Yahoo News Almost a third of Ordeal by Innocence reshot in 12 days
Ordeal by Innocence begins this Sunday (April 1) on BBC One and it's a twisty, atmospheric treat – sharply directed and with a fantastic starry cast.
You'd never guess that circumstances forced a huge chunk of the murder mystery – almost a third – to be reshot, with the new material being seamlessly blended with the old.
The Agatha Christie adaptation – about a son who may have been falsely accused of his adopted mother's murder – had originally completed filming with Ed Westwick in the major role of Mickey Argyll.
But with Westwick facing allegations of sexual assault – claims he has strongly denied – the decision was taken to recast and reshoot his scenes.
"It wasn't particularly quickly [that the decision was made]," said James Prichard, executive producer for Agatha Christie Limited. "There was certainly no pressure on us from the BBC. We sat down and realised that this was the thing to do, sometime I think before Christmas, and immediately things started to happen."
Ordeal by Innocence was originally planned to air over the festive period, but will now air in an Easter slot. "I think everyone who was involved in [the reshoots] deserves an enormous amount of credit for what they've achieved," Prichard said.
"In the end, there was a lot of work that had gone into it, a lot of people had spent a lot of time on it, and we didn't want to lose it. It's as simple as that."
Related: BBC's Agatha Christie writer drops first hint about new Poirot TV adaptation
42 minutes of the three-hour drama were re-filmed, with the likes of Bill Nighy, Morven Christie and Poldark's Eleanor Tomlinson all returning and Christian Cooke stepping in to play Mickey. "I had enough time to prepare," said Cooke. "I had well over a month, which is enough.
"From my point of view, it didn't seem like [the cast and crew] had been there before, which was a credit to them. The whole cast were just really welcoming and sensitive towards the fact that they wanted it to be a fresh experience for me.
"They flew in from all over the world to be there and to finish it."
Director Sandra Goldbacher added that "everyone really stepped up" to ensure that Ordeal by Innocence could be finished. "All the actors came back, which was fantastic. It meant that we could properly re-stage a lot of the scenes completely, rather than doing it sort of piecemeal. Everyone was very generous with their time."
Returning to the project after some time away also allowed writer Sarah Phelps to make some small tweaks to her adaptation of Christie's 1958 novel.
"I wrote a little extra scene... and I fiddled about with a few tiny little bits of dialogue," she revealed.
"I was able to put my eye across all of the scripts and really re-scrutinise everything that I'd written – all my stage directions, all my dialogue – to make sure that it all worked, and think, 'Can I make anything better?'
"There was a real pleasure in getting that opportunity, just to look at it again. You don't always get that chance."
Ordeal by Innocence begins on Easter Sunday (April 1) at 9pm on BBC One and continues over the next two Sundays.
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