Agatha Christie Festival 2023

This festival saw Matt Newbury take over as Creative Director. He introduced a refresh for the festival. The new format of a five-day fringe festival followed by a four-day literary festival seemed to prove popular with attendees.

The festival was opened by the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a supergroup featuring Val McDermid on vocals, while other highlights of the fringe included cocktail events, boat trips, garden parties and even a dog walking murder mystery. The main literary festival welcomed crime writers Robert Thorogood, Ruth Ware, Anne Cleeves and Sophie Hannah. Other treats throughout the festival included Great Western Railway naming a train after Agatha Christie, the South West Premiere of A Haunting in Venice, the 70th anniversary touring production of The Mousetrap and The Festival Players presenting a rehearsed reading of Agatha Christie’s ‘Lost Play, Towards Zero.