BBC TWO EXPLORE THE REAL AGATHA CHRISTIE WITH LUCY WORSLEY

Agatha Christie is the most successful novelist of all time, outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible. Across 75 novels, plays and countless short stories, she defined the detective genre for over a century.

But the real woman behind the literary persona has long remained an enigma. Now, over the course of three episodes, Lucy Worsley is turning her historian’s powers of investigation onto Agatha herself.

This is the story of one of the most famous - and most complex - woman of the 20th century. Looked at through Lucy’s expert eyes, Christie’s life becomes a dynamic history of the 20th century.

Over its course, Agatha Christie witnessed untold upheaval: not just two World Wars, but revolutions in scientific understanding and extraordinary social change.

Attitudes to everything from class and gender to race and Empire, science and technology were questioned and challenged. And touched by these changes in very personal ways, she ploughed all of it into her books.

For the first time Agatha Christie and her art will be forensically examined, providing a unique portrait of a society in flux. Her books hold a mirror to 20th century Britain and provide a remarkable window into a remarkable mind.

Agatha Christie: Mystery Queen (w/t), a 3x60’ is a BBC Studios production for BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and PBS.