Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’ BBC December 2015

How long does one have to wait for stunningly good design work to get the acknowledgement it deserves .. a few weeks, half a year, a couple of generations, until the next century? Although it’s only been a matter of days I feel I’ve waited long enough for any direct mention of how bold yet subtle, how grim yet beautiful, how risky yet fitting the visual work on And Then There Were None was!

It’s not by chance that I’ve put an image of the figurines here first .. they are the initial reason why I was compelled to write this. I kept asking myself  ‘Am I really the only one who found these figurines so captivating?’ Although with hindsight I realise now ..yet again .. how biased my viewpoint is, I was half expecting a nationwide reaction, a flood of questions online .. where did they come from, who created them? After all, they played a central role in the piece, as much as any of the actors did, and they obviously meant a great deal to the programme makers .. they are the subject of the title sequence, and the camera lingered on and revisited them more than was necessary for the storytelling.

But I’m also surprised that the figures haven’t excited more comment yet due to their unusualness, at the very least .. their departure from convention. Maybe it’s because they seemed to be quite at home there .. odd yes, but fitting, in keeping .. because although nothing much like them existed at that time, they could have been conceived in extremis from the period ingredients. As if, a young Reg Butler had been locked in a room of American deco under the influence of Futurist narcotics!

So I just want to both thank and congratulate the, as yet for this, almost completely unsung stars who conceived and created these .. along with every other finely crafted, well-considered, delicate or brutal visual moment.

And that’s basically all I wanted to say! .. except that, if you’re one of the 5 million or so who didn’t watch it between Christmas and the New Year .. you should .. and you’ve got another three weeks to watch all episodes on BBC iPlayer for free. If you’re at all interested in design it’s a must, and you should watch it first without pausing, for pure enjoyment, as it was intended .. and then a second time to study how powerful design, camerawork and music can be when they’re properly working together; how little is actually needed to achieve this, but how delicate the balance can be.