Alan Carr's Adventures with Agatha Christie

-All aboard!

"Alan Carr's Adventures with Agatha Christie."

Forward!

Agatha Christie is the greatest crime writer of all time.

Ever since I read one of her novels on a rainy family holiday in Devon at the age of 13, I've been hooked.

Now... [ Honks horn ] -Hey-hey!

-...I'm on a literary journey of a lifetime to discover my favorite childhood author...

This is classic Agatha Christie.

...and two of her most beloved characters, Miss Marple... Oh, ain't I pretty?

...and, of course, Poirot.

I intend to use my little graces.

Agatha Christie wrote 66 detective novels throughout her life... Oh, that's good, that.

...and became one of the most successful novelists of all time.

[ Cork pops ] Oh!

On the way, I will be meeting friends, family, and fans of this national treasure... -Alan.

-Hello!

...to explore the woman behind the pages... Would you say she is eccentric?

-Well, she was one of a kind.

-...and follow in the footsteps of her favorite characters...

Et voil.

...to see if 100 years on... Wow!

Look at this place.

...Agatha brings as much joy to the next generation as she did for me.

Taxi!

Everyone has heard of the great Hercule Poirot and the super-sleuth spinster Miss Marple.

Thanks, cabbie.

But the true genius of these characters comes from the woman behind the pages, Agatha Christie.

For nearly 100 years, her crime novels have captivated imaginations across the globe and kept us all guessing, with some of the finest murder mysteries ever written.

But now, I have my own mystery to solve.

I'm on the trail of the "Queen of Crime" herself, Agatha Christie.

I want to find out who she was and how she became the greatest crime writer of all time.

I am starting my journey by visiting a very good friend of mine.

He's also an Agatha Christie obsessive.

He's written his first murder-mystery novel, and he's recently just left the church.

So, he's got a lot of time on his hands.

I've come to the Savoy in London to meet Reverend Richard Coles.

-Welcome back, Mr. Carr.

-Oh, thank you so much!

-Good morning.

-Thank you.

Having spent a lifetime listening to the dark and sordid affairs of his congregation, who better to understand the dark side of crime writing?

Well, this is a bit dramatic, isn't it?

-I've been waiting for you, Mr. Carr.

-You're like a James Bond baddie.

-[ Laughs ] -Cluedo!

I love Cluedo.

-What could be more fitting for an exploration of the golden age of crime fiction?

-Bagsy Miss Scarlet.

Still got it.

-I suppose I am self-selecting again, aren't I -- Reverend Green.

-You've got to be Reverend Green.

-Excellent.

Right.

-So, what do you actually know about Agatha?

-She was born in the 1890s, a typical product of that sort of genteel, late Victorian England.

-Yeah.

-But then you realize it's much more interesting and complex than that, and she was a pioneer.

You have to remember that she is third, I think, behind the Bible and Shakespeare... -Yeah.

-...in terms of book sales in English.

Two billion books sold.

-Yeah, yeah.

-And the characters she created are as permanent and enduring as any characters in fiction.

A little Belgian detective... -I am Hercule Poirot.

-The little old lady in St. Mary Mead.

-This is a vile business.

I didn't realize that things had gone so far.

-Maybe not Tommy and Tuppence, but you can't get a winner every time.

-No, no.

[ Laughs ] I mean, my thing with Agatha Christie, people just think it's poison in the crumpets.

It's like...

But actually some of the murders are really quite brutal.

There's blunt trauma.

There's stabbings, and I like the fact, as well, that she was a nurse.

So, that's where she learnt all about the poisons that she uses in so many of her novels.

You know, cyanide, arsenic, morphine.

I know the language can be quite "Hello, jolly hockey sticks!"

But, actually, the way the crimes are described, they do still punch you in the gut.

-People say cozy crime, as if she was the queen of cozy crime.

There's nothing very cozy about her murders, far from it.

And these cozy places in which they happen turn out to be riven with desire and jealousy.

What was it that made you interested in Agatha Christie?

How did that all get going?

-It was a really rainy holiday in Devon.

Couldn't go on the beach, couldn't play football.

So, I went to the local caravan bookshop, and there was "Murder at the Vicarage," and I read it in an afternoon, and I just loved it.

Fell in love with Miss Marple.

I would be pleading with my dad, and my dad would be like, "Do you want a Match magazine?"

I was like, "No, I want the next Agatha Christie."

And then I started reading Ruth Rendell and P.D.

James.

-Women writers, queens of crime.

-Yes, and you're writing a murder mystery.

Oh, another queen of crime.

-[ Laughing ] Thank you.

It's called "Murder before Evensong," which you can surmise from the title contains lots of the elements of that kind of golden age of crime, I guess.

-And was you inspired by Agatha Christie?

-Oh, impossible not to be.

Anybody writing crime fiction I think is going to have Agatha somewhere in the back of their mind.

Nothing dates like fiction, some would say, and yet they are still full of power.

They grab you, and you're fascinated, and you turn the pages, and you reread them.

What should be less re-readable than a mystery that you solved?

-Yeah.

-She was just an absolute master of her craft.

-Yeah.

-Also, at my age I can't remember if I've read it or not before.

[ Both laugh ] -I think I know who did it.

-Cough.

-Reverend Green in the kitchen with the lead piping.

-Only one way to find out, Alan.

-Oh!

Its was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick.

Thanks for that, Reverend.

-Cheers.

-Ahh!

While I'm in London, I've decided to head to the theater district to visit one of Agatha Christie's timeless classics, "The Mousetrap."

"The Mousetrap" has been going for over 70 years, making it the longest-running stage show in the world.

i want to find out how a play which premiered in 1952 is still wowing audiences today.

Oh, look at this beautiful theater.

And can you see?

28,660 performances so far.

And when this play originally started, Winston Churchill was prime minister, and Richard Attenborough was in the original cast.

Now, behind those doors, the cast are rehearsing.

So, we are going to have to be quiet.

So, shut up!

This is classic Agatha Christie -- seven strangers with a murky past snowed in at a country estate, but one of them is a murderer.

But who dunnit?

To make sure I'm behaving myself.

I'm being joined by Denise Silvey, "The Mousetrap's" artistic director, and Ian Talbot, the director of tonight's show.

-Hi!

-Thank you for letting me in to watch this.

It's amazing!

-It's our pleasure.

It's lovely to see you.

-Have you guessed who did it?

-I'm still thinking.

I'm still thinking.

Let me have a cup of coffee, and it will come to me.

-Right.

-Why do you think "The Mousetrap" has endured as long as it has, 70 years?

That's amazing, isn't it?

-Mm-hmm.

-Well, I think, strangely, the longer it's gone on, the more appealing it is.

It's a bit like "Midsomer Murders" on stage.

It's comforting, and I think you sit there and think, "Oh, it's a good, old detective story.

Isn't that lovely?"

-Yes, yeah.

-The thing I love most about directing it is going to the bar in the interval and the arguments that happen about who did it.

And they come up with the most ludicrous ideas.

-Yeah.

-I won't say who gets bumped off, but one of them said, "Oh, I think that is the murderer."

And I said, "Well, they've just been killed."

What were they on?

[ All laugh ] -Why hasn't there been a film of it?

-Not allowed to be.

Pre-contractually somebody bought the film rights, but they can only make the film six months after it came off in the West End.

-So, they are still waiting!

-They're still waiting!

-Seventy years they've waited.

-Yes!

-Because I think it's a bit of a no-brainer, is it?

You've got "Death on the Nile," "Murder on the orient Express" all being made with Kenneth Branagh.

Why isn't this?

-Well, I think the only difference with this is, at the end of the show, the audience are invited not to tell anybody who did it.

And do you know, strangely, they really keep to that.

-I suppose it's a bit like "Sixth Sense," isn't it?

You know, going into the cinemas, go, "I can't believe he was dead."

"Oh, great!"

-Yes, I know!

[ All laugh ] -"Thanks for that."

-Yeah, exactly.

-But "The Mousetrap" wasn't Agatha's only stage play.

Throughout her life, she wrote over 20 more.

And although best known for her novels, she is also the most successful female playwright of all time.

-So, Alan, we are now backstage.

One of the joys of this production is that we don't have recorded sound effects.

-No.

-We do them all live.

So, whenever there is a doorbell... [ Bell dings ] So, try that one.

-Yeah.

[ Bell dings ] Alan!

-Oh, who's there?

-It's Alan Carr off the telly.

-And then stage management lifts this up, drops it down, and it's the heavy door, and then they go in.

-Going on, this is the original wind machine.

Seventy years old.

-Yeah.

-Have a go and see.

[ Wind howls ] -Isn't that great?

-Isn't that brilliant?

-That is like wind!

-It is!

-Isn't it?

-Oh!

Oh!

-Well, that was the original prop.

-That was the... [ Laughs ] -Have I broken it?

-No.

-I am sure that's not the first time that's happened.

-We just won't use it tonight.

-We won't use it tonight.

-I am so sorry.

-Now, if we go over here... -[ Laughing ] Oh, God!

Oh, let's be honest.

It's not the first time I've broken wind in the theater.

It won't be the last, either.

-So, see if you like the hat.

-Yes.

-There we are.

-Because people forget.

In the plot, they're all snowed in.

Isn't it?

-It all takes place in a snowstorm.

-Yeah.

-And I think this is my favorite thing, that they all come in through the blizzard.

-If you would like to go inside here... -In you go.

-I don't want to touch it just in case I break that, as well.

-Well, you won't touch anything.

-You won't touch anything, and don't look up.

-Don't look up.

-And keep your mouth shut.

[ Laughs ] -You can go off people, you know.

"Don't look up and keep your mouth shut."

[ Whirring ] -There you go!

Whoo!

-It looks great, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

It's not asbestos, is it?

It is snow.

-It's snow, yes.

-I'm worried this might be payback for the wind machine, but I've been promised it's just foam that dissolves, just like snow.

Hmm, we'll see.

-I know you are a real fan, Alan, and so tonight I have devised a special part for you.

-Really?

-Yeah, absolutely.

And I hope you'll enjoy.

-Oh, thank you!

That's so lovely.

Oh!

It's about time someone recognized my talent.

I wonder which role I'm going to get?

Maybe the dashing detective, Sergeant Trotter, or maybe it's the brooding Major Metcalf or the excitable Christopher Wren!

So many good choices.

Well, this wasn't exactly the role I was hoping for.

Programs!

Get your programs.

Would you like a program?

-Yeah.

-There you go.

Keep your money, love, a treat from Alan Carr.

-Thank you.

-People keep double-taking.

They can't imagine me doing any hard work.

[ Laughs ] Do you like Agatha Christie?

-Love it.

yeah.

-Yeah, I love.

I'm a big fan.

Marple or Poirot?

-Ooh!

-Ooh!

-Marple for me.

-Marple.

-I don't think so.

-No.

-Oh, don't have a row!

Now, do you want any popcorn?

I've got M&Ms, Maltesers.

-Mate, we've been to Fortnum & Mason for afternoon tea, and we've got some cakes we took off the table.

We stole them.

-Oh, that's ni-- [ Laughs ] Right, I've got to finish my shift, everyone.

Shall I phone security?

She's nicked some chocolates from Fortnum & Mason.

-Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this performance of the "Mousetrap."

And may we remind you that the taking of photographs is forbidden.

Thank you.

-I am pooped.

So, I am going to have a little bit of me time, sit back, and watch "The Mousetrap."

And as we all know, the secret to its success is no one says who did it.

So, you're going to have to take your cameras away because I am not saying a word.

My lips are sealed.

Every great mystery novel needs a location and Agatha Christie got some of her best ones from here in Devon.

You've got secluded coves, barren cliff tops, remote islands, and you can see how inspiring this must have been for a crime writer.

The whole countryside kind of has an air of mystery about itself.

I used to have caravan holidays here In Torquay, and the only mystery was where the toilet was and how we were going to make a fry-up on a 2-ring oven.

I'm heading to a place on every Agatha Christie fan's bucket list, Greenway House, Agatha's holiday home for nearly 30 years.

I can't believe I'm here.

I holiday down there in Dittisham, or "Ditsum," as the locals call it, with some friends, and they weren't really into Agatha Christie.

And I was down there, and I could see it on top of the hill, and I really wanted to visit.

So, this is like a dream come true.

And what a gorgeous day to visit it.

I'm meeting James Prichard, Agatha's great-grandson, to learn more about the woman he called "Neema."

But I think I'm going to sit with Mrs. Christie for now.

Oh, look at this creepy-looking doll.

I wonder if that's Agatha's doll.

That must be her there with it in that painting.

It's giving me the creeps but, anyway... Hi, James.

-Nice to meet you, Alan.

-Lovely to meet you, too.

Now, Agatha said this place was the loveliest place in the world.

-And it is.

-It is.

I'm not -- Listen.

I'm totally with you.

-She bought it in about 1938.

-Yeah.

-She fell in love with it literally on site.

Made it their home and made it what it is today, because it is very much now as she lived in it.

-And what would she use this room for?

I see there is a pack of cards there.

There's a piano.

You can tell there has been a lot of fun in this room.

-Yeah, I mean, it was obviously the days before telly.

So, you have to entertain everyone.

Very occasionally she would read what she had written that day.

-What a treat!

-Can you imagine?

It's like the perfect audiobook, isn't it?

-Did she base any of her books on Greenway?

-I think the most specific is "Dead Man's Folly," which involves a murder down at the boathouse here.

-Is that what you have feared has happened, madame?

Il est mort?

-Because it's funny.

There is a man outside sitting on the deck chair, and he was reading "Dead Man 's Folly."

That's the joy of Agatha Christie, especially if you're in this area.

You can go to places all over Devon and get that atmosphere.

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and spent most of her life on the English Riviera.

-Would you like a tour of the house?

-I thought you would never ask.

-[ Laughing ] Let's go.

-So excited.

And although she found great inspiration from her travels around the world, at the age of 48 she moved back to Torquay, where she stayed until her death at the age of 85.

-So, now we need to bow to Buddha.

Otherwise, you will get bad luck.

-Oh, okay.

Would Agatha Christie bow to the Buddha?

-I think so.

I think we all did.

-Oh, I'll get myself a lottery ticket.

-So, in here is the famous toilet, which is known as the "thunder box."

-Do I have to bow to that?

-[ Laughing ] No, we don't have to bow to that.

-Where does the thunder box come from?

-So, apparently, she used to take that around on archaeological digs with her, and then, at some point, they had it built permanently in here.

-Oh!

-One story I have always loved is that she used to do a lot of thinking in the bathtub, and she loved apples.

And she would lie in the bath, eat apples, and think through stuff in her head.

-Would you say she is eccentric?

-Well, she was one of a kind.

[ Both laugh ] -Oh, look at this room.

-It's magic up here.

-What was Agatha like as a child?

-I think she was probably quite precocious.

Her mother for some reason didn't really want her to read, but she defied her and taught herself to read quite young.

I think at sort of 4 or 5, and she never went to school, either.

So, she never had a formal education.

-And did she know she wanted to be a novelist?

-I think she started writing very early, but then, when she was in her late 20s, during the First World War, her sister made a bet with her that she couldn't get a detective story published.

Out of that came "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," published in 1920.

-I am definitely getting a vibe that she was quite defiant, and sort of if you told her she couldn't do it, she'd do it.

-It always amuses me because there are those pictures of her as this sort of sweet, old grandmother, but inside there was a core of steel.

And I think she was a pretty formidable woman.

So, this is the library.

This was sort of the hub of the house.

So, this is a photo album.

Here you have a picture of a very young Agatha.

-I've never seen her this young before.

-I know.

It's one of those bizarre things is that kind of everyone always thinks of Agatha as old because that's really when she hit the peak of her fame.

-Oh, Paris now.

Yes.

-We've got a lovely photo of her probably when she was about 20.

And here you have... -Oh, look!

-...some extraordinary pictures of her in Egypt.

There is a picture of the Sphinx.

You wouldn't get that with no people around it now!

-I know, I know.

Look.

And then you just imagine that she is getting germs of an idea about having a "Death on the Nile."

-Exactly.

Wherever she was, I think ideas came to her.

-I've never seen any of these photos before.

-We don't share them with anyone, Alan.

You are given very special treatment today.

-I am literally honored.

I'm honored.

That's amazing.

-Here we have some cars.

She did love cars.

They gave her that feeling of freedom and independence.

-I actually came here in one of those cars.

-Well, there you go.

-Yes!

I was embracing Agatha.

I came here in a Morris.

-You are Agatha.

-I am Agatha.

Everything Agatha was doing, I am doing.

-Brilliant.

-Thank God she didn't pole-dance.

[ Both laugh ] This has been so wonderful.

Thank you so much, James.

But I am going to go outside now.

There is a deck chair with my name on it.

I am going to sit back and have an ice cream.

-I think that's a very good idea.

-Thank you.

I knew you'd approve.

[ Both laugh ] Oh, what a privilege to come here.

I have wanted to come here for ages, and it does not disappoint.

And what a treat having a look though Agatha Christie's personal photo albums.

I have never seen that side to Agatha.

I've never seen her young.

I've never seen her relaxed.

It's like a revelation, really, and especially the photos of her in Paris and Egypt.

I feel there is so much more to learn about this extraordinary woman.

And all that will begin right after I finish this.

Everyone thinks Agatha Christie was always this old woman chained to a typewriter, writing all these detective novels, but of course she was a young woman.

But she was also a talented young woman.

She had her first poem published when she was 11, and she wrote her first book when she was 26.

I mean, me in my 20s, I was packing shampoo on the outskirts of an industrial estate in Northampton for the minimum wage.

But enough about me.

Let's get onto Agatha.

[ Horn honks ] I'm off to meet local author Matt Newbury to find out how Agatha spent her younger years in Torquay.

Hi, Matt.

-Hi, Alan.

Nice to meet you.

Welcome to the sunny English Riviera.

-I know!

But what are we doing here?

-This is where Agatha Christie spent a lot of her youth, and I thought we'd take a little walk and chat about some of the things she did when she was younger.

-Well, definitely.

Yeah, let's go.

-Cool.

-A lovely day for it.

-Beautiful.

-So, where are we off to?

-So, we are going to go down to Elberry Cove, which was one of Agatha's favorite swimming beaches, because she was a bit of an early wild swimmer.

She swam throughout her life, and in her autobiography right at the end of her life one of the things she regrets the most is not being able to go sea swimming again.

So, it was a lifetime passion of hers.

-And everyone thinks that she's stuffy and twee and stuck in these vicarages and stately homes, when, actually, she loved the wild and getting out there.

-So, she did loads of things.

She used to go roller-skating on the pier.

She used to go horse riding to Cockington, the little village just outside Torquay.

And she was one of the first Westerners to try surfing.

So, when she was in South Africa, she did the wooden bodyboard.

She laid on those and learned to surf.

And then she went to Hawaii and was one of the first Westerners ever to stand up and do stand-up surfing.

-That's amazing!

-She was kind of like a real renaissance woman, really, when she was younger.

-Yeah!

You get the impression she's got lots of spirit, lots of get-up-and-go.

Did she plan any of her books in this area?

-Yeah, so, "The A.B.C.

Murders."

So, "The A.B.C.

Murders," you got a serial killer going around.

-Yeah.

-He's killing people in a town beginning with a certain letter and the surname of the person he is killing.

-Alice Ashen, Andover.

-Exactly.

-Betty in Bexhill.

-Exactly.

So, Churston, which is a "C," was Sir Carmichael Clarke was murdered on this very bit of grass we're walking along here.

-He was having his afternoon walk, weren't he?

-He was having an afternoon walk.

With your surname, you see, you could have been the third victim.

-Well, yes...

I'm still a little bit nervous.

[ Both laugh ] There's a great passage in "The A.B.C.

Murders," which was written right where we are walking now.

"We went down the lane.

At the foot of it a path led between brambles and bracken down to the sea.

It was an enchanting spot -- white, deep green, and sapphire blue.

'How beautiful,' I exclaimed."

-Oh, wow, look at this.

-It's absolutely stunning, isn't it, especially on a lovely day like this.

-It's like being abroad.

-So, while we're here at Elberry Cove, what about coming for a wild swim?

-There doesn't seem to be any facilities here.

-No, it's very, very basic.

There is changing facilities behind that rock.

-You're joking me.

It's easy to see why this was Agatha's favorite beach.

And due to the areas microclimate, Agatha could enjoy a swim all year round.

I look like a Tellytubby at a funeral.

Do I look too fat in this?

-No, it's very slimming.

Shall we go for it?

-Come on, then.

Aren't you wearing a wet suit?

-No, it's summer.

-Oh!

Oh!

Has anyone died of hypothermia going in the sea?

-It's good for you.

I promise.

-Is it?

-Yeah, it's great.

Agatha Christie liked it all her life.

-Yeah, it's funny to think that we're here, as well.

-Yeah, a place where such a famous writer once wrote.

The Queen of Crime was queen of the brine once.

-Queen of brine -- I like that!

I love it.

-After three?

-Really?

Okay.

-1, 2, 3... -Aah!

[bleep] [bleep] -[ Laughing ] You alright?

-[bleep] [bleep] -It's all right.

You'll get used to it.

-[ Whimpering ] -You can try weeing in your wet suit.

-I might have a wee.

-[ Laughs ] -I'm doing...

I'm not having a wee.

I'm just trying to think.

-I'm moving away.

-I'm trying to think.

-Right, now we're acclimatized.

Shall we go for a swim?

-Yeah, shall we try and go to that buoy over there?

-I'll race ya.

-Yeah, go on, then.

If he thinks I'm doing that, he's got another thing coming.

It was absolutely freezing in there.

I do not know how Agatha Christie all those years ago went in there and went swimming.

Listen, I love her books, but she can keep her hobbies.

I'm going to go and warm up and get a hot chocolate.

Agatha Christie's books offered the ultimate escapism as a child.

As a young boy from Northampton, she showed me people and places i never knew existed.

One of Agatha Christie's biggest plot devices was the closed world, a group of people stuck in one location, and that could have been a carriage on the Orient Express, a library, a vicarage, but one of the most Impressive was actually strangers stuck on a remote island.

Burgh Island, situated off Devon's south coast, is accessible for only a few hours of each day before being completely cut off by the tide.

And it was Agatha's inspiration behind two of her most popular novels, "And Then There Were None" and "Evil Under the Sun."

Now, that's what I call a dramatic location.

Look at that!

How do I get to it, though?

You're joking me.

[ Laughing ] Oh, God!

What is it?

Apparently, this is what they call a sea tractor...

It's half tractor, half bigfoot.

...the preferred mode of transport for guests of the hotel.

Can you take me to Burgh Island?

How high does the water go up?

-Usually comes up just below the platform.

You'll be okay.

-Yeah, you keep it below and all.

I've just bought some brand-new shoes.

The island's Art Deco-inspired hotel was notorious for its lavish parties back in the '30s and a favorite of Agatha's, who would often holiday here to write her books.

Now, don't you go anywhere 'cause I've got to go back... You stay here.

...enjoying the island's heady mix of isolation and glamour.

Wow!

Agatha Christie visited here, she was inspired here, and she wrote some of her books here.

I am literally walking in the footsteps of Agatha Christie.

Wow!

Look at this place.

-Hello, Mr. Carr.

How do you do?

-Is this for me?

-A glass of champagne for you.

Welcome on the island.

-Someone's getting 5 stars on Tripadvisor.

-Thank you so much.

-What a welcome!

-Mr. Carr, after you.

-Oh, thank you.

That's very kind.

-So, welcome to our beautiful Palm Court bar.

-It's like Art Deco heaven, isn't it?

-Well, it is.

So, the hotel was built in 1929.

As you can see, it's all in an Art Deco theme.

-And when I was reading those Agatha Christie books back in Northampton as a 13-, 14-year-old, this is just how I pictured it.

I mean, have you ever been to Northampton?

-I haven't been to Northampton myself.

Perhaps another stop on my bucket list.

-Yeah.

God, you're smooth.

So, tell us about your look, then.

Did you have that look, or have you slowly become more Art Deco?

Did you turn up in, like, a shell suit, you had crocs on, and now look at you.

You're totally immersed in it.

-So, we're all about the '20s, about the old-fashioned glamour -Oh, right.

-So, if you are dining in our ballroom, so the dress code is a black tie.

-Oh, me.

I was hoping to wear something backless.

-Wow.

Not really.

-You haven't seen my back.

It's quite nice.

-[ Laughs ] Would you like to see where Agatha Christie stayed with us and wrote her novels?

-Yeah!

[ Laughs ] This is the best hotel stay ever.

Oh, look at that view!

It has got a sense of drama here.

There's just something about it, you know?

You've got the wind.

You've got the roar of the waves.

Shall we have a look where she wrote?

-Absolutely.

-Oh, look at that view!

Isn't it funny?

This has got a completely different vibe to the hotel, where that's like decadence, sophisticated, and elegant, and then down here you got all the drama of that coastline.

And I wonder whether maybe she's come over, got the tides wrong, and then the sea's come in, and she's trapped and got the idea of "And Then There Were None."

"And Then There Were None" was Agatha's 28th novel, and due to its complexity was Agatha's most difficult book to write -- a story of 10 strangers lured to a remote island by a mysterious host.

Once there, each of the guests is accused of murder, and as the bodies start to pile up, it's a race against time to discover who is the murderer and find a way off the island.

-Mr. Carr, now I'll let you enjoy the room, soak up the Agatha Christie energy, but I want to let you know that the owner of the island would like to invite you to dinner this evening.

-I've got nothing to wear.

-Please leave it to us.

We arranged a black tie to be pressed for you this evening.

-Oh, thanks, Vlad.

You think of everything.

Thank you!

-My pleasure, and enjoy your time on the island.

-Oh!

Why didn't I bring a suit?

I hope the suit comes in fat.

Put paper in the typewriter.

Right!

Time to get suited and booted.

[ Playing piano ] Oh, Giles.

-Alan, welcome.

-You look very different to your profile photo.

-You look exactly the same as yours.

[ Both laugh ] Yeah, perfect.

Alan?

-Oh, lovely, yes.

[ Cork pops ] Giles Fuchs bought the island four years ago after falling in love with the Art Deco hotel.

So, listen.

This place has always had a reputation.

It's always attracted the elite, isn't it?

-So, it was built as a house.

I don't know if you know that.

-No.

-So, Archie Nettlefold was a film producer and play producer.

His friends came, and they came to party -- Noel Coward famously -- and didn't leave.

So, he decided to start charging them, and it became a hotel.

-Wow!

-Yeah.

It would have been balls every night.

There would have been live music and bands and flappers.

I mean, the glitz would have been above and beyond.

-When you think of Agatha Christie, you don't really imagine her being, you know, in these kind of surroundings as a young girl, as a flapper, and enjoying herself.

It's strange.

-Yeah.

-And the thing that interests me is the lady who's murdered in "Evil Under the Sun" is an actress herself, and not many people like her.

No one really has a good word to say about her, and I think Poirot moans that she flirts with everyone.

So, it always makes me wonder whether Agatha was actually at a party here, and an actress sort of swan in like that, and she thought, "Ooh, you know, I'm going to get her murdered in my book," you know?

-Maybe.

You could imagine it, can't you?

-Yeah!

So, come on.

Dish the dirt.

I know Agatha Christie came here.

Give me some other big names.

Come on.

Impress me.

-Well, I shall do my best.

Of course, we know about Noel Coward, don't we?

Churchill, Eisenhower apparently had a very secret meeting here to talk about D-Day.

-No!

-Yes!

And then of course we roll forward.

We get the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and, of course, finally, Alan Carr.

-Aw!

I mean, you literally have had everyone here.

You've had pop stars.

You've had royalty.

You've had politicians, and now you've got a national treasure.

[ Laughs ] -You're welcome, Alan, and I hope you come back very soon.

-Oh, you can't keep me away, love.

It's gorgeous here.

Oh, my God.

[ Horn honks ] -Hey-hey!

-[ Laughs ] At the age of 24, Agatha fell in love with a young man called Archie Christie, and instead of the fairy tale she hoped for, her married life, like her novels, were full of dramatic twists and turns.

Although a private person who preferred her characters to take the leading role, in 1926, it was Agatha herself who stole the headlines.

A divorce and disappearance put Agatha's life front and center on the world stage.

I've come to meet Christie biographer Laura Thompson, in the hope of learning more about Agatha's first marriage and the mystery that gripped a nation.

Laura!

-Hello, Alan.

-How are you?

-Good.

It's lovely to see you.

-Now listen.

I know you know all things Agatha, and you probably know this already, but this was the actual hotel Agatha and Archie had their honeymoon in.

-Yes.

Christmas Eve 1914.

-God, you're good.

You know everything.

So, tell us about the marriage.

-They met at a dance in 1912, and it was a very powerful attraction.

And in the end, they just went off and got married in a registry office and then came here to this hotel.

-Oh.

-So, it was all very whirlwind.

-Yeah.

Now listen.

Can we talk about Archie?

Have you actually seen photos of him?

He is a dish.

[ Both laugh ] No, she got good taste.

He was very handsome -Well, we're all in agreement, but she was a very lovely young woman.

She had a lot of admirers.

It's an image of Agatha that people don't have.

-Sexy -- it sounds sexy.

-And then 1914, the war, he was a pilot.

He came back physically unscathed but internally, you know, it's going to leave a scar.

So, you're already starting to see a slightly different type of person.

-Yeah.

-And then her mother died, which was a terrible blow, agonizing blow to her.

She went down to do that terrible thing of turning out her mother's things, waiting for him to come down, Archie, and make it all alright.

And instead he came down and said, "Well, I've fallen in love with another woman, and I want a divorce."

-Oh, kicking someone when they're down, really.

-I mean, I'm getting sort of shivers thinking about it, the horror of it.

-No wonder she went missing, because that's the mystery about Agatha Christie.

She had her own mystery.

She disappeared.

-Yeah.

-Where did you... Do you have any idea what happened?

-I think she just thought, "I've got to make this stop, really, and get away," and so she went to Harrogate and was there famously for 11 days.

She wrote a letter to her brother-in-law, Archie's brother, saying, "I'm up north at a spa town."

But the police ignored that letter and decided that she was dead or had committed suicide.

-What did the press say about it?

-Oh, it went mad.

If you read the newspapers, it's like a Twitter storm.

-Yeah.

[ Chuckles ] -Yeah, it really was.

It took possession of the newspapers.

A lot of people thought it was a publicity stunt.

You know, there were questions asked in the House of Commons.

How much did the police spend on searching for Mrs. Christie while she was sitting in a hotel in Harrogate?

-Oh, really?

-Oh, yeah.

-I didn't know this.

-She did go from being "woman novelist," as she was described by the papers, to being very famous, but not in a way that she wanted to be.

-No.

Yeah.

-Notorious, you might say.

So, really, to say about the disappearance at the end of a year when she's lost her mother and her husband... -Yeah.

-...kind of understandable, isn't it?

-Yeah, she was overwhelmed, and she just wanted to get away.

Now you've explained it like that, I get it, and I realize maybe it's not that big a "mystery."

I think people want a mystery, don't they?

-I think you're right, yeah.

-Yeah.

Oh, Laura, thank you so much.

I just think she gets more and more fascinating.

-She does.

She gets under your skin, and she stays there.

-Now I understand a bit better the dark place that Agatha was in -- the disappearance, the divorce, the death of her mother.

I want to know how she moved on with the next chapter of her life and how she found love for a second time.

I've come here, to every kleptomaniac's favorite place, the British Museum, to meet this treasure, Raksha Dave.

Raksha.

-Hello.

How are you?

-Oh!

So lovely to see you.

I never thought Agatha Christie would bring me here, to the British Museum.

-Well, Alan, she's very connected to the early days of British archaeology.

But we can go and find out some more, if you like.

-Yeah, let's do it.

-So, I wanted to show you this, because this is where Agatha Christie's -- I like to call it the lighter years starts.

-Oh, right, yes.

-So, all of these artifacts are the typical kind of things that she would have seen on archaeological excavations, but the story of how she got there is really interesting.

-This was a new start for her, was it?

-Absolutely.

She just had a breakup.

It was her metaphorical eating a bucket of ice cream... -Yeah.

-...kind of thing.

She's upper middle class.

So, she's hanging out with the archaeologists of this day, and they invite her to come to Baghdad and visit them on their dig at Ur.

And that's when serendipity took hold.

A young thing called Max Mallowan, 13 years her junior -- she describes him as a handsome, dark man.

Max takes Agatha on a tour of all the archaeological sites around Baghdad, and their car breaks down, and they end up just spending an afternoon in the desert.

-It must have been so romantic there, you know, with the skies and the ruins and everything.

You can imagine them falling in love.

-Yeah, absolutely, and six months after they met, they got married.

-Yeah.

-Being on excavation, I can absolutely relate to this.

-Oh, really?

-Yes.

-Have you found love in the trenches?

-My husband's an archaeologist.

-When you marry an archaeologist, it's such a good thing, because the older you get, the more interested he is in you.

-Well, exactly!

-Yeah.

-He's a keeper, right?

-Yes, yes!

Can we talk about Max, the second husband, 'cause the first one, Archie, have you ever seen Archie?

He is woof!

He's a fox.

Yet Max seems a bit more dependable, you know?

He's academic -- very different husbands.

-Well, she is this really independent woman.

She knows what she wants.

-Yeah.

-And sometimes you just need somebody who's going to be there for you the whole time.

-And a younger man, as well.

-And a younger model.

She got an upgrade.

Who wouldn't?

So, this is the gallery that holds some of the objects that Agatha Christie herself conserved and found.

-Really?

-Yeah.

She was really intrigued by this whole conservation process, what do they mean, where did they come from, putting all this, like, giant jigsaw puzzle together, all these different clues.

And actually you can see all of these elements in her book you know?

-Yeah.

-The different clues that people leave behind -- that's essentially what archaeology's all about.

-Yeah.

So, how do you clean them?

-Back in the day, Agatha Christie used her face cream.

-You're joking.

-[ Laughing ] Yeah.

I'm not joking, and actually if you look at the ivories, the one on the right-hand side, slightly discolored, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Compared to the white, beautiful ivory.

-And that's because of Agatha's Christie cream?

-That's because of her cream, but, you know, they didn't know back in the day what was good practice.

-You can't blame her, can you?

But you were lucky she didn't put one of the mummies on a boil wash. -[ Laughing ] Well, it's true!

-Good job.

She just stuck with this.

You know what I mean?

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] I'm so going on a dig.

You have inspired me.

-Ring me.

I'll hook you up.

-Oh, lovely, a nice archaeologist.

-Yeah.

-Oh, Indiana Jones?

-I'll see what I can do.

Come on.

[ Both laugh ] -I love hearing about this chapter in Agatha Christie's life because after everything she'd been through -- the disappearance, the divorce, the death of her mother -- she finally got her mojo back, and she wrote some of the most popular murder mysteries of her career, and she also found love.

She married Max, and they stayed together for 46 years.

I set out on this journey to discover how Agatha Christie became the greatest crime writer of all time.

But she is so much more.

From everything I've seen and experienced, Agatha Christie was a remarkable woman and as full of as much mystery and intrigue as any of her novels.

But I have one final stop on my journey, to meet the great woman herself...kind of.

I've come back to Torbay to meet local artist Elisabeth Hadley, who's been commissioned to design the latest Agatha Christie statue.

Hi, Elisabeth.

-Oh, hello.

-Oh, look at that!

Oh, it's amazing, isn't it?

You've gone for young Agatha.

-I did, yeah.

She was young when she was here.

She was born in Torquay, obviously.

I think it's only fitting that she sits there and contemplates the view, looks out to sea.

-Yeah, I think you're right to go for young, as well.

I think it's about time people reassessed Agatha Christie and didn't just think she was this old, twee, stuffy woman on the back of a book.

She was full of life, and she loved Torquay.

So, let's put her there when she was at the height of her creative powers.

And, also, I'm going to be a bit rude here, but there's enough old people in Torquay.

Let's have a few younguns.

[ Both laugh ] Could I have a little go on it?

-Yeah, of course you can.

-Now, I did pottery at school.

You make it smooth, don't you?

-Do little bits like that.

-You are clever.

Have you started it before and done it, you know, like, "Oh, this is rubbish," and, like, thrown her head back in the bag?

-Well, I did take the head off the other week.

So, I took a cheese wire.

-Oh.

-Took the head off and then moved it back.

-There you go.

I think that's enough for me today.

I mean, are you going to put my name on it as co-sculptor?

-I could do, couldn't I?

-You're not going to do that, are you?

I can tell.

You're just being polite.

[ Both laugh ] Well, listen.

I can't wait to see this in Torbay.

Keep up the good work -Okay, will do.

-Bye, love.

-Bye-bye.

Thank you.

-What a tribute to a woman whose work has spanned three different centuries.

I mean, that's incredible in itself, but from what I know now, I'm confident that the Queen of Crime is going to reign for centuries to come.