Agatha Christie movie-maker sees crime does pay

Entertainment group Chorion said the public’s thirst for crime films showed no signs of waning after it unveiled a 35% hike in annual profits today.

Chorion said shows based on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Poirot characters had been so successful that broadcaster ITV had doubled its order of new films.

The London-based group, which also owns the rights to characters Noddy and the Mr Men, said the lasting appeal of the author’s works years after they were written helped boost pre-tax profits to £4.3m (€6.2m).

Chorion will now make eight Agatha Christie films in 2005, compared with its previous order of four a year.

Chief executive Nicholas James said the classic brand was still extremely popular with modern audiences.

He said: “If you like puzzles then she’s the best puzzle writer there is. The fact the stories happen to be set in the past is just incidental. People do like to see if they can get solve it before she does.”

Profits at the crime brands division rose 13% to £7.6m (€10.9m) during the year to December 31.

The children’s business grew “phenomenally”, increasing its profits by more than half to £5.1m 9€7.3m).

Chorion acquired the Mr Men brand last May and is in the process of creating a television show based on the 80 Mr Men and Little Miss characters. Mr Men merchandise was a key driver of the profits hike.

Enid Blyton’s Toy Town hero Noddy was also a big part of Chorion’s success. Its largest area of growth was France, where the character known as “Oui Oui” climbed to second place in the league of licensed pre-school characters.

Chorion recently announced it was working on Noddy programmes that will help youngsters learn languages such as French, Spanish and Mandarin.

The company said today that it saw “significant” future growth for Noddy.