Personal Call is a half-hour radio play written by Agatha Christie and first performed on the BBC Radio Light Programme on Monday, 31 May 1954. The play reuses the character of Inspector Narracott from the 1931 novel The Sittaford Mystery .
Christie's official biography states that the play was written after she and her husband, Max Mallowan, returned from their annual summer season at the archaeological dig at Nimrud in 1952. The producer of the play, Ayton Whitaker, found the script to be "first rate" saying that it made, "full use of radio techniques and possibilities." [1] It appears that Christie either did not specify Newton Abbot as one of the locales in the play or was happy for it to be changed, saying, "Any station will do. Newton Abbot telephone boxes and station geography would have to be vetted, of course." [2]
In 1960, the BBC remade the play, this time produced by David H. Godfrey, and it was again transmitted on the Light Programme, this time at 9.30pm on Tuesday, 29 November. No cast members from the 1954 production took part in this later version which was reviewed by Frederick Laws in The Listener who said it, "worked as neatly as those alarm clocks which also serve you with a cup of tea. It also did a bit of dodgy problem-solving solving of the sort psychologists allege that the mind does in sleep. And it only cheated, supernaturally, a little bit. It seemed, you see, as though a ghost was using the telephone service. Confident that neither the PMG (Postmaster General), the powers above, nor Miss Christie would permit this, one waited, and the disclosure was suitably remarkable." He concluded, "The detective story, against all probability, seems to be coming back to radio." [3]
The play has never been commercially published and received its first production since 1960 as part of the Agatha Christie Theatre Festival in 2001 at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea and has occasionally been performed since as a special event. [4] The play was included in Murder on Air, a special production from 22 April to 3 May 2008 by the Agatha Christie Theatre Company of three of Christie's radio plays (the other two being The Yellow Iris and Butter in a Lordly Dish ) at the Theatre Royal, Windsor.
A cocktail party is in full flow at the Kensington home of James and Pam Brent when there is a phone call. Mrs. Lamb, the Brent's housekeeper fetches James and the operator puts the call through. He hears a slightly ethereal voice that claims to be that of a woman called Fay. James is shocked and angry and demands to know who the caller really is. She repeats that she is Fay, she is at Newton Abbot railway station and that she is waiting for him. Pam comes into the hall from the party and James, shaken, slams the phone down but refuses to say who the caller was. He sends her back to look after his guests and rings the operator to find out where the call came from. He is stunned to find out that no call has been put through to his house today. Pam comes back from the party again, suspicious about what is going on. James tries to reassure her that there is no problem. Pam tells him that she has invited two friends who she hasn’t seen for a long time to come round and play bridge tomorrow.
At a railway station a woman asks a porter where the telephone kiosk is for long-distance calls. After she has been pointed in the right direction, the porter turns to his colleague and tells him that she reminds him of someone – someone connected with the matter of a dead woman.
James and Pam are playing bridge with Evan and Mary Curtis when another call comes through. After James has gone into the hall to take it, Pam confesses to Mary that she is worried as yesterday's call upset him so much. Mary suggests she listens in on the bedroom extension. Pam does so and hears as "Fay" speaks to James again. He demands to know who she is and where she is ringing from. For confirmation, she opens the door of the kiosk and he hears the guard's cry announcing Newton Abbot railway station. Fay asks if he has noticed the time – it is 7.15pm and she tells him that she is waiting for him. Again, James slams the phone down. His friends notice his shaken condition when he returns to them and he tells them he has a headache. They decide to leave him, promising to see James and Pam again after their trip to France, which starts the day after tomorrow. They go and soon after Pam asks who Fay is and confesses to listening into the call. James tells her that Fay was the name he called his first wife, despite the fact that Pam knew her name to be Florence and that she died a year ago. James tells her the death was an accident. They were at Newton Abbot station and Fay, suffering a dizzy spell, fell under the path of an oncoming train – at 7.15pm. James tries to dismiss the incident of the spectral phone, looking forward to their trip to France.
The next day, Pam receives a phone call from Mr Enderby, their lawyer. He has seen to the matter of their will as arranged and now wants to know if he should retain it or should he send it on to their bank. Pam tells him the bank and Mr Enderby concludes the call by wishing her a pleasant and relaxing holiday and he hopes that she will recover from the dizzy spells she has been suffering from that James had told him about. Shaken, Pam thanks him and finishes the call – she hasn’t been suffering from any dizzy spells but before she can puzzle the matter out, she receives a second call. The ghostly caller announces herself as Fay Mortimer and tells Pam not to travel to France in a train with James. After the call is finished, James comes home and Pam asks him who Fay Mortimer is – she thought his first wife's name was Garland. James is furious but Pam is determined to go to Newton Abbot the next day and to be there at 7.15pm to see what is happening. If James will not go with her, she will go alone.
The next day the two are at the station at the appointed time. Pam makes James talk through the sequence of events of what happened the year before and James tells again of Fay's dizzy spells. Pam uses this prompt to tell James of Mr. Enderby's comments on the phone yesterday. James is annoyed but before the conversation can progress, Fay herself walks along the platform towards them, saying that she has been waiting for him since he pushed her under the train the year before. Shocked and panicking, James backs off and falls into the path of a train passing through. Pam faints.
She comes to in the office of the station master with Inspector Narracott of the police bending over her. He tells her that her husband is dead. It is fortunate for her as he has little doubt that she would not have survived the trip to France. James has murdered three wives before in the same fashion: one in Scandinavia, one in Wales and the last one here at Newton Abbot a year ago. She is introduced to "Fay" – it is, in fact, the dead girl's mother who, her voice sounding similar and made-up to look younger, agreed to help the police trap the murderer of her daughter. The first time she rang she was in London, the second time was in Newton Abbot but no one was in the third time she called. Pam tells her she was mistaken – she spoke to her and warned her not to travel by train with James. Fay's mother tells her that it is she who is mistaken. She has never spoken with Pam before. Pam is more disconcerted than ever – who did she speak to?
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1976 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for £3.50 and the US edition for $7.95.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a detective novel by the British writer Agatha Christie, her third to feature Hercule Poirot as the lead detective. The novel was published in the UK in June 1926 by William Collins, Sons, having previously been serialised as Who Killed Ackroyd? between July and September 1925 in the London Evening News. An American edition by Dodd, Mead and Company followed in 1926.
The A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, featuring her characters Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp, as they contend with a series of killings by a mysterious murderer known only as "A.B.C.". The book was first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 January 1936, sold for seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) while a US edition, published by Dodd, Mead and Company on 14 February of the same year, was priced $2.00.
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, a novel by Agatha Christie, was published in the UK in 1962 and a year later in the US under the title The Mirror Crack'd. The story features amateur detective Miss Marple solving a mystery in St. Mary Mead.
After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1953 under the title of Funerals are Fatal and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 18 May of the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6).
The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then re-opened on 17 May 2021. The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest run of any play in the world, with its 28,915th performance having taken place as of November 2022. Attendees at St Martin's Theatre often get their photo taken beside the wooden counter in the theatre foyer. As of 2022 the play has been seen by 10 million people in London.
Evil Under the Sun is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October of the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00.
The Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder at Hazelmoor and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 September of the same year under Christie's original title. It is the first Christie novel to be given a different title for the US market. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).
Towards Zero is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in June 1944, and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in July of the same year. The first US edition of the novel retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).
A Murder Is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the same month. The UK edition sold for eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2.50.
Murder at the Gallop (1963) is the second of four Miss Marple films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was based on the 1953 novel After the Funeral by Agatha Christie, with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Charles "Bud" Tingwell as Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis as Jane Marple's friend Mr Stringer returning from the previous film.
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None is a 2005 point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. It was the first in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series. The game is a detective murder-mystery; it begins with nine people, including Patrick Narracott, the playable character, who meet and journey to the fictional Shipwreck (Soldier) Island. There, two additional onscreen characters are introduced, and the story then follows the events that unfold.
Butter in a Lordly Dish is the name of a half-hour radio play written by Agatha Christie and first performed on the BBC Radio Light Programme on Tuesday 13 January 1948 at 9.30pm on Mystery Playhouse presents The Detection Club. It was repeated on Friday 16 January at 4.15pm.
Star Over Bethlehem is an illustrated book of poetry and short stories on a religious theme by crime writer Agatha Christie. It was published under the name "Agatha Christie Mallowan". It was published in the UK by Collins on 1 November 1965 in an edition priced at thirteen shillings and sixpence (13/6) and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in an edition retailing at $4.95.
Spider's Web is a play by crime writer Agatha Christie. Spider's Web, which premiered in London’s West End in 1954, is Agatha Christie's second most successful play, having run longer than Witness for the Prosecution, which premiered in 1953. It is surpassed only by Christie's record-breaking The Mousetrap, which has run continuously since opening in the West End in 1952.
And Then There Were None is a 1945 film adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1939 mystery novel of the same name, directed by René Clair. It was released in the United Kingdom as Ten Little Indians, in keeping with the third United Kingdom title of Christie's novel. The film was produced by 20th Century Fox and due to the lapsed copyright, it is now in the public domain. The film has been remastered multiple times and is freely available online.
And Then There Were None is a 2015 mystery thriller television series that was first broadcast on BBC One from 26 to 28 December 2015. The three-part programme was adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Craig Viveiros and is based on Agatha Christie's 1939 novel of the same name. The series features an ensemble cast, including Douglas Booth, Charles Dance, Maeve Dermody, Burn Gorman, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sam Neill, Miranda Richardson, Toby Stephens, Noah Taylor, and Aidan Turner. The programme follows a group of strangers who are invited to an isolated island where they are murdered one by one for their past crimes.
Lists of adaptations of the works of Agatha Christie:
Agatha and the Truth of Murder is a 2018 British alternative history drama film about crime writer Agatha Christie becoming embroiled in a real-life murder case during her 11-day disappearance in 1926. Written by Tom Dalton, it depicts Christie investigating the murder of Florence Nightingale's goddaughter, Florence Nightingale Shore, which is based on real people and events, and how her involvement in this case influenced her subsequent writing.
