Tom Savage

Tom Savage is a character created for the 2009 ITV adaptation of the novel Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. The character of Tom Savage shares some of the background information with the character Thomas Bassington-ffrench from the novel but there are also substantial differences and he plays a larger role in the plot. Tom Savage is portrayed by Freddie Fox.

In this adaptation, the family trees of the Bassington-ffrenches and the Savages are combined and most of the main characters belong to the Savage family as does the wealth and estate that forms the main target of the crimes. Castle Savage is a rough equivalent to the Bassington-ffrench Merroway Court and most of the events take place there.

Tom is the son of Sylvia Savage and is in his late teens compared to Thomas Bassington-ffrench who is a young boy. He is portrayed as a neurotic and introverted youth who has an unusual hobby of keeping a snake as a pet. He also has a sister Dorothy of about the same age. After their father Jack Savage died, they were surprised by the provisions of the will and hide the document. They later shared their suspicions with Miss Marple (see the article on Dorothy Savage for details) and helped with the resolution of the mystery.

Because it was later determined that Claude Evans had died from being injected with snake venom and because of Tom's pet snake, he was at first considered a suspect and almost arrested. However when it was realised that special equipment and training is needed to extract venom, suspicion moved elsewhere. It was later discovered that Jack's killer Roger Bassington had persuaded Dr Alec Nicholson (who also had a hobby of keeping snakes) to give a snake to Tom as a present, in order to implicate him.

Tom played a key role during the denouement. Together with his sister, Miss Marple and the butler Wilson, they set a trap for the killers Roger Bassington and Moira Nicholson as they tried to kill Sylvia Savage. They listened to the killers through the door as they announced their intentions and motives. When they had heard enough, they intervened just before they were going to inject snake venom into Sylvia. In the ensuing struggle, Tom assisted by shooting Roger Bassington.