As part of its BBC Maestro series, mystery thriller novelist Agatha Christie provides a writing masterclass. She died in 1976.
The dead speak! Thanks to the modern miracle of AI, Agatha Christie, who died in 1976, has returned from the great beyond to help budding novelists the world over.
It’s all part of the BBC Maestro series of online video lessons, in which big-name experts provide masterclasses in their fields of expertise. Previous BBC Maestro classes have brought in Brian Cox, who provides a five-hour acting course, novelist Harlen Coben, and veteran storyteller Alan Moore. One thing these people all have in common, you may have noticed, is that they’re alive.
Christie, the creator of Inspector Hercule Poirot and the writer of some 66 novels, has been brought back to life through a mixture of technologies. Digital deepfakery has been applied to the actor Vivien Keene to re-create the late novelist’s digital likeness; her voice has been synthesised from old old recordings. The advice itself is said to be taken from the “letters, interviews and writings” Christie left behind, according to Dr Mark Aldridge, an expert in the author who’s worked on the videos.
“We meticulously pieced together Agatha Christie’s own words from her letters, interviews and writings,” Aldridge said in comments published by The Guardian. “Witnessing her insights come to life has been a profoundly moving experience.”
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The class, called Agatha Christie Writing, was given the go-ahead by the writer’s estate – namely James Prichard, her great-grandson and CEO of Agatha Christie Limited. Speaking to The Telegraph, Prichard concedes that he had some “worries” about the whole project but added:
“I believe and I hope that this is using AI in both a helpful and ethical way. The AI model of Agatha doesn’t work without the performance of Vivien Keene. This was not written by AI. It is a leading academic unearthing everything that she said about writing.”
This isn’t, of course, the first time that a deceased celebrity has been revived for entertainment or educational purposes. A digital likeness of the late Peter Cushing was conjured up for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – a move that later prompted a legal battle. The Netflix documentary series Dirty Pop also used generative AI to create sequences in which its subject – the late music mogul Lou Pearlman – appeared to address the viewer from his desk.
Given that various forms of AI are continuing to seep into TV and film – with its supporters including James Cameron and Poker Face's Natasha Lyonne – the ethics of using departed celebrities’ likeness will likely continue to be the subject of debate.
The BBC Maestro’s online course lasts for two and a half hours and is yours for the princely sum of £79.
