From the TV Front

• Deadline reports that “The BBC and BritBox International have landed on Endless Night as their latest Agatha Christie adaptation from Sarah Phelps. Set in 1967, the book is neither a Poirot [n]or a Marple but follows man-of-many-trades Michael Rogers, who finds himself working as chauffeur for the enigmatic designer du jour Rudolf Santonix. Transfixed by Santonix’s latest project, a beautiful house in the English countryside, Mike dreams of meeting the love of his life and taking up residence. But unbeknownst to Mike, the house that he has set his heart on has a dark past that goes back for centuries.” There’s no casting news yet, but filming is expected to begin later this year.

• With the debut of Netflix’s Department Q expected on May 29, a trailer for that crime drama—based on Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen’s police procedural series (The Keeper of Lost Causes, etc.)—was released earlier in the week. This British adaptation, set in Edinburgh, Scotland, follows a previous series of Danish films adapted from Adler-Olsen’s novels about a once-respected homicide cop, Carl Mørck, demoted to cold-case investigations. Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, Ordeal by Innocence) stars in the new program as detective Morck (now without the “ø”). The International Movie Database (IMDb) says nine episodes will comprise Department Q’s opening season.

• We learned last fall that Scottish actress Phyllis Logan (another Downton Abbey regular) will play Cora Felton, the author of a syndicated puzzle column, in The Puzzle Lady from UK broadcaster Channel 5. As The Killing Times says, this six-episode mystery—derived from the late Parnell Hall’s eight Puzzle Lady books—“begins when a strange murder takes place in the sleepy market town of Bakerbury. The local police are baffled by a crossword puzzle left on the body. With their case going nowhere, they turn reluctantly to Cora Felton, a recent arrival in Bakerbury; whose fame as the eponymous Puzzle Lady suggests she can help DCI Hooper [to be played by Adam Best] and the Bakerbury police solve its first murder case. But the eccentric Cora isn’t who she claims to be, and as she throws herself into a murder case that has the town’s residents baffled, she starts to gather allies and enemies in equal measure.” No premiere date has been announced, but it’s expected to be sometime in 2025.

• And though this has sod all to do with crime fiction … Did you know that a third and last Downton Abbey theatrical release is coming in September of this year? I first heard about it while looking for information about Logan and The Puzzle Lady. With the exception of Maggie Smith, who died in late 2024, the majority of Downton cast members are to return in the coming movie, appropriately titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. While I was slightly disappointed in the second picture (2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era), you can bet that as a longtime fan of the original 2010-2015 TV program, I shall be buying tickets as soon as possible to see this third sequel.