Phil Dunning and Mawaan Rizwan land parts in BBC and Britbox Poirot revival

The creators and stars of breakout BBC3 comedies Smoggie Queens and Juice, Phil Dunning and Mawaan Rizwan, have joined the cast of BBC1 and Britbox’s upcoming series Hercule.

It emerged last month that ITV Studios label Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited would co-produce the revival of Agatha Christie’s iconic fictional detective Hercule Poirot, with We Might Regret This star Edward Bluemel in the titular role.

The drama will also feature major established British talent including Tamsin Greig (Riot Women) and James Nesbitt (Bloodlands).

Other names in the cast are: Jack Gleeson, who is perhaps best known for playing Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones; My Lady Jane and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder star Henry Ashton; James D’Arcy (Oppenheimer); Calvin Demba (Supacell); Guy Remmers (The Buccaneers); and US-born actor Rebecca Rittenhouse (His & Hers).

Besides Bluemel’s casting, the other classic characters from the Poirot books are under wraps.

Hercule is written by Benji Walters (Code of Silence), with directors Jonny Campbell (Am I Being Unreasonable?), Chanya Button (Code of Silence) and Alrick Riley (Bridgerton), and Charlie Palmer (A Woman of Substance) serving as series producer.

The 6 x 60-minute drama will focus on how Poirot became the world’s greatest detective, centring around three of Christie’s early stories. Filming is set to begin soon, primarily in Liverpool.

The executive producers are Walters, Campbell and James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Rebecca Durbin and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Nick Lambon for the BBC, and Robert Schildhouse, Jon Farrar, and Stephen Nye for BritBox.