Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot and Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver in 20th Century Studios' A Haunting in Venice. Photo / Rob Youngson
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot and Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver in 20th Century Studios' A Haunting in Venice. Photo / Rob Youngson
He’s in charge of Agatha Christie’s company, but for James Prichard, it’s more than a job, it’s family.
In today’s world of mega-corps and faceless media giants, it’s somewhat reassuring to know that there’s still room for a family business to sit at the boardroom table. Yes, it helps ifyou happen to have a beloved literary giant in your family, but still, the point stands.
James Prichard is the chairman and CEO of Agatha Christie Limited. This is the company Christie herself set up in 1955 to manage the literary and media rights to her iconic and still incredibly popular murder mystery novels. While others have since bought in, the family remains heavily involved and retains a chunky percentage. Prichard is Christie’s great-grandson.
“I could pinpoint the exact day,” Prichard says when asked how old he was when he found out his great-grandma was a famous author. “It was the day she died. I would have been 5 or 6 at the time. I remember coming home from school, and she was the lead item on the six o’clock news here in the UK. Even then I realised that wasn’t normal and that made her pretty special. But there was always something about her.”
Then he laughs and says, “Before that, I just knew her as an old woman who I was supposed to behave around and be quieter and not smash into as a young, boisterous boy.”
It would be a few more years before Prichard would read one of her books.
“Bizarrely, I first read Death on the Nile. It’s not bizarre that I read it, it’s bizarre that I read it secretly,” he grins. “I thought my parents wouldn’t allow me to read it. I was 9 or 10 and I vividly remember trying to finish it early one morning under the bed covers by the dawn light and then trying to get it back on the shelf before they noticed. It seems an odd one these days, doesn’t it, that I was embarrassed or worried that they would tell me off for reading my great-grandmother’s stories.”
Like millions of others around the world he was gripped by the intriguing and head-scratching murder mystery set up by Christie for her enigmatic detective Hercule Poirot to solve.
“I loved it,” he says. “It stays with me and is still one of my favourite stories.”
He quickly devoured her catalogue and, understandably, began to harbour ambitions to follow in her acclaimed footsteps.
Agatha Christie's great-grandson James Prichard.
Like millions of others around the world he was gripped by the intriguing and head-scratching murder mystery set up by Christie for her enigmatic detective Hercule Poirot to solve.
“I loved it,” he says. “It stays with me and is still one of my favourite stories.”
He quickly devoured her catalogue and, understandably, began to harbour ambitions to follow in her acclaimed footsteps.
“Like a lot of young people, I would have loved to have been a writer,” he says. “However, there was one small flaw; I can’t write.”
Maybe not, but he can clearly set up a great punchline. After chuckling at the joke he says, “It’s very clear that in my family, we have one member who was a genius at writing and the rest of us just have to live with the fact that that’ll do.”
Instead, he steers the operation that handles her affairs, including the big-budget adaptations of her novels to the big screen which he executive produces. The most recent is A Haunting in Venice, the third in Kenneth Branagh’s series of Poirot films, which is in cinemas now.
Like previous entries Murder on the Orient Express and A Death on the Nile, the movie is rich in period atmosphere, beautifully shot on location and boasts a terrific cast, including Branagh once again twirling Poirot’s famous moustache, comedian Tina Fey and Jamie Dornan of Fifty Shades of Grey fame. The movie is loosely based on Christie’s Hallowe’en Party and is a spooky, supernatural departure for the series. It even has a few scares that’ll have you jumping out of your seat in fright.
Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver and Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in 20th Century Studios' A Haunting in Venice. Photo / Rob Youngson
“It was a deliberate decision to do something different for the third film, and I think we have delivered that. We have a change in tone. There are elements of horror in it,” Prichard says, before quickly reassuring Christie fans. “It’s not a horror film, it’s still a murder mystery.
“But people will be surprised and I hope delighted by what we’ve produced.”
With its sudden frights, creepy vibes and thrilling suspense the movie is a lot of fun as you try to puzzle out who — or what — dunnit. The film elicits laughs from Poirot’s wry remarks as well as scares from the horrors contained within its haunted house.
“Ken versus the supernatural adds something and there’s a lot of variety in his performance here. I love when he gets the twinkle in his eyes.
“That’s a key aspect of Poirot that you have to have. Poirot has a sense of humour. He has got a sense of fun. It’s important though that you laugh with Poirot, not at Poirot.
“Ken does that really well. I think this is definitely Ken’s finest performance as Poirot.”
As a huge fan of his great-grandmother’s work, Prichard’s enthusiasm for the project is obvious. When it comes to greenlighting pitched projects he says the first thing they look for is the quality of the proposal. But that’s not the only thing standing between a yes or a pass. The other is much more intangible but even more important.
“The other thing we look for is whether they just get it,” he explains. “We have meetings with people where it’s pretty clear that they don’t really understand. That just doesn’t work.”
Prichard is as protective of Christie’s legacy as the author herself famously was. For him it’s more than just business, it’s family.
“I didn’t know her particularly well, I didn’t have a close relationship with her, but she’s a big part of my life and family,” he says. “To be able to try to look after her work, and do good with her work and share her work with as many people as possible is an immensely important part of my life.
“And when we get things right, and I think we get things right more than we get things wrong, it is really fulfilling.”
