Crime fighting - Celebrating centenary of Agatha Christie's short stories - Partners In Crime

A century since doyenne of the detective genre, best-selling novelist of all timeAgatha Christie, introduced crime-fighting duo Tommy and Tuppence to readers.

Early 1922 saw Agatha Christie’s second novel The Secret Adversary introduce readers to Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.

To mark the centenary of its publication, Steve Cain examines how the characters have been portrayed in various television adaptations.

Crime fighting duo favourites

There is no doubt that Agatha Christie liked Tommy and Tuppence – the bright young couple “willing to do anything, go anywhere” in pursuit of excitement and adventure.

These two recurring characters spanned Christie’s entire literary career.

They were the protagonists in both her second novel, in 1922, and her last, published more than half a century later, in 1973.

Having already created the slightly comedic and rather eccentric Hercule Poirot, Christie revelled in writing about this lively, decent young couple.

They’d tease one another mercilessly, call each other “old bean” and “old thing”, and dismiss compliments and serious sentiment with a hasty “Rot!”

Author's view

“Their affectionate matiness combined with their infectious pleasure in being in each other’s company” gave the characters “a very precise youthful interwar contemporaneity,” according to Martin Fido, author of The World of Agatha Christie.

“She was always very fond of Tommy and Tuppence,” added Christie’s grandson Matthew Pritchard.

“I think that is one of the reasons Tommy and Tuppence material remains very fresh, quite humorous and different in that they are more like adventure stories. She enjoyed writing them and that actually reflects on the written page.”

Agatha Christie on screen

In 1982 an ITV dramatisation of The Secret Adversary preceded a ten-part weekly series Agatha Christie’s Partners In Crime, which starred James Warwick as Tommy and Francesca Annis as Tuppence.

Set in the vibrant 1920s, Annis was “frolicsome” as Tuppence while Warwick was “almost perfect” as Tommy.

“They fly through adventures as to the manner born, we never think to ask why they have turned detective,” said Jonathan Wilkins, who gave a presentation on the characters at an Agatha Christie conference in 2019.

“Tommy and Tuppence were made for the Twenties,” he added.

“Britain had just fought the war to end all wars and was then plunged into recession and poverty. Money mattered – as did status. Annis and Warwick recognised this with rather an ambivalent air, a devil may care way.”

Wilkins did not bestow such praise on the 2015 BBC six-part series, also titled Partners In Crime, which starred David Walliams and Jessica Raine as Tommy and Tuppence.

Deriding the decision to change the time period from the 1920s to the ’50s, Wilkins referred to the production as “a bit of a museum piece where the props department could show off the wealth of 1950s artefacts they have available.”

Scathing critique

His opinion of David Walliams’ portrayal of Tommy was equally scathing – “a dull, miscast fish out of water” – although he did concede Raine “almost got it” and, had she been cast opposite a better actor, “could well have been perfect.”

Defending his portrayal of Tommy, Walliams explained: “Tommy’s a good man but he’s let his ambitions slide.