REUNITED ON THE NILE
French and Saunders back together for Branagh’s Agatha Christie remake
LOOKING glamorous in 1930s costumes, here are French and Saunders back together for a starstudded version of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile.
The film, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, reunites the comedy favourites for the first time since 2016, when they both appeared in the Absolutely Fabulous movie.
Branagh himself stars as the extravagantly-moustachioed sleuth Hercule Poirot. Miss Saunders, 62, plays wealthy American socialite and kleptomaniac Marie van Sch uyler while Miss French, also 62, plays her nurse, Mrs Bowers.
The colourful characters were previously immortalised on screen for the 1978 adaptation by film legend Bette Davis and Dame Maggie Smith. Sir Peter Ustinov starred as Poirot.
More than 40 years later Sir Kenneth, 59,
‘There are significant new twists’
has assembled an equally impressive array of talent to board the Egyptian paddle steamer Karnak for his big screen version.
Hollywood stars Annette Bening, Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot feature alongside home-grown talent Tom Bateman, Emma Mackey and French and Saunders.
The film, coming three years after Sir Kenneth’s hit adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express, is due to be released in cinemas in October.
Sir Kenneth promised ‘significant new twists and an awe-inspiring desert landscape’ in his version of Christie’s bestselling 1937 novel.
French and Saunders’ popular sketch show ran on the BBC from 1987 until 1993 but returned for the occasional Christmas special until 2005.