TV Case Study - Ordeal by Innocence

Ordeal by Innocence is a three part drama based on Agatha Christie's 1958 novel. The first episode aired on BBC One in the UK on Sunday 1st April 2018; Amazon Prime streams the show in the US.

View the trailer here:

For more on the adaptation, click here.

Production

Writer and Executive Producer: Sarah Phelps
Executive Producers for Mammoth Screen: Damien Timmer, Karen Thrussell, Helen Ziegler
Executive Producers for ACL: James Prichard, Basi Akpabio
Executive Producer for BBC Scotland: Gaynor Holmes
Director: Sandra Goldbacher
Producer: Roopesh Parekh
Director of Photography: John Lee
Production Designer: Catrin Meredydd & Jo Riddell
Costume Designer: Trisha Biggar
Hair & Make Up Designer: Claire Harris
Casting Director: Karen Lindsay-Stewart
Editor – Episodes 1 & 2: Adam Recht
Editor – Episode 3: Jo Smyth
Composer: Stuart Earl

Cast

Bill Nighy (Leo Argyll); Anthony Boyle (Jack Argyll); Anna Chancellor (Rachel Argyll); Morven Christie (Kirsten Lindstrom); Crystal Clarke (Tina Argyll); Christian Cooke (Mickey Argyll); Alice Eve (Gwenda Vaughan); Matthew Goode (Philip Durrant); Ella Purnell (Hester Argyll); Eleanor Tomlinson (Mary Durrant); Luke Treadaway (Arthur Calgary).

Synopsis

Wealthy philanthropist Rachel Argyll is murdered at her family estate Sunny Point. Her adopted son Jack Argyll, a young delinquent, is arrested for her murder. He vehemently protests his innocence.

Eighteen months later, Dr Arthur Calgary, a mysterious scientist, walks onto the velvety lawns of Sunny Point claiming to have just returned from an expedition to the Arctic. Even more extraordinary is his claim to hold the alibi that can prove Jack’s innocence. But Jack died in prison before the case could come to trial, and the Argyll family is reluctant to dig up the secrets of the past.

Rachel’s widower Leo is about to remarry his secretary Gwenda and none of Rachel’s other adopted children Mary, Mickey, Tina or Hester, nor longstanding housekeeper Kirsten, is willing to reopen that most horrendous chapter of their lives. However, the shattering implications of Calgary’s story are too big to avoid; if he is telling the truth then the wrong person was arrested for Rachel’s murder. And if Jack is innocent, then it must have been somebody else at Sunny Point. Somebody still out there….