their personalities are very much similar to those that you find in the books written a hundred years ago.”
Her comment speaks to the timelessness of Christie’s work and the success of this newest adaptation. While “Tommy and Tuppence” is set in modern Britain, its rich atmosphere and respect for the original material will appeal to fans of period mysteries and Golden Age detective stories.
Free Trials of BritBox on Amazon are AVAILABLE HERE
Tommy & Tuppence (2025) is AVAILABLE to STREAM (c0ming soon)
6 episodes
Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries the 5 book series is HERE
Abby Murphy is the author of two young adult historical/historical fantasy novels, and is currently working on a dual-timeline historical novel about the Greenwich Village folk music revival. A member of SCBWI and The Historical Novel Society, she is represented by Laura Crockett of Triada US Literary Agency. Visit Writing in the Kitchen Sink, Abby’s Substack filled with her musings about books and the writing life.
If you enjoyed this post, see Best British Period Mysteries Adapted from the Book, and All the Period Dramas on BritBox US.
