In 1922, Agatha Christie was not yet the best-selling novelist who would come to define British crime fiction. The 32-year-old had published just one book – The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced her most famous character, Hercule Poirot. When her then-husband Archie was offered the opportunity to travel the world promoting the upcoming “British Empire Exhibition”, the couple embarked on an international tour taking in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Following in her footsteps for a five-part More4 series is actor Sir David Suchet, who played Poirot for 25 years and is a proud fan of the author. While Christie’s novels deliver life and death, the stakes of Travels with Agatha Christie are much lower – this is a gentle and polite travelogue that benefits from having a clear path to emulate and a genial host.
Beginning in Cape Town, Suchet is an instantly charming travel companion: a reverent and eager linen-suited Christie nerd who is beside himself to be on such a trip. He stays at the powder pink, Wes Anderson-esque Mount Nelson Hotel, as Christie did, and excitedly sits on a chair a bit like one she might have sat in (“fascinating!”, apparently) before visiting wine country for a daytime tipple.
If this doesn’t seem especially insightful, things pick up when Suchet heads to the former home of controversial Imperialist businessman Cecil Rhodes, a mining magnate who took land from Black South Africans. The show is quick to address the rather icky nature of Christie’s “mission” being intrinsically tied to colonialist values and we are promised that Suchet will be interrogating the impact of the British Empire on indigenous peoples while on his televised jolly.
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Stirring quaint nostalgia for a time period with dark undertones is a tricky tightrope to walk and initially it seems as though Rhodes is getting off quite lightly. But then Suchet meets the founders of the Rhodes Must Fall movement, discussing the legacy of racial segregation in South Africa and setting the tone for a series that has evidently been produced with a sensitive lens.
The nature of Christie’s journey means that Rhodes continues to be a focal point. The next location is the Big Hole diamond mine in Kimberley, where Rhodes founded the De Beers diamond company and ultimately came to control 90 per cent of the world diamond production. Later, Suchet visits the Rhodes grave in Matobo National Park in Zimbabwe, a sacred site that many believe has been tarnished by his presence.
Addressing this contention, and visiting an ethically run, Black-owned diamond company, is to the programme’s credit, even if it does sit slightly oddly alongside delightful scenes of Suchet luxuriating on a restored vintage train as he talks us through his 93-point list of Poirot’s key characteristics.
But his deep knowledge, understanding and love of Christie and her work elevate the moments where he considers how her travels influenced her writing, in particular her South Africa-set novel The Man in the Brown Suit. He is delighted to purchase a giraffe ornament souvenir, just as she did, and is floored by Victoria Falls, becoming overwhelmed and tearful at the “power of nature”.
If the whole series was in this affable mould, fans would be perfectly happy. So kudos is warranted for shifting gear out of the obvious comfort zone and adding political context and some self-awareness to Christie’s journey, which Suchet delivers with charm and infectious enthusiasm.
Travels with Agatha Christie and Sir David Suchet continues next Wednesday at 9pm on More4
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