Aunt Ida says it right at the beginning: Everybody loves a crime.
She’s right. I know I do.
Aside from horror, mysteries, thrillers and crime stories are probably my favorite genres, and I used to devour Agatha Christie. And Then There Were None remains one of my favorite books and movies, so it didn’t take much convincing to get me to try BritBox‘s new Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence.
But here’s what surprised me: I wasn’t very far into “Episode 1” before I stopped caring whether this was going to be a particularly revolutionary murder mystery.
I was just having fun.
And apparently so were Tommy and Tuppence.
Tuppence Has Found Her Calling. Tommy Just Doesn’t Know It Yet.
Tommy (Josh Dylan) and Tuppence (Antonia Thomas) are exes who haven’t seen each other in years when they reunite at an Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding.
First of all, this wedding looks fun as hell.
Queen of Hearts. Mad Hatter. Rabbits. Ridiculously awesome decorations. Why didn’t I ever think of throwing an Alice in Wonderland party? My son loved Alice in Wonderland when he was little. We even named a cat Alice after seeing a community theater production.
I clearly failed somewhere.
Then Sean Pertwee showed up as Simon and my brain immediately went: OMG, IS THAT ALFRED FROM GOTHAM?
Why yes, it is. So now I’m even happier.
Unfortunately for the wedding guests, the fun doesn’t last. Tatiana, who’s been having an affair with the groom — a man actually named Bingo — is attacked during the fireworks and dies after telling Tuppence that Bingo did it.
That certainly looks easy enough. But, as Aunt Ida will eventually remind us, means it’s almost certainly bullshit.
That’s where Tommy & Tuppence starts showing what kind of show it wants to be. It isn’t really about watching two polished detectives methodically work a case. These two have absolutely no business investigating a murder.
Tuppence just doesn’t give a shit.
She’s an actress, which means when they need to question someone, she’s perfectly happy to invent a German DJ on the spot and drag Tommy along as her assistant. She’s nosy as hell. She sneaks around people’s houses. She comes prepared with business cards for an investigative agency that doesn’t actually exist.
Blunt’s Brilliant Detectives.
Tommy doesn’t want to become Blunt.
Tuppence very much wants to become Blunt.
I love her.
The Fun Is Watching Tommy Get Infected
What makes the pairing work, though, is that Tommy isn’t simply the boring guy following the crazy woman around.
He’s a murder-mystery writer and photographer, so his brain already works in puzzles. Tuppence has the instinct to push through doors she’s probably not supposed to open; Tommy can stand back and see another angle. They bounce theories off each other naturally, and you can see pretty quickly why these two might actually be good at this.
You can also see why they were once together.
There’s still something there. Neither one has to announce it, and thankfully the episode doesn’t beat us over the head with it. They fall back into each other’s orbit remarkably easily, and Tommy seems both impressed and slightly terrified by Tuppence’s determination.
The best part is watching some of that rub off on him.
At first, Tuppence is driving this thing. She’s the one who calls Uber to check an alibi. She’s snooping through bedrooms. She’s trying to turn their amateur investigation into an actual agency while Tommy keeps attempting to drag them back to reality.
Then Tommy starts doing it too.
He unexpectedly asks Alice outright why she tried to have Tatiana fired. Suddenly the guy who keeps saying they shouldn’t be doing this is doing exactly what Tuppence does.
He’s having fun.
So am I.
Never Underestimate Aunt Ida
And then there’s Aunt Ida.
Imelda Staunton is basically sitting at the edge of this story with a knowing little smile, waiting for these two idiots to catch up.
She’s also more important to the episode than she initially appears. Aunt Ida opens the story, narrates it and eventually brings us back around at the end. She’s almost a Jessica Fletcher figure hovering over the whole thing, reminding Tommy that the most obvious answer usually isn’t the answer.
And the episode has a great running gag built around Bingo’s unfortunate name.
Tommy visits Aunt Ida and starts talking through the case while she’s playing bingo with the other residents. Every time he says Bingo, heads turn because everyone thinks somebody won.
By the time Tommy leaves, Aunt Ida actually does.
“Bingo! Bitches!”
I laughed so hard when she did that.
But Aunt Ida has also gotten Tommy thinking again. Before he arrived to talk with his aunt Bingo was charged with Tatiana’s murder. And Tuppence briefly though their little adventure was over with Tommy telling her it’s time to get back to reality.
Except neither one of them really wanted to. It was Aunt Ida who pushed Tommy to dig deeper.
He catches up with Tuppence who remembers that Tatiana gave her something as she died: a button from the rabbit costume. They go back through Tommy’s photographs and realize Bingo still had all of his buttons after the attack.
Oh shit. Bingo isn’t the killer.
And just like that, they’re back.
It Knows Exactly How Much Fun This Should Be
There’s plenty of mystery still dangling after Episode 1. Alice is hiding things. Simon is burning something in a fireplace. Someone in a motorcycle helmet is following Tuppence. Lina is shifty. Tatiana’s husband is falling apart. And whatever happened at that wedding is clearly much messier than the police arresting Bingo and calling it a day.
But none of that would matter much if I didn’t want to spend another hour with Tommy and Tuppence.
I do.
That’s where this gets it right.
Tuppence absolutely comes alive when she’s investigating. She’s impulsive, persistent, crafty and incapable of leaving something alone when her brain tells her it doesn’t fit. Tommy keeps pretending he’s the sensible one, but he’s a crime writer who clearly loves solving a puzzle. Once Tuppence gets him moving, he’s not nearly as reluctant as he’d like everyone to believe.
And Aunt Ida knows exactly what’s happening to both of them.
The whole episode flies by. It’s lively without turning into one of those completely ridiculous cozy mysteries where you’re wondering why this random person has encountered her 47th murder this month. There’s a playful quality to it, but there’s still an actual mystery underneath that I want to solve.
There’s even one last little touch I loved. Aunt Ida closes the journal she’s been narrating from, and the spine reads The Wedding Party.
Now that’s an episode title.
Maybe that’s going to be the gimmick — we don’t learn the real title until the end. If so, I’m already on board. Because calling this thing “Episode 1” is criminally boring.
🔥 Our Verdict: WATCHABLE
Tommy & Tuppence didn’t have to reinvent Agatha Christie to get me back for Episode 2. It just had to give me a mystery worth following and two people I want to follow through it.
Tuppence has spirit. Tommy loves a puzzle. Aunt Ida seems to know more than everybody.
And somebody killed the Queen of Hearts at an Alice in Wonderland wedding while dressed as a f*cking rabbit.
Can I watch Episode 2 now?
