Agatha Christie is one of the world’s most enduring mystery fiction writers. Her books remain in print, the movies keep Kenneth Branagh employed, and now Christie herself is back to teach writers, courtesy of the BBC.
Well, courtesy of the BBC and artificial intelligence (AI), since Christie died in 1975. But, like a character in one of her novels, she has returned from the dead. This time, it’s less of a mystery.
The BBC’s Maestro-stroke
As part of the British broadcaster’s Maestro service, which offers lessons from Harlan Coben (writing), Brian Cox (acting), Alan Moore (storytelling), and Marco Pierre White (cooking, if such a word can be used for this), among others, Agatha Christie has returned from the grave to give writers the advice they’re looking for.
The course is a two-year technical achievement that recreates the likeness and voice of the mystery writer in excruciating detail. A team of more than 100 people was involved in the recreation, including Christie scholars, academics, and technical staff. Vivien Keene portrayed the role of Agatha Christie herself, while AI tech was used to bring the writer’s actual features and voice to life.
This was all done with the sanction of the Christie estate, which allowed access to archived documentation and interviews to better inform the presentation. The course ‘script’ is based entirely on Christie’s own writing advice, with no additions filled in by an AI system. It is somewhat curated, in that the writer never beheld an online writing course before her death, but (unlike Tolkien’s estate of late), massive care seems to have been taken with this BBC presentation.
The pricing for a 2.5-hour presentation by the first lady of mystery writing, despite it being an overseas product, isn’t horrifying. South Africans can get the course for R1,500 outright, or there’s the option to subscribe to BBC’s Maestro service (R1,950/yr), if you’re not the overly possessive type.
As for that stranger-than-this event, Agatha Christie famously went missing from Guildford for several days in 1926. Her car was found abandoned, and a countrywide manhunt was started. She was located, seemingly with a case of amnesia, by a hotel worker in Yorkshire. She claimed, at the time, to be a South African woman named Theresa Neale but was recognised by her estranged husband during a police operation. So perhaps being resurrected by the BBC and AI isn’t the weirdest thing to happen to Agatha Christie.
