Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is the latest Netflix mystery series, and it has the makings of something really special. Seven Dials is based on Christie’s novel The Seven Dials Mystery,
The first episode of the series, "Bundle of Love," begins when the clock strikes 12 p.m. in the Spanish city of Ronda in 1920. A man, played by Iain Glen, walks through the beautiful town and arrives in a completely empty bullring. A small letter waits for him in the center.
He picks up the note, looks terrified, and then puts it in his pocket. Suddenly, the gates behind him close. He’s trapped, and someone lets a bull into the ring. It kills him. As he lies in a pool of blood, the note falls out of his pocket, revealing a clock with the hands set to 7.
That man, we learn later in the episode, is the father of Bundle, the main character, and wife of Lady Caterham, Bundle’s mother.
What is Chimneys?
Five years later, we meet our protagonist Lady Bundle Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce) at a party at Chimneys, an English country house where they are throwing a lavish party. During the party, Bundle catches up with Gerry Wade (Corey Mylchreest).
It’s clear they have some chemistry, but they are interrupted when Gerry’s boss arrives and reminds him that he needs to get back to work. You see, it’s rather boring, but there are business and stately affairs happening at Chimneys on this night.
Gerry Wade is dead
After a night of dancing and having a good time, Bundle goes outside and retires for the night. In the morning at breakfast, the whole group hears a bunch of alarm clocks going off, a prank by Bill and Ronny, Gerry’s friends. They send Tredwell, the butler, to wake up Gerry, who can allegedly sleep through anything, but he discovers that Gerry is actually dead.
A doctor is called in to figure out what happened to Gerry. The doctor suspects it was an accidental overdose of sleeping draught, or it was a deliberate attempt for Gerry to take his own life. Bill (Hughie O’Donnell) and Ronny (Nabhaan Rizwan) tell Bundle that Gerry’s been under a lot of pressure, so they aren’t sure.
Unfortunately, the lead investigator is a junior associate filling in while his boss is on holiday, and he’s a bumbling idiot. There’s no way that they’ll get any answers out of him.
As Bundle leaves the room, she tells Bill and Ronny that Gerry wouldn’t take his own life because they had big plans the next week. She also notices exactly seven alarm clocks on the mantle, arranged in a very interesting way. Bill and Ronny share a glance, and we know something is up.
Later, Jimmy Tresiger (Edward Bluemel) comforts Bundle as she cries about Gerry’s death.
Sir Oswald Coote and his wife flee the house following Gerry’s murder, and we don’t know if they are leaving because he turned up dead or if they planned to leave. But, the deal between the Cootes and Lady Caterham (Helena Bonham Carter), Bundle’s mother,which was discussed earlier, has not been completed either.
Bundle tries to find out who killed Gerry
After everyone leaves, Bundle returns to Gerry’s room. His body is gone, but she has some investigating to do. She searches the rooms, and she finds some loose ends: a pen and a spot on the desk where a wet glass was sitting.
When she can’t find what she’s looking for and is overcome with grief and anger, Bundle smashes the desk with a fire poker. Then, she discovers a note from Gerry to Loraine, who is his step-sister. He apologizes and for mentioning “Seven Dials” before it cuts off unexpectedly.
Bundle asks Lady Caterham about the Seven Dials on a walk through the woods. She blows her off and explains that she thought Gerry may have killed himself, too. Bundle tells her that she thought Gerry was going to propose to her and was planning it, but Lady Caterham isn’t sure. Bundle tells her she’s going to find out who killed Gerry, even if Lady Caterham forbids it.
They visit the graves of Bundle’s father and brother, Tommy, who was killed during the war, we learn later.
Bundle continues her investigation while walking the grounds, and she finds a broken alarm clock in the middle of the lawn. She thinks it’s related to the mystery. She rings Ronny and tells him about the clock. He finally admits that the alarm clocks were not arranged the way he and Bill left them. Bundle believes that confirms someone else was in his room that night.
Bundle discovers Lady Coote gave the sleeping draft to one of the staff at Chimneys
Bundle starts interviewing others at the house, including some of the staff. One of the staff was taking a sleeping draft given to her by Lady Coote. It was stolen from her bedside the night of the party.
While walking through town, Superintendent Battle, played by Martin Freeman, is watching Bundle and Ronny closely. Bundle tells Ronny that she knows it has something to do with the Seven Dials. He gets a look in his eye like he knows more, but he just warns her to be careful about who she speaks to before he sets off.
Bundle spots Battle again, and this time, she follows him to a payphone where she tries to find out who he just called on the phone. When she rings, the operator sends it to Scotland Yard for some reason.
Bundle hangs up the phone, but she leaves for London to visit Scotland Yard.
Ronny Devereux dies and Bundle finds his body
Back at Chimneys, we see a picture of the man killed by the bull, and it appears to be Bundle’s father. Tredwell enters the room where Lady Caterham is arranging bouquets of flowers. He reads her a message that warns her to stay away from the Seven Dials and to stop talking about it, or else.
On the way to London, Bundle comes across Ronny lying in the middle of the road. He’s been shot. When she gets to him, he tells her to tell “Jimmy Thesiger” that it was “Seven Dials.”
That’s where the first episode ends! I don’t want to wager a guess at who is responsible for all this death and destruction, but I have to imagine it’s the Seven Dials.
I love a good secret society mystery, and that’s what appears we have here. I also love that Bundle will simply not stop in her quest to find Gerry’s killer. It’s so cliché, but this is the work of Christie you have to remember.