This three part drama is set on a remote island off the coast of Devon in the 1939. Ten people have been lured there by Mr U. N. Owen and his wife; two as staff, eight as dinner guests. Things are strange from the start as there is no sign of the hosts
they only get weirder at dinner when a record is played; a voice accuses each of the ten of causing the death of others; either deliberately or due to their actions. All but one deny the crimes they are accused of. Inevitably tempers flare but anger turns to fear when one of them chokes and dies. Things get even more stressful in the morning when a second death occurs; two things are quickly noted
the deaths seem to fit in with those in the poem 'Ten Little Soldier Boys', a copy of which is in every room, and two of the ten soldier figures have disappeared from the table. As time passes more characters die in ways mirroring the rhyme and the survivors start to think that the killer must be one of the group. We also see a series of flashbacks that show us the truth about the crimes they had been accused of
all of them are guilty; the only questions are will anybody survive and which of the ten is the killer?
There have been many adaptations of this story, most based upon the play rather than the book and the ingenious plot has been used in other stories even an episode of 'The Avengers'. These adaptions have generally been rather fun this version deliberately is not fun; once the action on the island begins there is constant tension, a feeling of claustrophobia and a constantly increasing sense of paranoia. The more we learn about the guests the less pleasant they seem; they have all acted in a way that suggests they are capable of killing although in some cases the true scale of what they did isn't apparent until the end. The cast, which includes Maeve Dermody, Toby Stephens, Anna Maxwell Martin, Charles Dance, Burn Gorman, Aidan Turner, Miranda Richardson, Sam Neill, Douglas Booth and Noah Taylor as the ten suspects/victims do a great job making their characters believable in the extreme situation. Overall I found this utterly gripping and having not read the book I was genuinely surprised by the ending don't think you know how it ends if you've seen other versions!
There have been many adaptations of this story, most based upon the play rather than the book and the ingenious plot has been used in other stories even an episode of 'The Avengers'. These adaptions have generally been rather fun this version deliberately is not fun; once the action on the island begins there is constant tension, a feeling of claustrophobia and a constantly increasing sense of paranoia. The more we learn about the guests the less pleasant they seem; they have all acted in a way that suggests they are capable of killing although in some cases the true scale of what they did isn't apparent until the end. The cast, which includes Maeve Dermody, Toby Stephens, Anna Maxwell Martin, Charles Dance, Burn Gorman, Aidan Turner, Miranda Richardson, Sam Neill, Douglas Booth and Noah Taylor as the ten suspects/victims do a great job making their characters believable in the extreme situation. Overall I found this utterly gripping and having not read the book I was genuinely surprised by the ending don't think you know how it ends if you've seen other versions!