The great murder-mystery revival is continuing with Agatha Christie’s 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery bringing its twisty, knotty thrills to a new three-part adaptation on Netflix. Expect dark conspiracies, secret societies, espionage and political intrigue as a group of Edwardian bright young things are torn apart by murder and foul play.
Step aside The Thursday Murder Club, Knives Out and co. It’s time to yield the stage to the OG of the genre.
Adapted by Broadchurch writer-creator Chris Chibnall, The Seven Dials Mystery is set in 1920s where aristocrats are recovering from the Great War and London’s now-well-heeled Seven Dials is a slum in which shady goings-on impact national security. Once a TV film starring John Gielgud and Harry Andrews in 1981, Netflix’s three-part adaptation paints on a more widescreen canvas with southern Spain and western England lending sun-kissed settings, Edwardian elegance and stately grandeur to all the bloodshed.
We asked location managers Dee Gregson and Enrique Martin Guadamuro to talk through how and where the sweeping new crime mystery came together.
What is Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials about?
How To Have Sex’s Mia McKenna-Bruce is Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent, a sparky young aristocrat thrust into the reluctant role of amateur investigator when her dead brother’s bestie Gerry Wade (My Oxford Year’s Corey Mylchreest) is found dead in mysterious circumstances. Rallying to her side are Gerry’s Foreign Office pals Ronnie Devereux (Film Club’s Nabhaan Rizwan) and Bill Eversleigh (Hughie O’Donnell), as well as Bundle’s confidant Jimmy Thesiger (Edward Bluemel). Soon, though, another corpse is added to the ledger.
Also sniffing about is Martin Freeman’s Superintendent Battle, whose jousts with the young sleuth hint at a much wider conspiracy. ‘You are an intelligent and perspicacious young woman, but these are dangerous matters,’ he warns. But neither Battle nor Bundle’s no-nonsense mother Lady Caterham (Helena Bonham Carter) have a sniff at stopping her from pursuing Gerry’s killer.
Oh, and there’s the small matter of a secret military formula that preoccupies crusty steel magnate Oswald Coote (Mark Lewis Jones) and unctuous government wonk George Lomax (Downton Abbey: A New Era’s Alex Macqueen) to raise the stakes still further. Could, heaven forfend, the Germans be behind all this?
So which rotter – or rotters – are responsible? And how does Covent Garden’s mysterious Seven Dials Club play into it? The game is afoot and Bundle isn’t the only player…
Where was Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials filmed?
The bloody prelude was filmed at Bullring of the Royal Cavalry of Ronda, Málaga
Seven Dials Mystery opens in flashback at a sunkissed Spanish bullring where a suited figure (Iain Glen) comes out second best in an encounter with a horned mammal. The scene was filmed in the town of Ronda, 70 miles from Málaga, in late 2024. Permission to shoot in the historic bullring required months of negotiation – and great care. ‘Every camera position, every piece of equipment and every scene was planned to respect the history and architecture of the arena,’ says the show’s Spanish location manager Enrique Martin Guadamuro.
The Spanish bridge confrontation was shot in Ronda, Málaga
Ronda features again via another revealing flashback in episode 2. ‘The town itself feels like a character on screen,’ says Guadamuro. ‘Its dramatic gorge, historic bridge and winding old streets give a natural sense of tension and scale that we could never have created in a studio.’
Chimneys Estate was filmed at Badminton House, Gloucestershire
Our daring heroine Bundle and her acid-tongued mother are introduced at their ancestral seat, Chimneys. IRL, the grand pile is actually Badminton House, the ancestral home of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. ‘We settled on Badminton House fairly swiftly,’ explains supervising location manager Dee Gregson. ‘It had the scale that we were looking for.’
It’s a very grand house, but not quite immaculate
The estate had featured heavily in Guy Ritchie’s Netflix crime caper The Gentlemen, which presented an unusual challenge. ‘I watched The Gentleman and I was like: [viewers] haven’t seen that part of the house,’ says Gregson. ‘Then I’d get to, like, episode 6 and they’d be outside it.’ Badminton’s lived-in interiors were perfect for Lady Caterham’s careworn but still splendid abode. ‘There’s silken wallpaper in the ballroom and some of it’s a bit a bit raggedy,’ she adds. ‘It’s a very grand house, but they’re not quite managing to keep it immaculate.’
Bristol’s Queens Square was used for London exteriors and Seven Dials Club stairways
Bristol’s Georgian Queens Square came in handy as a surrogate for London exteriors. ‘There was a very beautiful building there which had been completely emptied, very period listed, and we were able to dress that and make it rather special,’ says Gregson.
Wyvern Abbey is actually Gloucestershire’s Westonbirt House
In episode 2, a social gathering brings all the key players to George Lomax’s country pile, Wyvern Abbey. That gathering was filmed at Westonbirt, a Grade I listed mansion that’s now used as a school and wedding venue. ‘We were shooting the night before a wedding,’ remembers Gregson, ‘and we had to be completely clear by 6am without having damaged the lawn. It was pristine by the time the bride arrived, but was stressful!’
Seven Dials Nightclub was filmed at Barrelhouse pub in Bristol
The speakeasy-like surrounds of Seven Dials nightclub are actually a modern Bristol restaurant. ‘I’ve always liked The Barrel House,’ says Gregson. ‘It’s got some nice stained glass, little wooden booths. It feels very period as well.’
Seven Dials’ secret chamber was filmed at Bristol’s The Bottle Yard Studios
Bristol soundstages and VFX were used to recreate the bits of 1920s London that no longer exist. ‘It was a challenge to recreate Seven Dials,’ says Gregson. ‘We looked everywhere to try to find that sort of radius of streets. Quite a lot of post-production work went into creating it. In our story, it was slum land at that time and obviously it’s very chi-chi now, and there’s no way that we could afford to close down all those businesses to dress them.’
Bundle and Bill Eversleigh’s dinner date was filmed at The Ox Bristol
Bundle and her easily duped pal Bill convene at Bon Temps Restaurant to discuss the Seven Dials club. Bristol restaurant The Ox fit the bill, says Gregson, ‘partly because it’s in the basement, so you can film it in the day and pretend it’s night without blacking anything out. It looks like a period restaurant as well: it’s got an art deco, pre-Raphaelite style. It felt a little bit naughty, a little bit secretive.’
Market Basing market square was shot at Abbey Green in Bath
The fictional Berkshire town of Market Basing, Agatha Christie’s leafy answer to Gotham City, appears in the universes of Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and, here, Superintendent Battle. Bath provides Seven Dials’ Basing, with the historic, cobbled square of Abbey Green hosting a scene in which Martin Freeman’s detective shadows Bundle and Ronnie Devereux.
The car chase was shot on Great Pulteney Street in Bath
Stalker turns stalked as Bundle hops into her car and pursues Battle through the town’s streets – actually Bath’s grandest thoroughfare. ‘We just had a day on Great Pulteney Street,’ remembers Gregson, ‘so everything had to go like clockwork. We had period cars whizzing up and down, and camera cars.’
The train scenes were shot at Minehead and Blue Anchor Stations
In grand Hitchcockian style, the mystery reveals itself via a climactic seaside train sequence. ‘I had to learn a lot about Britain’s steam railways,’ laughs Gregson. ‘I looked at Yorkshire, places like that, but [we found our spot] in west Somerset. There’s a little stretch called Blue Anchor Bay, and this private railway runs alongside the beach.’ With unspoiled countryside to work with, the production dressed Minehead Station in period get-up and worked to take the edge off the summer weather for the cast. ‘It was very hot and we had to install air conditioning on the trains because the actors were all in their period costume.’
When can I watch Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials?
All three episodes are streaming on Netflix now.
Is there a trailer?
There is, and you can watch it below.
