The BBC Is Working On A Hercule Poirot Reboot

Agatha Christie – aka the Queen of Crime – is one of Britain’s best beloved authors. Over the course of her career, she penned 66 detective novels, giving life to household names like Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

The latter, a world renowned Belgian detective, is perhaps one of the most famous detectives in the world – despite being totally fictitious. Helming timeless tales including Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Death on the Nile, he is known just as well for his lilting accent and eccentric moustache as he is for his detective work.

Right from his debut in 1920 (Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles), however, Poirot has been an elderly, retired policeman, cracking cases in his second act. But, in a new BBC television series, now in the works, we are set to discover Poirot’s origin story.

Simply titled Hercule with Edward Bluemel in the lead, here’s everything we know so far.

Hercule: Everything We Know So Far

Announced yesterday (8 June 2026), the BBC has revealed it is hard at work on a new six-part drama breathing fresh life into Christie’s timeless detective, Hercule Poirot. Penned by Benji Walters (who has recently worked on Code of Silence and Obsession), the series will air on BBC here in the UK and on BritBox across the Atlantic.

What Will Happen?

The BBC is keeping its cards close to its chest for the time being, but there are some clues we can glean…

Firstly, we know Hercule will be set in Britain’s interwar period – a liminal time stretching from 1918 to 1939 when Britain (along with much of the wider world) underwent drastic changes in social and economic mobility as well as technology and political ideology.

In this, we meet Hercule Poirot, played by Bluemel, who has a burgeoning friendship with Captain Arthur Hastings, as well as encounters with Scotland Yard’s James Japp and a growing nemesis.

If you think Bluemel looks a little young for the role of a storied sleuth, that’s because, like the BBC’s recent Rebus series – filming for the second series of which is now underway – Hercule will be more of an origin story, tracing the early years of the famous detective. This isn’t something Christie ever wrote about, but – while the series won’t be based on one novel in particular – we are reassured the Queen of Crime’s writing will play a part in the tale. According to the BBC, the six-part drama will take ‘a magnifying glass to three of Christie’s most celebrated stories’.

Meet Hercule Poirot

Taking the role of Poirot is Edward Bluemel, the 33-year-old British star best known for his roles in Killing Eve and My Lady Jane.

‘I feel very lucky to have been trusted with such an iconic character who has been played by so many great actors,’ Bluemel says on his casting. ‘I can’t wait to continue Hercule‘s legacy.’

James Prichard, who is the series’ executive producer on behalf of Agatha Christie Limited and is the Queen of Crime’s great grandson, describes Bluemel as ‘an extremely talented performer’ who ‘will make a great addition to the long line of actors that have played this celebrated character’.

With filming set to commence in Liverpool this summer, we imagine further cast details will be announced in due course.

The Series’ Writer

Behind the camera, rising writing star Benji Walters is in charge of Hercule‘s scripts. While he has not helmed a television series alone before, the writer has gathered credits on the BBC’s Noughts + Crosses adaptation, Netflix’s Richard Armitage-led Obsession, and ITV’s hit detective drama Code of Silence.

Originally a writer on stylish magazines like Man About Town and Wonderland, Walters pivoted to screenwriting with a helping hand from none other than Luca Guadadigno, which the writer describes as a ‘two-year cinematic boot camp’ in an interview with Paul Smith. ‘[Guadadigno] generously brought me on, untested, to adapt a much-loved literary classic with him,’ Walters explains – though the project sadly didn’t go anywhere.

Citing Evelyn Waugh as a literary inspiration, we’re expecting a very British Hercule – despite the detective being Belgian. Whether Bluemel will adopt an accent remains to be seen…

Release Date

No firm confirmation from the BBC just yet, but with filming set to take place in summer 2026, we think Hercule will land on our screens some time in 2026.

All six episodes will air on BBC One and iPlayer.

In the meantime, here are our favourite crime box sets ready to binge now.