Hugh Laurie Talks Writing, Directing Agatha Christie Mystery ‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?’

etcanada.com:

BritBox presented its upcoming series on Wednesday at the 2022 virtual edition of the Television Critics Association winter press tour, including a new series written and directed by Hugh Laurie.

A mystery with a comedic bent, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” stars Lucy Boynton (“Bohemian Rhapsody”, “The Politician”) and Will Poulter (“The Revenant”, “Midsommar”), while Laurie (“Veep”, “House”) also appears, playing Dr.

James Nicholson, clinical director of the sanatorium near the Bassington-French estate, Merroway Court. Jim Broadbent and Emma Thompson also star. READ MORE: Hugh Laurie Gives Stephen Colbert A Special, Remote Birthday Surprise “Based on the iconic 1934 Agatha Christie novel, ‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?’ follows the local Vicar’s son, Bobby Jones (Poulter), and his whip-smart friend, socialite Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent (Boynton) on their crime-solving adventure after they discover the crumpled body of a dying man who, with his last breath, gasps the cryptic question of the title,” explains the synopsis. “Armed only with a photograph of a beautiful young woman found in the dead man’s pocket, these amateur detectives pursue, and are pursued by, the answer to the mystery.” Laurie discussed the project during a virtual session at the Television Critics Association press tour earlier this week. “I always thought the novel had a kind of comic spirit to it,” said Laurie. “My theory is — and I’ve got no evidence for this and I don’t want the evidence because if I find the evidence, my theory won’t hold up, I know.

But Agatha Christie published this novel a year after Dashiell Hammett published The Thin Man. And I have it in my mind that she either read it, The Thin Man, or she saw the film which came out