Agatha Christie Screen Spotlight: ‘Partners in Crime’ Tommy and Tuppence in ‘The Secret Adversary’
As far as famous Agatha Christie-created detectives go, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford can’t come close to the pop-culture presence of Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. But the adventure-seeking married couple offer plenty of storytelling potential, especially given how thoroughly both Poirot and Miss Marple have already been represented onscreen. In the 2015 BBC series Partners in Crime, stars David Walliams and Jessica Raine bring a cozy, lighthearted approach to playing Tommy and Tuppence in loose adaptations of two of Christie’s novels, beginning with The Secret Adversary.
Partners in Crime updates the time period to the 1950s, placing Tommy and Tuppence in the middle of the Cold War, thanks to Tommy’s uncle, Major Anthony Carter (James Fleet), a high-ranking official in British military intelligence. In the three-episode adaptation of 1922’s The Secret Adversary, Tommy and Tuppence begin as oblivious civilians before being drawn into international intrigue thanks to a chance meeting on a train. They live a settled, humdrum life in a quiet village, raising their young son George (Miles Roughley).
At the same time, both of them are a bit restless, seeking something new to shake up their sedate existence. For Tommy, that’s the relatively safe prospect of raising bees to produce honey, while Tuppence, who’s a voracious reader of mystery novels, hopes for a bit more danger. She gets her wish when they encounter a scared young woman on their train ride back to England from Paris, where Tommy has purchased a rare queen bee.
While Tommy is keen to dismiss the suspicious circumstances of the woman’s departure from the train, Tuppence decides to investigate, which plunges her into a conspiracy involving a Soviet assassin working in England. She finds the danger thrilling, but Tommy — who’s described by his uncle as “a stay-at-home man” — is reluctant to get involved. His dedication to his wife outweighs his reticence, though, and soon both of them are placing themselves in harm’s way in order to locate the missing girl and expose the assassination plot.
Parts of the story get pretty serious, but writer Zinnie Harris and director Edward Hall keep the tone upbeat, and Tommy and Tuppence retain their kind-hearted perspectives even in the face of mortal peril. There’s some amusing awkwardness as the pair go undercover, Tuppence as a maid to opera singer (and possible Soviet asset) Rita Vandemeyer (Alice Krige) and Tommy as an underworld operative whose toughness he struggles to emulate. They recruit Tommy’s old Army pal Albert Pemberton (Matthew Steer), who’s now a primary school science teacher, as their version of James Bond’s Q, creating gadgets for them that include a rudimentary tracking device attached to a car via rubber band.
Walliams, best known for comedic work like the cult favorite sketch comedy Little Britain, seems a bit ill-suited for period drama, but Raines is excellent as the eager, resourceful Tuppence, and the stars have strong enough chemistry to overcome Walliams’ occasional stiffness. There’s an understated passion to their relationship as a longstanding married couple, the kind of people who are too proper to say the word “prostitute” but find unexpected excitement from role-playing. Tommy’s reaction to Tuppence’s blonde wig in her maid disguise says everything that viewers need to know about their dynamic.
The third episode of The Secret Adversary ends with Tommy and Tuppence firmly committing to establish their own detective agency, but Partners in Crime lasted for just one more three-episode adventure before ending. Although Tommy and Tuppence have periodically made their way to the screen, including in a previous Partners in Crime series from the 1980s and a trio of French movies in the 2000s, The Secret Adversary proves that they’ve never quite gotten their due. With the right approach and some fresh mysteries to solve, they could even give Poirot and Miss Marple a bit of competition.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He’s the former film editor of Las Vegas Weekly and the former TV comedies guide for About.com. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, IndieWire, CBR, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.