British Library to open major exhibition on Agatha Christie

• Marking 50 years since her death, this major exhibition will explore the life and work of celebrated crime writer, Agatha Christie
• Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery will go behind the books to explore how Christie’s life, travels and interests informed her work and the creation of her iconic characters
• Through personal objects belonging to Christie, many of which have never been displayed before, visitors will gain unprecedented insight into her writing process and explore her impact on crime fiction
• Accompanying the exhibition will be displays and a major events season celebrating Christie’s influence on literature at libraries across the UK
• The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with Agatha Christie Limited and the Christie Archive Trust.

On 30 October the British Library will open a major exhibition exploring the life and work of the bestselling novelist of all time, Agatha Christie. Marking 50 years since her death, the exhibition will examine not only the origins of iconic fictional creations like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple but will also go behind the characters and stories to explore Christie's world and legacy.

The exhibition will take visitors on a journey through Christie’s upbringing, her interests and travels and how she adapted her novels for the stage, through five immersive sections filled with items from her personal life, including her typewriter, professional and personal correspondence with other writers, family photographs and notebooks and typescripts for novels. There will also be clues and ‘Easter eggs’ dotted throughout the exhibition for Christie fans to sleuth out. Christie’s impact on the wider crime fiction genre will be explored through interviews within the exhibition with leading writers, broadcasters and notable fans.

The country house

On entering the exhibition visitors will gain an insight into Christie’s childhood and adolescence through exploring the quintessential setting for many of her novels, the English country house. Visitors will see early examples of her writing and discover how her upbringing inspired the settings for her works, from her first published novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) with the iconic ‘drawing room reveal’, and her bestselling And Then There Were None (1939). On display will be photographs of Christie as a child, spending time with her family at their home, Ashfield and roller skating with friends. This section will also explore her beginnings as a young writer, from the typescript for her first short story, House of Beauty, to a notebook from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle illustrating Sherlock’s method for solving mysteries and feedback on her work from acclaimed writer Dorothy L. Sayers.

The dispensary

During the First World War Christie volunteered as a nurse and pharmacy dispenser, honing a knowledge of drugs and toxins which would later prove invaluable to a crime writer. Visitors will explore a dispensary filled with the poisons that crop up in Christie’s work, displayed with the study notes for her pharmaceutical exams taken in 1917 and her World War One service record. The year 1914 also marked when Christie married her first husband, Archie, and there will be letters from him, alongside her notebooks containing ideas for stories and handwritten research notes on poisons including those for her novel The Pale Horse which has been credited for saving lives in the real world.

The train

On leaving the dispensary, visitors will board an Orient Express-inspired train carriage that will evoke the glamour and intrigue of 1920s travel while also exploring Christie’s use of the ‘closed circle mystery’, perfect for stories set in enclosed compartments. Christie was a keen rail enthusiast and this section will explore how her experiences journeying abroad and sharp observations of fellow travellers inspired her writing and helped form the characters and settings for some of her most famous novels, including Murder on the Orient Express. The inter-war years were busy for Christie as she published over 30 novels, including the career-making The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, renegotiated a new publishing contract and spent 10 months travelling across the world with her first husband, Archie Christie. On display will be photographs capturing Christie surfing in Hawaii in 1922 alongside a replica of the surfboard she used, Christie’s hand-written notes for her Isle of Man treasure hunt and a letter written by Christie relaying her journey on the Orient Express in 1931.

The dig

After disembarking from the train visitors will find themselves at the site of an archaeological dig in the 1930s, a time that marked Christie’s second marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan and her most prolific writing period. While Christie and her novels are associated with the English countryside, her experiences taking photographs and supporting the work of archaeologists on digs in Iraq and Syria from the 1930s informed novels like Murder in Mesopotamia and They Came to Baghdad. On display will be Christie’s plot notes for both novels alongside the 1937 Remington typewriter she used to write And Then There Were None, along with the cine film footage taken by Christie documenting her life on the digs and her Leica camera used for photographing artefacts, including one of the earliest known portrait sculptures, discovered on an excavation led by Max.

The theatre

Visitors will then travel to the glittering West End of the 1950s for the final section, that will explore Christie’s work adapting her novels for stage productions that delighted post-war audiences looking for escapism and intrigue, making her the most successful female playwright of all time. Visitors will discover how she adapted her style and plots for the stage, from her notes for Witness for the Prosecution to rare footage of Christie at The Mousetrap celebrations, the typescript for Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case and the Dictaphone she used in later life to transcribe her first drafts for stories, such as Endless Night (1967). Screen adaptations also brought Christie’s iconic detectives to wider audiences and this section features posters and costumes from film and TV adaptions over the recent decades, including Ariadne Oliver (portrayed by Zoë Wanamaker)’s coat from Dead Man’s Folly (2013) offering visitors the chance to reflect on her impact across the crime genre from literature and theatre to film and TV.

Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery has been made possible with support from Great Western Railway.

The Learning Programme accompanying the exhibition has been made possible by a grant from the Colwinston Charitable Trust 30th Anniversary Fund.

Accompanying the exhibition will be Living Knowledge Network displays and crime fiction events at public libraries around the UK.

Lucy Rowland, Lead Curator of Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery, at the British Library, said: ‘We’re honoured to be working with the Christie Archive Trust and Agatha Christie Limited on this very special exhibition to mark the legacy of Agatha Christie, the most famous crime writer of all time. The biggest exhibition held in the UK in almost 25 years to celebrate Christie’s writing, visitors will see over 100 items from different periods in her life, drawn from the British Library's own collection, the Christie Archive Trust and other lenders, including material never displayed before. Her impact on crime fiction as a genre has been immense and this exhibition will take visitors back to Christie’s childhood and explore her journey to becoming an iconic writer, while celebrating how adaptions of her novels for stage and screen continue to enthral audiences today, over 50 years after her death.’

James Prichard, CEO and Chairman of Agatha Christie Limited and Agatha Christie’s great-grandson, said: ‘We are delighted to be partnering with the British Library for this major exhibition dedicated to my great grandmother’s extraordinary life and works. My father, Mathew, has carefully selected a wide range of items from the Christie Archive which offer remarkable insights into Agatha Christie from both a professional, and personal perspective, and that are sure to fascinate visitors. It feels fitting to do this to help mark the 50th anniversary of her death; this combines an opportunity for quiet reflection, but also an opportunity to celebrate the immense achievements of her life. Hers was truly one of the most remarkable lives of the 20th century.’

Amanda Burns, Sales and Marketing Director at Great Western Railway (GWR), said: ‘Agatha Christie and Great Western Railway share a story that stretches back over a century. Her love of train travel and the journeys she took between London and the South West helped inspire some of the most celebrated crime fiction ever written. This partnership is an opportunity to connect people with the places Christie loved: Torquay, Dartmouth and the Devon coastline, and inspire travel between the South West and London, just as she did.’

Alongside this major exhibition the Library will present the first comprehensive volume on the life, works and influence of Agatha Christie to be published in the last 50 years. Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery has been edited by celebrated crime fiction novelist Martin Edwards, alongside exhibition curator Lucy Rowland. Notable contributors include Mark Aldridge, Kenneth Branagh, Simon Calder, Caroline Crampton, John Curran, Lucy Foley, GT Karber, Kate Mosse, Mathew Prichard, David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker. A must for all Christie devotees, this volume includes many previously unpublished photographs and specially commissioned artworks from the Christie Archive Trust, as well as photographs, documents and illustrations from the collections of the National Trust, the British Library and a number of contributing private collections.

The exhibition forms a major part of Agatha Christie Limited’s anniversary programme in 2026, with celebrations of Agatha Christie’s legacy and ongoing impact on the genre throughout this year.

ENDS

Notes to Editor 

The exhibition will run from 30 October 2026 – 20 June 2027. For further information or to request images please contact: Matthew Brown, matthew@sam-talbot.com

Press Office at: press@bl.uk

Tickets are available from the British Library’s website: bl.uk/agathachristie

For more information on Living Knowledge Network events, please see the LibraryOn website: https://libraryon.org/campaigns/agatha-christie

About the British Library 

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See: www.bl.uk 

About Agatha Christie Limited

Agatha Christie Limited (ACL) has been managing the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world since 1955. Collaborating with the very best talents in film, television, publishing, stage and on digital platforms, ACL ensures that Christie’s work continues to reach new audiences in innovative ways and to the highest standard. The company is managed by Christie’s great-grandson James Prichard.

About the Christie Archive Trust

The Christie Archive Trust is a registered charity which manages and preserves the personal photographs, letters and other family possessions that belonged to Agatha Christie. Created by her daughter, Rosalind Hicks, in 2004, C.A.T. aims to educate the public about Agatha Christie's life, works and legacy by making its contents accessible; assisting relevant projects and exhibitions in the UK and abroad.

About Agatha Christie

Born in Torquay, England in 1890, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. With over one billion books sold in English and another billion in over 100 languages, she is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She wrote 80 crime novels and collections of short stories, over 25 plays (including The Mousetrap, the world’s longest running play), and six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the world to the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, followed a decade later by the shrewd and often-underestimated Miss Marple.

Agatha Christie was made a Dame (DBE) in 1971 and died peacefully in 1976 at the age of 85.

About Great Western Railway

First Greater Western Limited, trading as Great Western Railway (GWR), operates trains across the Great Western franchise area, including South Wales, the West Country, the Cotswolds, southern England and into London. GWR helps more than 80 million passengers reach their destination every year.

For more information visit: www.gwr.com/about-us.

About the Colwinston Charitable Trust 30th Anniversary Fund

Established in 1995 by its Founder and Chairman, Mathew Prichard CBE, The Colwinston Charitable Trust distributes grants to UK Registered Charities delivering high quality work in the Live Performing Arts and the Visual Arts. High quality projects that help young people to better appreciate the possibilities the arts can offer are of particular interest, as well as collaborative projects that extend the range and reach of the activity to be funded.

The Trust derives its main income from royalties from The Mousetrap, the murder mystery written by Mathew’s grandmother, Agatha Christie. The play opened in 1952 and has been running continuously ever since, and with over 30,000 performances.