Christie

Former EastEnders star Ben Hardy is returning to screens in an Agatha Christie film that also includes a Game of Thrones actor

Former Peter Beale actor Ben Hardy is set to start filming an exciting new ‘whounnit’ based on real-life events.

The new film Eleven Missing Days will also star Vincent Cassel and Felicity Jones and tell the story of Agatha Christie’s real-life disappearance.

The novelist’s disappearance made national and international headlines during the 1920s, with famous names joining the search to find her, including leading politicians and fellow writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, according to Deadline.

There has been a lot of speculation over what happened to the author, and now 100 years on, some details still remain a mystery.

The synopsis reads for the film: “In December 1926, at the height of her fame, Agatha Christie became front-page news when she vanished in bizarre circumstances from her home.

“In a case of life imitating art, this whodunnit explores the investigation behind her disappearance, strangely resembling an Agatha Christie novel itself, where everyone in her life became a suspect.”

A stellar cast joins Ben Hardy in the forthcoming movie, including Say Nothing star Ryan McParland, Game of Thrones’s Alfie Allen, The Brutalist’s Stacy Martin, Nicole Elizabeth Berger from He’s Watching You, and The Gorge actor Oliver Trevena.

Currently in pre-production, the picture is on course to shoot this summer in the UK.

Who did Ben Hardy play in EastEnders?

The 35-year-old found fame on the BBC soap in 2013 when he arrived in Walford as legendary character Peter Beale. He had taken over the role from Thomas Law, who had played the part between 2006 and 2010 before returning in 2023.

Ben’s version of Peter was most memorable for being caught up in the ‘Who Killed Lucy Beale?’ saga and for dating Lola Peace (Danielle Harold) before rekindling his romance with Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa).

After finding out his own brother Bobby (Eliot Carrington) had killed Lucy, Peter struggled with life in Walford and moved to New Zealand to start a new life in 2015.

In an interview with The Independent, Ben said that he had “been battling it for a year, how to make things work” before ultimately deciding to leave the show.

“I have so much respect for everyone who works on that show, I felt myself getting lazy as an actor,” he explained. “I felt myself constantly going, ‘This scene doesn’t work’.”

Ben went on to say: “That laziness scared me. I said, ‘I have to get out of here’.”

He has since traded in his fruit-and-veg market stall for the bright lights of Hollywood and landed a role in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse.

He also played Roger Taylor in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and portrayed the role of Four in the Netflix movie ‘6 Underground’ alongside Ryan Reynolds.

Ben also played Frank McCulled in the film Pixie, Seb in The Voyeurs, Simon in The Girl Before, and Tre in Tagged.

Most recently, he starred as Oliver Jones in the Netflix movie Love at First Sight (2023) and the 2025 horror movie The Conjuring: Last Rites.

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer

The unique crime drama is perfect for Agatha Christie fans, and is now available to watch for free.

A “must-watch” murder mystery perfect for Agatha Christie fans is now available to watch for free.

This Is Not A Murder Mystery follows a group of young Surrealist artists in the 1930s.

The Belgian English-language crime drama is now available to watch on Channel 4, after first airing last year.

Set in England in a lavish country estate, it sees a collection of famous artists finding themselves trapped with a serial killer.

The cast features Pierre Gervais as Rene Magritte, Inaki Mur as Salvador Dali, Florence Hall as Lee Miller, Frank Rourke as Man Ray and Mike Hoffman as Max Ernst.

The synopsis for This Is Not A Murder Mystery, taken from Magritte’s The Treachery of Images painting, reads: “Crime drama set in the flamboyant 1930s, following a group of young Surrealist artists, including Dali and Magritte, who are trapped in a lavish mansion with a serial killer on the loose.”

Viewers were left gripped by the unique period drama, with one person writing: “This series is a delightful and stylish twist on the classic whodunit. Set in the opulent 1930s with a gathering of legendary surrealist artists, it plays masterfully with suspense and visual flair.” They added: “For anyone looking for an intelligent drama wrapped in atmosphere and intrigue, this series is a must-watch.”

Another person branded it “worth watching” while someone else called it “charming”. When the trailer dropped, fans rushed to share their excitement, with one writing: “This looks *rilly* good, as another said: “This looks fun!”

Someone else said: “I’m so glad Agatha Christie-ish stories has taken ahold of media for now. It’s such a fun genre.”

Another added: “I’ve been itching for another story like this ever since Knives Out came out years ago! And I’m also really excited to see a cast where I don’t recognize anyone I’m sick of Hollywood only casting the same “trendy” actors in roles they’re ill-suited for so this is a nice chance to see other talent shine!”

Producer Kristoffel Mertens and Elly Vervloet previously spoke to Variety about turning their surrealist idea into this drama, with Mertens saying: “It started as the typical cliché idea that goes around in production companies.

“Everyone is very enthusiastic about it, but at the same time we would never be able to make it. Yet for this one, it remained with us and we kept going back to it, so in the end, we thought we could try to at least get it into development. And it turns out that “This is Not a Murder Mystery’ became one of the biggest shows ever made in Flanders.”

It’s definitely the biggest series we have ever done”, Vervloet added.

“We usually commission Flemish series for our local audience, creating a mix of domestic series and high-end TV shows as well.

“But at that level, it becomes a matter of dreaming big, being bold, and daring to make this choice as a public broadcaster to bring this English-spoken series to our audience and beyond.”

This Is Not A Murder Mystery is available to watch on Channel 4.