I Took The BBC Maestro AI Agatha Christie Class

Here's what I think of AIgatha...

This course has ignited a barrage of dissent among Agatha Christie fans for both the use of AI to bring her back to life and accusations the whole endeavor is a blatant cash grab on and exploitation of Christie’s name by the author’s heirs. And I have to say, after taking the course, the reanimation of Christie to teach a class feels like mere novelty. Still, I did find value in the course.

With caveats.

The basics

The course price of $89 offers students eleven lessons with AIgatha Christie over 2.5 hours. Along with that, students receive a decently stuffed 78-page pdf of notes from the lectures, which also includes a timeline of key moments in Christie’s life and other facts about her. Also included is a 100 page activity workbook.

For the course, AI has been used construct the lessons from Christie’s letters, interviews, and autobiography. It has also been used to digitally impose Christie’s face on the actress playing her, Vivien Keene.

The good

This production is top notch. The lush set with its rich greens and browns, prim costume choices of pearls and tweed, and impressive other details, such as the vintage typewriter on AIgatha’s desk, evoke a solid mid century atmosphere. As an added bonus, vintage paperbacks of Christie’s works are scattered around the set.

The lessons are great for beginners. AIgatha teaches students all the basics of writing a cozy mystery, complete with the original Christie’s personal insights on the elements of the genre. But the true meat of the class lies in the 100 page workbook included with the course, not the video lessons. Here, the student puts knowledge into practice and expands their own writing skills. There are tons of assignments and prompts to work on.

What type of story are you drawn to writing? Mystery, semi-biographical, psychological, adventure thrillers? Write two or three sentences describing the basic elements of your ideal story.

Additionally, the workbook encourages students to examine Christie’s works and study the way she deftly crafted the mystery in her books.

Let’s look at one of her best-known examples, the opening of The Body In The Library, a Miss Marple mystery from the early 1940s. When reading this extract, take some time to consider how Christie conveys key information and characteristics.

The thought-provoking questions and lengthy excerpts from Christie’s novels assist students in evaluating their own goals for writing. By the end of the workbook, students should have a solid understanding of the cozy mystery genre and be able to incorporate what they’ve learned into their own work.

The not-so-good

Few public interviews with or footage of Christie exist, so I can’t truly evaluate if AIgatha succeeds in replicating the author. In my opinion, the AI is a gimmick and added no true value to the lessons. I would’ve preferred BBC Maestro hire Keene to portray Christie and dispense with the technological shenanigans.

I’m guessing Keene needed to stay still for the AI to generate Christie’s face onto her own. As a result, AIgatha is hardly animated about her subject. The teaching is very measured and AIgatha’s speech is slow (probably so the AI voice can do its work). This is a great contrast to other BBC Maestro courses taught by actual people who exist in this world, here and now. Those instructors are passionate about writing and can barely contain their joy in sharing the things they’ve learned with their students.

Bottom line

BBC Maestro’s gotten a lot of buzz over the last few weeks because the Agatha Christie class is not the normal format. So, is it worth the hype?

It…depends.

The class is a mere reflection of Christie and the possible lessons the true Christie would deliver on how to perfect the cozy mystery. If you lack time to read Christie’s novels or autobiography or secret notebooks, perhaps this class would be valuable for you. It does provide succinct and easily digestible chunks of Christie’s wisdom in a neat little package. Additionally, if you’re an emerging writer interested in mastering the genre, the information and workbook could make checking this course out worth the time and money.

For more advanced writers, this single class at $89 isn’t worth it. But, for an additional $31, the plot twists. Currently, $120 will get you a full year subscription to access all of BBC Maestro’s classes—the Agatha Christie attraction and so many more on a variety of topics, not just writing. Learn how to become an actor with Brian Cox. Study music with Mark Ronson. Try your hand at modern Indian cooking with Vineet Bhatia at your side.

In the past, I have purchased (yes, at the $89 price for both) the writing courses taught by Lee Child and Harlan Coben and both were fantastic. And, to get the Christie class, I purchased the subscription so I’m looking forward to trying out the other courses before it ends. My only complaint so far in perusing the offerings is that the platform isn’t as robust as Masterclass (an American online education platform that’s very similar and on which I have taken many classes) and, I have to say, not as diversified in its instructors.

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A large amount of love and hard work went into creating this class. BBC Maestro and Christie’s heirs painstakingly tried to remain true to Christie’s image, even if I’m not sure they succeeded on that front. However, the course on its own is beneficial to newer writers regardless of the AI hocus pocus.

My last thought on this is that we don’t need to repeat the process with other celebrities. No “How to Write Poetry” with AI Maya Angelou or “Write the Southern Gothic” with AI Flannery O’Connor. No “Dramatic Acting” with AI Sidney Poitier or “Successful Band Leading” with AI Xavier Cugat. These people were the Greats of their time, but they are gone. New greats are emerging. Let the old ones lie still.

Honestly, I’m terrified of a world where a perfect replication of Agatha Christie, or anyone, is possible.

What say you all? BBC Maestro’s AI Agatha Christie class—Yay! or Nay?