• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 5 hours ago

From the great tradition of sumptuous miniseries from the U.K. comes a new Agatha Christie mystery set in a declining English manor of the 1920s.

Shades of “Downton Abbey”? Well, at least in the setting of its time and location, but since this is an Agatha Christie adaptation, it is a drama of murder, not manners.

The series -- titled “Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials” and adapted from that 1929 novel -- would fit naturally on “Masterpiece Mystery” on PBS, where it would stand out as one of the best of them.

But “Seven Dials” is on Netflix, which once again shows the streamer’s ability to produce shows of all types from across the content spectrum.

Whether or not the number seven in the show’s title means seven people are soon to die is not revealed in Episode One, which the TV Blog previewed on Wednesday.

Suffice it to say that three people meet their demise in chilling ways in the first episode in this three-part series, which raises expectations for more.

The first one takes place in the manor house on the morning after a soiree in which the house was full of guests.

The detective who comes out from the village to investigate is a clueless neophyte who believes a doctor’s opinion that the dead man committed suicide by poison.

With no hope that the local authorities will make any effort to investigate the man’s death any further, a plucky young woman steps in to take up an investigation of her own because the dead man was her beau and they were soon to be betrothed.

Along with her mother, Lady Caterham (Helena Bonham Carter), the young woman is one of the ladies of the manor -- Lady Eileen Brent, nicknamed “Bundle” (played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, above photo).

As she embarks on her odyssey in search of the truth, Bundle receives multiple warnings to desist, but she persists anyway.

The show is the story of her journey to solving the mystery of the “seven dials,” which present themselves in Episode One as a grouping of seven wind-up alarm clocks. But that is only the tip of the iceberg.

“Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials” is great entertainment. Might it lead to the creation of an Agatha Christie mystery franchise for Netflix? By Jove, that would be topping!

“Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials” starts streaming Thursday on Netflix.