James Warwick and the delightful Francesca Annis as Tommy and Tuppence in the ITV adaptation The Secret Adversary is the first, and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable romp.

Christie didn’t write many T&T books, but each has its own charm, especially since, unlike Poirot and Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence age in real time, so that we see them develop from youth to old age over roughly the same period as Christie herself did.

And the brooding evil presence of the sinister Mr Brown, the criminal mastermind who is behind the plot – a man no-one seems to know by sight but whom all fear by reputation…Īs regulars know, my cats are called Tommy and Tuppence, so that will give you some idea of how much I love this pair of detectives. Soon the two young people will find themselves embroiled in an adventure full of mysterious crooks, Bolshevik revolutionaries, missing girls, American millionaires, secret treaties and British Intelligence. Neither has had much success in finding jobs, so half-joking, half-serious, they come up with an idea to form a joint venture – to advertise themselves as The Young Adventurers willing to take on any job offered…īut a man in the tea room has overheard them talk and, before they can place the ad, he approaches Tuppence with a job offer. Tommy Beresford has been demobbed from the army, while Prudence “Tuppence” Cowley is back in London now her services as a war nurse are no longer required. Some years later, the war is over and two young friends meeting by accident on a London street go to a tea room to talk over old times and new. Pressing a package into her hands, he tells her that it’s of vital importance to the war effort that the contents are passed to the American authorities, and asks her to take it since women and children will be evacuated first, making her more likely to survive than him. As the passengers on the Lusitania scramble for safety before she sinks, a man approaches Jane Finn.

Tommy and tuppence movie