First image shows Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot
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The BBC and BritBox have released the first image of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot, confirming further details of the previously announced adaptation "Hercule" as filming continues in Liverpool. The six-part series is billed as an intimate character study of the famous Agatha Christie detective set against a wider portrait of Britain between the wars, drawing on three of Christie's early stories while introducing figures who become recurring allies and one significant nemesis.
The cast includes Henry Ashton, James D'Arcy, Calvin Demba, Phil Dunning, Jack Gleeson, Tamsin Greig, James Nesbitt, Guy Remmers, Rebecca Rittenhouse and Mawaan Rizwan. The series is written by Benji Walters and directed in pairs of episodes by Jonny Campbell, Chanya Button and Alrick Riley, produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited, with executive producers including Walters, Campbell, James Prichard, Rebecca Durbin, Damien Timmer, Nick Lambon and BritBox's Robert Schildhouse, Jon Farrar and Stephen Nye; Charlie Palmer serves as series producer and Fifth Season handles global distribution. It will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK and on BritBox in North America.
- First-look image shows Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in "Hercule"
- Six-part BBC/BritBox drama now filming in Liverpool
- Full cast and creative team, including directors and executive producers, confirmed
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Edward Bluemel is best known for roles in shows including "Killing Eve" and "Sex Education," and he now takes on one of fiction's most famous detectives: Hercule Poirot, the fastidious Belgian sleuth created by Agatha Christie in the 1920s and reused across dozens of her novels and short stories. Poirot has been played on screen many times before, notably by David Suchet in a long-running ITV series and by Kenneth Branagh in recent Hollywood films, so a new interpretation invites comparison with those established portrayals.
"Hercule" is a fresh television adaptation rather than a film, made jointly by the BBC and BritBox, the streaming service run by BBC Studios and ITV. It is produced by Mammoth Screen, a production company behind other literary adaptations, working with Agatha Christie Limited, which manages the rights to her works, meaning the show has the backing of both broadcasters and the author's estate.
Christie remains one of the best-selling novelists of all time, and her Poirot stories have been a reliable source of screen adaptations for decades, so a new series carries weight for fans of the character as well as for the broadcasters involved. The show's ensemble cast draws together a mix of established and rising actors, and its setting in interwar Britain situates it within a period often used in crime drama for its social contrasts and atmosphere.
More coverage
- The Hollywood Reporter — Edward Bluemel Is Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot in BBC, BritBox First-Look Image for ‘Hercule’
- Deadline — ‘Hercule’: BritBox Unveils First Look At Edward Bluemel As Title Character In Poirot Origin Series
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Originally published by Variety as “Edward Bluemel Suits Up as Detective Poirot in First Look at BBC and BritBox Series ‘Hercule’”.