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Title: The BBC used AI (and an actor) to bring Agatha Christie to life for
its writing masterclass series

Date: Thu, 01 May 2025 11:30:10 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/ai/agatha-christie-a...

The BBC announced a new addition to its Maestro series of masterclasses,
featuring its first posthumous teacher, Agatha Christie, presenting her
writing tips in 4K video. The best-selling author of literature in human
history teaches an 11-lesson course on writing mysteries, and the BBC seems
very aware of the issues circling AI, which provokes a mix of intrigue and,
honestly, wariness.

Christie, who died in 1976, has had her likeness composited through a blend
of licensed images, limited footage and past audio recordings. That data has
been blended with actor Vivien Keene, who ΓÇÿperformsΓÇÖ the words of
Christie on video. This is a more cautious approach. During a Q&A event at
the courseΓÇÖs launch in London, Keene stated outright that this was a
performance. It seems a particularly risky choice, too: a lot of writers,
editors, and authors are facing AI tools that reduce job opportunities or
absorb their writing (and IP) without permission to train AI models.

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

The BBC says all the writing advice comes directly from her writings,
authorΓÇÖs notes and archival interviews, curated by leading Christie experts
and scholars, including Dr Mark Aldridge, Michelle Kazmer, Gray Robert Brown
and Jamie Bernthal-Hooker. One of the stipulations from the Christie estate
was that all the writing tips and guidance come directly from her. The makers
claim that AI hasn't filled in the gaps or made guesses about her writing
style, or what advice she might give.

The BBCΓÇÖs Maestro series is part of the companyΓÇÖs business arm, offering
over 40 courses in the style of Masterclass but with, obviously a lot more
Brits, priced at $10 per month. (DonΓÇÖt let the fact that the Diary of a CEO
guy is there put you off ΓÇô the Billy Connolly course is excellent.)

However, for this course, the team ballooned to over 100 people, factoring AI
rendering experts, sound engineers and more, to deliver a convincing
portrayal of the author of Murder on the Orient Express, Mousetrap and, well,
all the others.

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

During the Q&A (at the glamorous Claridges hotel, of course), Dr. Mark
Aldridge explained that in A MurderΓÇÖs Announced, Christie had a different
murderer in mind when she first began writing that book ΓÇô something vital
if you're trying to convey her writing process. This could then be folded
into the course guidance and content.

At the launch event ΓÇô with almost enough champagne to fill the Nile ΓÇô I
got to delve into the lessons. IΓÇÖm not ready to pen a 50,000-word page-
turner, itΓÇÖs a convincing facsimile. ThereΓÇÖs still a glint of uncanny
valley, of course, (I think itΓÇÖs something to do with the eyes?), but even
BBC Maestro CEO Michael Levine noted that since the projectΓÇÖs inception a
few years ago, the technology had evolved so quickly that the team was able
to do even more than it first thought.

Levine joked that the only books that rivaled sales of ChristieΓÇÖs body of
work by sheer volume are the works of Shakespeare and The Bible. There are no
plans yet to add further ΓÇÿresurrectedΓÇÖ experts to the Maestro lineup.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/ai/agatha-christie-a...
writing-course-hands-on-120010944.html?src=rss

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