Agatha Christie's Seven Dials star Helena Bonham Carter: "I've always wanted to play Marple"

New Netflix series Agatha Christie's Seven Dials marks the streamer's first time taking on the beloved crime writer's work, with Chris Chibnall scripting the three-parter.

Set in 1925, the series stars Mia McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent, who becomes an amateur sleuth when a practical joke at a lavish country house party appears to have gone horribly, murderously wrong.

The series also stars Martin Freeman as Superintendent Battle, while Helena Bonham Carter plays Bundle's mother, Lady Caterham.

Bonham Carter spoke with Radio Times magazine ahead of the series airing, and revealed why she was drawn to the series, her love of Christie and one of her most famous creations, Miss Marple, and her Cluedo-centric family holidays.

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Why did you want to take this role?

I’m a fan of Agatha Christie, and of Chris Chibnall. The story is witty, fun and has lots of energy. There were changes to the book with permission from the Christie estate, but it retains the mood and has some ingenious twists. It almost out-Agathas Agatha.

Who do you play?

Bundle’s mother, Lady Caterham. She’s in a deep well of despair and grief and loss but she’s also very funny. I love her pretend absent-mindedness, which gets her off the hook in lots of situations. She pretends she’s impractical and useless, and she hates people. She wants a moat to keep everyone out. All she can really cope with is her dog who, by the way, was one of the best dogs I’ve ever worked with.

What do you love about Christie?

I’ve always wanted to play Marple, who’s a great heroine. The first film I remember was Death on the Nile, which was beautiful and full of famous people, and felt very exotic. But Christie was prolific – the best-selling author of all time – and wrote so many lesser-known books. I find her fascinating – why would somebody write so much about how to kill? She was a nurse in the war and learnt all about poison, which is a feminine way to kill if you don’t have much strength.

Then after her husband left her, she met a much younger man who was an archaeologist and that informed her later books, set in Egypt and so on, because she travelled with him. He was digging, and she was digging in a different way. You always find some empathy with her murderers because they’re doing it from a place of pain.

Do you have a favourite parlour game?

We play a giant version of Cluedo on family holidays. Everyone pulls a piece of paper out of a hat. One person is the murderer and they get an object and a location – so it might be the swimming pool and a flipper – and they have to murder people by handing them the object in that location. It can go on for days, it’s wonderful. Nobody trusts anybody, and the kids love it.

Would you be a good sleuth in real life, or would you be better at getting away with murder?

I think both; one informs the other. I like detective work. I love being able to detect things and look at someone and deconstruct them. That’s what I do as an actor.

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials will launch on Netflix on 15th January 2026. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media.

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