‘IT’S BOLD AND RISKY’

David Jonsson is excited i to be breaking new ground

■ Despite being heralded a breakout star in the BBC drama Industry and with big-screen success assured with a lead role in next year’s sci-fi blockbuster Alien: Romulus, David Jonsson admits to having had a few nerves taking on the lead role in BBC1’s luscious new two-part Agatha Christie adaptation Murder Is Easy.

Jonsson tells RT: “I was a little bit unsure, because it’s the first time that an Agatha Christie has had a young black hero.” Not that you’d know it from his assured portrayal of Fitzwilliam, a young Nigerian gentleman who travels to work in London. En route he is waylaid by a lady on a train with murder on her mind — and so his adventure begins.

With no Poirot or Miss Marple in sight, the story rests on Fitzwilliam’s sleuthing, but the production also leans into the challenges of his experience, with the character, originally white in the book, black on screen. It’s a change Jonsson embraces. “It’s marvellous, the fact that someone like me can be judged on my acting merit to do something so traditional when it comes to storytelling. I feel honoured. And by making that small change, we make a large change and bring new audiences to these books which we love as British people. It’s bold but more people are willing to take risks.”

Ahead of a busy 2024 that sees his romantic comedy Rye Lane up for awards on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as his forthcoming sci-fi blockbuster debut, Jonsson will be spending Christmas with his mum and his family at home in east London. Will they be tuning in for Murder Is Easy? He squirms. “My mum is the biggest fan of Agatha Christie. Every single Christmas she finds it and watches it, but hopefully not this Christmas. That would be too weird.”