The Swinging Christies LIVE! Cool Covers & Groovy Graphics - Packaging Agatha Christie for the 1960s

The Swinging Christies LIVE! Cool Covers & Groovy Graphics - Packaging Agatha Christie for the 1960s

Author: The Swinging Christies September 28, 2025 Duration: 49:13

It’s The Swinging Christies as you've never heard (or seen) it before - with a live audience! Join Mark and Gray at the 2025 International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, Devon, for this special recorded and filmed episode all about the  way Agatha Christie’s books were packaged for a whole new Swinging era! Expect laughs, mishaps, ribbing, and even the occasional fact.

With heartfelt thanks to everyone at the festival for making this happen, from the volunteers to the organisers to the bookshop, and a special thanks to our brilliant director and editor for this episode, John Tomkins of Emberlense Productions.

You can find us on Instagram ⁠@Christie_Time⁠. We are also on Bluesky at ⁠christietime.bsky.social⁠. Our YouTube account is @TheSwingingChristies. 

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Our website is ⁠ChristieTime.com⁠.

The Swinging Christies is a Christie Time project by Mark Aldridge and Gray Robert Brown.

Next episode: we’re going apple bobbing… It’s the Hallowe’en special!

00:00:00 - Opening titles

00:04:15 - Colour

00:17:50 - Shape

00:26:54 - Pattern

00:31:18 - Headline

00:34:21 - Femme

00:39:10 - Psychedelia

00:45:48 - Wrap up, next episode

00:48:48 - Closing titles

Solutions revealed - Cat among the Pigeons


The Swinging Christies: Agatha Christie in the 1960s might seem like a contradiction, but that’s the fascinating territory this podcast explores. Hosted by Dr Mark Aldridge and Gray Robert Brown, it’s a deep and often surprising look at how the Queen of Crime’s later work intersected with a decade of radical change. Forget the stereotypical image of a cosy, unchanging writer; here, we examine how Christie’s stories from that era engaged with shifting attitudes towards youth culture, morality, and social upheaval. Each episode digs into a specific novel or theme, unpacking the subtle-and sometimes not so subtle-ways her writing reflected or reacted to the world of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a rad journey through time that treats her work with serious scholarly insight while embracing the vibrant spirit of the period. You’ll come away from this podcast with a completely refreshed perspective on one of history’s most prolific authors, hearing her familiar plots through a new, decidedly swinging lens.
Author: Language: en-gb Episodes: 38

The Swinging Christies: Agatha Christie in the 1960s
Podcast Episodes
Christmas 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:44
Mark and Gray aka Donner and Blitzen are here with the now-annual Swinging Christies Christmas extravaganza! This time the discussion is about the ITV Agatha Christie’s Poirot David Suchet adaptations of The Mystery of t…
Echoes of the Disappearance [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:44
Gray and Mark are sunning themselves in Puerto de la Cruz for Tenerife’s International Agatha Christie Festival! In the 1920s, Agatha came to this beautiful island to get away from it all, but even later, in the 1960s, t…
Hallowe’en 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:51
Mwahahaha! It’s the now-traditional The Swinging Christies x Hallowe’en extravaganza, and this year Mark and Gray are talking about the recent film adaptation of Hallowe’en Party, A Haunting in Venice (2023). What do we…
Titles in Translation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:38
Gray and Mark meet Mystery Steve who has travelled all the way from Australia! Steve has been examining the way Agatha Christie titles have been translated into other languages. Steve’s project has just hit the 1960s, so…
Interview with Jan Carson at the Belfast Book Festival [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:20
Gray and Mark head to beautiful Belfast to chat to novelist and Agatha Christie fan Jan Carson. Jan has been tackling the Troubles in her work for some time, and we want to discuss with her Christie’s Troubles references…
Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:10
Two wickedly witty women writers, separated only by the Atlantic! This episode, Gray and Mark carry on their American adventures and discuss the similarities and differences between the works of Agatha Christie and Shirl…
Swinging USA: Washington DC (Part 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:56
Mrs Christie went to Washington, and Dr Aldridge and Mr Brown are following suit! This episode, we get the train to Washington DC to uncover the truth about how an American Christie fan would REALLY have experienced a Sw…
Swinging USA: New York (Part 1) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:22
Mark and Gray take Manhattan in the first in this very special miniseries recorded in the USA. In New York, Gray and Mark discuss Agatha’s 1960s connections to America, plus their discoveries in papers held at the Prince…
Swinging India [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:48:02
Mark and Gray travel to India (metaphorically) in search of the Queen of Crime! Along the way, they discuss various Hindi and Bengali adaptations, and meet with friend-of-the-podcast and expert adaptor/writer Ayeesha Men…
Swinging Marple [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:40
Miss Marple isn’t an old duffer - she’s a swinging cat! At least that’s what Mark and Gray discover this episode when they shine a light on Agatha Christie’s beloved sleuth. In particular we look at her 1960s outings, pl…