little grey cell comfort food

When I can’t think of anything else to read, or just want something comforting and familiar, there is always Agatha Christie. And although I have read (I think) most of her books by now, I am still drawn most frequently to the ones featuring the inimitable Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. He of the meticulous ways and fantastic mustaches. With his obsession with detail and as Ben Franklin says, “a place for everything, everything in its place,” he has to be a Virgo, like me. And probably a little bit OCD.

“There was only one thing about his own appearance which really pleased Hercule Poirot, and that was the profusion of his moustaches, and the way they responded to grooming and treatment and trimming. They were magnificent. He knew of nobody else who had any moustache half as good.” ― Agatha Christie, Hallowe’en Party

I downloaded some Poirot-centric titles on Kindle and was not disappointed. The first, Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly, is a shorter, novella-length version of what became her novel Dead Man’s Folly. The plot is similar to the novel, but there are a few changes and twists to the story. Christie was well-known for reusing plots and motifs and then changing around settings and even murderers for a completely different result. It is fun to read Christie’s description of the main house where the murder takes place, as she based it on her own house in Devon.

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

The next Christie I read is a longtime favorite, Hallowe’en Party. This is a particularly diabolical mystery, as the victim and even some of the suspects are children. Agatha Christie never shied away from the concept of evil, or its being able to take root at an early age. Poirot has to tread lightly as he tries to solve a brutal drowning – in a tub full of apples – as he questions a seemingly nice community of nice people. The ultimate solution has to feature one of her most interesting motives, too.

The next Christie was a new collection of short stories, featuring Poirot and Christie’s other detectives: Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Parker Pyne, etc. Along with a reminiscence about one of her childhood Christmas holidays, the featured stories include: “Christmas at Abney Hall,” “Three Blind Mice,” “The Chocolate Box,” “A Christmas Tragedy,” “The Coming of Mr. Quin,” “The Clergyman’s Daughter/The Rose House,” “The Plymouth Express,” “Problem at Pollensa Bay,” “Sanctuary,” “The Mystery of Hunters Lodge,” “The World’s End,” “The Manhood of Edward Robinson,” and “Christmas Adventure.” Christie fans will recognize that “Three Blind Mice” is the novella version of her long-running play “The Mousetrap.” These are all good stories and the winter’s theme makes them feel especially cozy.

Poirot and Me, by David Suchet

Not quite ready to quit Christie, but not in the mood for a re-read, I stumbled across Poirot and Me, by David Suchet. This is a charming book by the actor most well-known as the definitive Poirot (sorry Kenneth Branagh). Suchet outlines his entire acting career in this memoir, which includes a lot of award-winning theater and films and television. But a great bulk of his career and life has been spent playing Christie’s most famous detective. He is proud to share that journey and how Poirot has affected his career and life. He may have initially taken the role thinking it would be a short-term thing, as many British series are, but he grew to love the character and become a champion for filming every Christie novel and short story featuring Poirot. This was a monumental project, completed over the course of many years and different production companies. The decision to keep the time frame in the 1930s gave the series an impeccable feel and design. But he was finally able to realize his dream and the Agatha Christie’s Poirot series is one of television’s best classic mystery series.

And this concludes my adventures with Poirot. Until the next re-read.

Reviews on Cannonball Read 13

agatha christie's poirot: series 11

David Suchet is as wonderful as ever as Hercule Poirot in this latest DVD collection from Acorn Media, Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 11. The costumes, settings and locations are as gorgeous as ever in these first-class adaptations of Christie's mystery novels. The films stay mostly true to Christie's original novels. Two of the episodes pair Poirot with Christie's thinly-veiled spoof of herself, crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker).

Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) and Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker) consider the pool of suspects

The first film in the set, "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," seems a bit more artistically framed than previous Poirot episodes. It features one of Christie's most clever plots, with Poirot taking on a cold case and having to rough it in the country while he investigates the murder of an elderly charwoman in the small village of Broadhinny:

Poirot, "Well, I too suffer. The cooking of Madame Summerhayes; it is beyond description. Well, it is not cooking at all. The currents of the cold air. The long hairs of the dogs. The chairs. The terrible, terrible beds in which I try to sleep! And the coffee: words cannot describe to you the fluid they serve to you as coffee."

Poor persnickety Poirot. He may not be enjoying the usual creature comforts of his well-appointed London flat, but his deductive skills are as sharp as ever.

Read the entire review on Cinema Sentries.

poirot, series 10

Acorn Media has released for the first time on Blu-ray Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 10. The four feature-length mysteries included on these discs feature some of Christie's most tragic plots, but her victims and murderers are not her typical "bad guys." The four films were originally broadcast in 2005 and 2006 and include some of the series' most stellar guest stars, including Lucy Punch (Doc Martin, Ella Enchanted), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, 12 Years a Slave) and Elliott Gould (Ocean’s Eleven, MASH). Zoë Wanamaker (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Prime Suspect) returns as Poirot's friend and foil, eccentric crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (a self-portrait-like spoof of Christie herself.)

Mrs. Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker) and Poirot (David Suchet) attend a very strange dinner party

The production is its usual high quality, with costumes and set designs accurately and attractively reflecting the period setting, which the series has kept in the 1920s/1930s Art Deco era. The images on the discs look sharp, especially on a large-scale high-definition television screen, with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The dialogue and the musical soundtrack are also crisp and clear (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), with English SDH subtitles available. The mournful soundtrack is by Stephen McKeon. There are bonus features too: a photo gallery and a behind-the-scenes featurette.

The episodes on the two discs episodes appear in their original U.K. broadcast order. Fans of Christie's books may not be pleased by how the original stories have been modified in these filmed versions, but changes to the novels do keep viewers who may think they know what's coming guessing — especially in the first episode in the set, "The Mystery of the Blue Train." The basic plot, which concerns murder and the theft of a priceless jewel aboard a luxury train, is still there, but Poirot now finds himself on the spot, much like his other famous case, "Murder on the Orient Express."

Liberties with Christie's text continue in the second episode, "Cards on the Table." The original novel, like many of Christie's puzzles, had an ingenious set-up — four sleuths (including Poirot and Mrs. Oliver) pitted against four "successful" murderers — people who had committed crimes but had never been accused or convicted. But this version switches murderers, makes a neat yet intricate premise unnecessarily complicated, and adds more "contemporary" sexual goings-on, a tactic that has been used to spice up the more recent incarnations of Marple, but until now, not Poirot.

The second disc includes the most successful and entertaining episodes in the set, "After the Funeral" and "Taken at the Flood." In "After the Funeral" Poirot is asked by a lawyer friend (Robert Bathurst) to help determine whether a family patriarch and his sister were murdered — and by whom. Every member of the Abernethie family is a suspect, and the cast includes Michael Fassbender, Lucy Punch,  and Geraldine James. The adaptation is classic drawing-room Christie.

Cousins George Abernethie (Michael Fassbender) and Susannah Henderson (Lucy Punch) in "After the Funeral"

The real jewel in the set is "Taken At the Flood," which has been updated from its original post-war setting. Poirot once again finds himself dealing with a complicated wealthy family, the Cloades. Viewers will find themselves as affected by the outcome of this mystery as the detective himself, who believes he has witnessed one of the most evil crimes of his career. The impressive guest cast includes Jenny Agutter, Tim Piggott-Smith, and Celia Imrie.

"How depraved! God, how evil does a man have to be to cause the slaughter of so many innocent people? For the concealment of a single murder? If God should withhold his mercy from anyone on earth ... it surely will be you."

What makes the Poirot series so watchable is David Suchet in the title role as the brilliant yet persnickety Belgian detective. In all four mysteries Suchet as is as wonderful as ever, and imbues his character with real emotion, especially in the final mystery in the set, "Taken At the Flood." Suchet recently has realized his goal of filming all of Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries. There may not be any new Poirots in the offing, but it is nice to know that thanks to Blu-rays like these, Suchet as Poirot can be enjoyed again and again.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Blu-ray Review: ‘Poirot, Series 10′

two worth a look ...

Foolproof - From 2003, a heist/who's zoomin' who caper with an interesting cast. Starring Ryan Reynolds as the leader of a trio of "theoretical" criminals who pull off a real heist when a gangster (David Suchet) enlists them to turn one of their dream jobs into reality. It's slick and fun, but the real treat was seeing Suchet in non-Poirot mode, with (I think) his real voice.

David Suchet serves up some theif-erly advice

Timeline - Also from 2003, this is an implausible but fun time travel yarn with an amazing cast for Anglophiles. Directed by Richard Donner of Superman and Lethal Weapon movies fame and written by Michael Crichton (and based on his novel). I'm not sure why I never heard of this before. Maybe because it's more silly than scary, but it was still fun to watch.

An elite group of archaeologists (Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler) and commandoes (!), led by Neal McDonough, need to travel back to medieval France to rescue a stranded comrade (Billy Connolly). But once there, things get, well, medieval, as the French are busy warring the neighboring British and the group starts to get smaller, one-by-one. And to complicate matters even more, back home the time travel machine has been damaged and the scientists running it (David Thewlis, Ethan Embry) are of two minds on whether to effect repairs. Will they be able to get back home to the present before their window of return expires? The cast in the past is just as impressive as the future travelers, including Michael Sheen, Anna Friel, and Lambert Wilson.

No they're not going to a local RenFest, they're going to the past

The past (and Anna Friel) is looking pretty good to Gerard Butler

According to imdb, Timeline was prey to a lot of studio interference, which certainly plays into why it wasn't properly promoted:

The film was originally slated to be released in the fall of 2002, however the studio was not happy with the Richard Donner's cut of the film, which included a prologue explaining the disappearance of the Billy Connolly character in the film ... Donner was then forced to re-cut the film ... Paramount, particularly studio head Sherry Lansing, was again unhappy with Donner's second cut of the film that he had delivered which completely had eliminated the Billy Connolly prologue, which was essential to the both the Michael Crichton novel and the film's backstory ... Donner was forced to re-cut the film once more and the film was again delayed to unspecified date ... The final cut of the film would be 116 minutes from its original 136 min cut, mainly the Billy Connolly prologue clearly absent from re-cut version and the final cut, which proves that the film was clearly interfered with by the studio ...

Timeline is probably a shadow of what it could have been, but it's still worth a look, especially for Gerard Butler's playful character, Marek.

poirot's early cases

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Early Cases Collection on Blogcritics.

For fans of David Suchet's classic interpretation of Agatha Christie's most famous sleuth Hercule Poirot, Acorn Media has put together a real treat, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Early Cases. This recently released collection compiles the first six series of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, remastered and in their original U.K. broadcast order. The collection is available on both DVD and Blu-ray.

David Suchet has created the ultimate version of the Christie's little Belgian detective. Seen in the U.S. on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery! and the A&E network, Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Suchet's interpretation has been a long-time favorite of all lovers of British mystery since its debut in 1989. Suchet is realizing his dream of playing in all of Christie's Poirot mysteries - he is currently filming the final book featuring Poirot, Curtain.

Hercule Poirot and Co., L-R: Inspector Japp, Poirot, Miss Lemon, Captain Hastings.

The mysteries included in Agatha Christie's Poirot, The Early Cases Collection have all been released on DVD and Blu-ray previously. The advantage to this collection, if one hasn't already purchased separate series, is having all of your favorite Poirot episodes in one set, and especially on Blu-ray, which features an impeccable transfer from the original 16mm-filmed series.

The Blu-ray includes 13 discs with SDH subtitles available. The aspect ratio is 1.33:1 with a video resolution of 1080p/4.3 full screen. The mysteries simply look fantastic on a large-scale high definition television screen, with colors and blacks clear and sharp and details like the paisley on Poirot's cravat and his impeccably waxed mustache popping. Discs for Series 1 and 2 are in 2.0 Dolby Digital sound and Series 3-6 are in 2.0 Stereo PCM, with dialogue crisp and clear. The musical score also sounds excellent. There are no extras, apart from some previews for other Acorn Media mystery titles. The 45 mysteries included in the set are:

Series 1, Disc 1 (Approximate running time 262 minutes):
"The Adventure of the Clapham Cook," "Murder in the Mews," "The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly," "Four and Twenty Blackbirds," "The Third Floor Flat."

Series 1, Disc 2 (Approximate running time 257 minutes):
"Triangle at Rhodes," "Problem at Sea," "The Incredible Theft," "The King of Clubs," "The Dream."

Series 2, Disc 1 (Approximate running time 260 minutes):
"Peril at End House," "The Veiled Lady," "The Lost Mine," "The Cornish Mystery."

Series 2, Disc 2 (Approximate running time 263 minutes):
"The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim," "Double Sin," "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat," "The Kidnapped Prime Minister," "The Adventure of the Western Star."

Series 3, Disc 1 (Approximate running time 213 minutes):
"The Mysterious Affair at Styles," "How Does Your Garden Grow?," "The Million Dollar Bond Robbery."

Poirot and his "little grey cells" are more than a match for any criminal.

Series 3, Disc 2 (Approximate running time 210 minutes):
"The Plymouth Express," "Wasps’ Nest," "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor," "The Double Clue."

Series 3, Disc 3 (Approximate running time 205 minutes):
"The Mystery of the Spanish Chest," "The Theft of the Royal Ruby," "The Affair at the Victory Ball," "The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge."

Series 4, Disc 1 (Approximate running time 213 minutes):
"The ABC Murders," "Death in the Clouds."

Series 4, Disc 2 (Approximate running time 106 minutes):
"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe."

Series 5, Disc 1 (Approximate running time 204 minutes):
"The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb," "The Underdog," "Yellow Iris," "The Case of the Missing Will."

Series 5, Disc 2 (Approximate running time 203 minutes):
"The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman," "The Chocolate Box," "Dead Man’s Mirror," "Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan."

Series 6, Disc 1 (Approximate running time 124 minutes):
"Hercule Poirot’s Christmas," "Hickory Dickory Dock."

Series 6, Disc 2 (Approximate running time 124 minutes):
"Murder on the Links," "Dumb Witness."

Poirot is joined on many of these cases by his faithful companions Captain Arthur Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) and his secretary and general factotum Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran.) The 1930s Art Deco sets and costumes look fantastic on Blu-ray. As do some of the wonderful filming locations, which include period architecture and furnishings. Many of the mysteries take Poirot and the viewer out of his fabulously furnished London flat to the English countryside, as well as overseas to Paris and more exotic locales, like Egypt and the island of Rhodes.

Murder follows Poirot on holiday in Rhodes.

Viewers will also recognize many of their favorite actors in guest appearances, including Caprica's Polly Walker ("Peril at End House"), The Princess Diaries' Caroline Goodall ("The Adventure of the Western Star"), The Tudors' Jeremy Northam ("Dead Man's Mirror"), Doctor Who's Christopher Eccleston ("One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"), and Homeland's Damian Lewis ("Hickory Dickory Dock"). Of the early cases included in the set eight are feature-length movies and 38 are hour-long episodes.

Agatha Christie's Poirot is still impressive to watch, with its intricate puzzles, attention to period detail, and impeccable casting. To now have all 45 of Poirot's early cases from the first six seasons of the series available on Blu-ray is a dream come true for fans of British television and Christie alike. Agatha Christie's Poirot, The Early Cases Collection has come out just in time for the holidays, and Christie and Suchet fans will certainly enjoy watching their favorite television detective in glorious Blu-ray.

suchet on blu-ray: agatha christie's poirot, series 6

Acorn Media has released another superb Blu-ray collection, Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 6, which includes four feature-length episodes in their original 1995-96 U.K. broadcast order.

The four episodes are on two discs, with a total running time of 428 minutes. The video resolution is 1080p with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The sound is crisp and clear, in Dolby Digital 2.0, with SDH subtitles available. Originally filmed in 16mm, the episodes have been re-mastered for Blu-ray and high definition, and look spectacular on a large-scale hi-def television. Details like the weave of the fabric of Poirot's suit and background set details pop in a way they never did in their original television broadcast.

All Hercule Poirot wants for Christmas are a heated apartment and some delicious Belgian chocolates

Hercule Poirot's Christmas Both Poirot and Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) have their Christmas holidays interrupted by a very curious murder at a rich man's estate. Past indiscretions and South African diamonds provide the clues that the great detective needs to unravel to find the perpetrator of the violent crime. Mark Tandy costars as the local chief of police, Superintendent Sugden.

Hickory Dickory Dock Poirot's secretary Miss Lemon's (Pauline Moran) sister enlists the detective's help with a series of thefts at a hostel where she is a housekeeper. Poirot soon discovers that something more sinister than kleptomania is afoot, and must find the villain of the piece before the bodies begin to pile up too high. To further complicate matters, while his wife is out of town Japp moves in with Poirot and almost starves when confronted by the little Belgian's idea of home cooking. Jonathan Firth and Damian Lewis costar as students at the hostel.

Murder on the Links On holiday in Deauville, France, Poirot and Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) become involved in a local case of abduction and murder. Poirot races to solve the case before his arch-enemy, the abrasive Giraud of the Sûreté (Bill Moody) can. The two make a wager regarding who will solve the crime first. If Giraud loses, he must give up his famous pipe. If Poirot loses, he must shave off his moustache. Poirot can not let that happen. Hastings, meanwhile, falls for a woman named Bella Duveen (Jacinta Mulcahy), who has secrets of her own.

Bob the fox terrier helps Captain Hastings and Poirot solve a murder

Dumb Witness A fox terrier named Bob proves to be an invaluable witness in the murder of his beloved master, Emily Arundel (Ann Morrish). Also trying to assist Poirot on the case are two sisters, Julia and Isabel Tripp (Muriel Pavlow and Pauline Jameson), Miss Arundel's neighbors, who look for answers from "the other side."

David Suchet has proved himself to be the ultimate portrayer of Dame Agatha Christie's most famous detective, the Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. The impeccably mustachioed Poirot utilizes his "little grey cells" to determine the responsible party in each of these entertaining mysteries. The production values, as always with the series, are top-notch, with beautiful Art Deco surroundings and impeccable costumes. Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 6 is a very worthy addition to Christie canon, enabling fans of Suchet and Poirot to enjoy these mysteries again and again.

poirot investigates &mdash on blu-ray

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Poirot, Series 3 on Blogcritics.

Acorn Media releases another wonderful Blu-ray of Poirot, featuring David Suchet as Agatha Christie's inimitable Belgian detective. Suchet recently announced that he will be filming the remaining Christie Hercule Poirot novels and short stories. It has certainly been the role-of-a-lifetime for the British actor, and his Poirot is fussy, pompous, flawless, and brilliant — everything fans of the sleuth could hope for him to be.

Poirot, Series 3 also stars Hugh Fraser as the Poirot's faithful sidekick Captain Arthur Hastings, Philip Jackson as his Scotland Yard connection Chief Inspector Japp, and Pauline Moran as his proper secretary Miss Lemon.

Poirot confronts a wax figure of himself in "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor"

The three-disc set includes 11 mysteries, with a total running time of 628 minutes. First aired in 1990-91, they appear in this collection in their original U.K. broadcast order. Scene selection and SDH subtitles are available on each disc.

What the Blu-ray set lacks in extras it makes up for in clarity. The fabulous period settings and costumes are sharp and colorful, especially when seen on a high-definition television screen, with 1080p video resolution and an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The dialogue comes through crisp and clear, with LPCM 2.0 sound.

Disc 1:

"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" — Based on Christie's post-WW1 novel that introduced Hercule Poirot, this feature-length mystery has Poirot and Hastings on their first case together. Beatie Edney guest stars.

"How Does Your Garden Grow?" — Poirot receives a cry for help from an elderly woman, but when he investigates, he is too late; she is already dead. Can he find her murderer with clues found in her well-appointed garden?

"The Million Dollar Bond Robbery" — Poirot and a seasick Hastings travel on the Queen Mary to try to solve — and prevent — an international robbery.

Disc 2:

"The Plymouth Express" — A heartbroken father enlists Poirot's help to solve the especially ruthless murder of a young woman — his daughter — on a train.

"Wasps’ Nest" — A love triangle (Martin Turner, Peter Capaldi, and Melanie Jessup) and a wasp's nest both provide clues for Poirot to prevent a potential murder.

"The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor" — Poirot investigates a ghostly shooting at a spooky English manor house.

"The Double Clue" — A jewel robbery is a distraction for Poirot, who finds romance with a Russian countess-in-exile (Kika Markham).

Hercule Poirot and Countess Vera Rossakoff enjoy a picnic.

Disc 3:

"The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" — A particularly daring criminal commits a grisly murder during a dinner party where Poirot is the guest. Caroline Langrishe guest stars.

"The Theft of the Royal Ruby" — In a lighter-hearted mystery, Poirot must sacrifice his Christmas holiday to help determine who stole a valuable ruby from a young and extremely annoying Egyptian prince.

"The Affair at the Victory Ball" — Italian Commedia dell'arte costumes provide a clue to the identity of a murderer. Nathaniel Parker guest stars.

"The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge" — Poirot is under the weather, so Hastings must be his eyes and ears when investigating a shooting at a local hunting lodge.

Poirot travels in the rarified circes of the rich and famous, but his cases aways involves both the upstairs and downstairs members of English society. Poirot, Series 3, is impeccably filmed, and provides a glimpse into a lost way of life; not just of manor houses and travels on the Queen Mary, but strict class separations that could be (temporarily) equalized by an event like a murder.

With the release of the Poirot series on Blu-ray, viewers can watch not only a wonderful depiction of 1920s and 1930s England, but also the definitive version of Agatha Christie's most famous character, Hercule Poirot.

Related articles

• Blu-ray Review: Agatha Christie's Poirot - Series 1 (blogcritics.org)

poirot investigates

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Agatha Christie's Poirot - Series 1 on Blogcritics.

Newly remastered and restored in its original U.K. broadcast order, Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 1, starring the inimitable David Suchet as the little Belgian detective, has finally come to Blu-ray, and it was worth the wait. Always a visually elegant series, the Art Deco architecture, set decorations, and costumes look more gorgeous than ever, especially when viewed on a high-definition television screen.

The crew: Hastings, Poirot and Miss Lemon

Suchet certainly found the role of his career in Hercule Poirot, Christie's most famous detective. Series 1 includes 10 full-length mysteries, scene selection, and SDH subtitles. Unfortunately there are no other extras available. It would have been nice to have some cast interviews or character backgrounders. But the Blu-ray is still worthwhile, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the '30s-era high society world where Poirot investigates murder most English.

Having been a fan of Suchet and this series on PBS for years, watching Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 1 was like seeing them all for the first time on Blu-ray. It was fun to be reminded that in the series Poirot's sidekick Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) is not the bumbler that he is in the books, but frequently provides needed muscle and back-up for the cerebral detective. Philip Jackson's Chief Inspector Japp and Pauline Moran's Miss Lemon round out Poirot's little home team.

The 10 episodes include:

Disc 1:

The Adventure of the Clapham Cook - Is Poirot too great a personage to search for a missing domestic?

Murder in the Mews - Guy Fawkes Day is used as a backdrop for murder. Guest stars include David Yelland and James Faulkner.

The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly - Poirot and Hastings try to prevent a kidnapping.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds - Can a man's last meal provide a clue to his murder? Hilary Mason & Richard Howard guest star.

The Third Floor Flat - Murder hits close to home - Poirot's own apartment building. With Josie Lawrence.

Disc 2:

Triangle at Rhodes - Poirot goes on holiday, but murder of course follows him, as he must determine how a love triangle led to the death of a wealthy woman. The local scenery is wonderful, and Poirot goes to the beach — in a three piece suit and patent leather shoes.

Problem at Sea - Poirot takes a leisurely cruise — leisurely until murder strikes. With the aid of some of his fellow passengers and a little magic he cracks the case.

The Incredible Theft - Back at home, Poirot is now called in to prevent espionage that might threaten national security. An interesting glimpse of English politics between the two world wars.

The King of Clubs - Poirot and Hastings go backstage at the early talkies where the lovely star of a Valentino The Sheik-esque film (Niamh Cusack) may be involved in a murder.

The Dream - Joely Richardson plays the daughter of a man who told Poirot just 24 hours before he died that he kept having a recurring dream of killing himself. Did he truly commit suicide or was it murder?

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 1 includes 10 episodes on two discs, for a total running time of approximately 519 min. The resolution is 1080p/4:3 full screen and the sound is 2.0 Dolby Digital. The sound is as great as the visuals, as every nuance of Poirot's accent comes through crisp and clear. The dapper little detective never looked better, and it's great to travel with him and watch him puzzle out these decidedly stylish, but unmistakably deadly cases.

Related articles

• Blu-ray Review: Agatha Christie's Poirot - Series 1 (blogcritics.org)
• Acorn Media buys stake in Agatha Christie estate (guardian.co.uk)

who do you Brits think you are?

Who Do You Think You Are? may have finished its latest run of shows, but that doesn't mean that the amateur genealogist has to go without. Imagine how happy I was to discover that my love for actor David Suchet, best known for his portrayal of Agatha Christie's famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, and my interest in genealogy was combined in an episode from the British version of the series. I have loved watching the first two seasons of the American series, which it turns out is actually an offshoot of the British original, which originated in 2004 (and is still producing new episodes). Why am I not surprised — all the best television ideas seem to come from across the pond.

It was a little strange for me at first, just getting used to listening to Suchet in his own voice, own accent. I'm so used to the precise inflections he uses and slight accent for Poirot. It was amusing watching him realize that like his signature role, he would have to go on the trail for clues. At one point he was laughing as he pulled on white gloves to examine some old documents, "How many times have I done this before?" Of course this time, it's for some information that will directly affect him and his family.

Suchet found out the real source of his last name (not French, as he had been told) and travelled to England, France and the Ukraine. Thankfully, all of the episode, in six parts, can be watched on YouTube. Now that I've started watching the British version of the show, I can't stop. Other favorites I have queued up include Stephen Fry and David Tennant (both can also be watched on YouTube). The episodes I've watched have been narrated by British actor Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Stardust, Robin Hood).

Stephen Fry, as you might expect, was quite amusing in his episode. He was delighted to discover an ancestor, one of the "amazing Prings" was a pauper inmate in a London workhouse. His reaction?  "How Dickensian!" Fry had always been told that on his mother's side of the family, Jewish relatives were "killed by Hitler." This proved to be true, and he took an amazing emotional journey to Vienna and beyond to discover how tragic his relative's stories were.

My favorite Dr. Who, David Tennant, was initially also a bit surprising — to my ears — as I got used to his Scottish accent. Tennant knew next to nothing about his ancestors. He discovered a star athlete and a beauty queen and travelled from the Lowlands of Scotland to the Highlands. His quest also took him to Ireland, where he found it quite difficult at first to learn about his ancestor's involvement in "the troubles," Bloody Sunday, gerrymandering and poll-rigging.

Who Do You Think You Are is always an interesting history lesson. People find out not only about their relatives, but their relatives' part in history. I'm looking forward to digging up some more of these shows, and learning more as well. Zoë Wanamaker, Patsy Kensit, Robert Lindsay, and Graham Norton's shows all seem available. Hopefully more will be put up on YouTube or become available on DVD, as some of my favorites have also done episodes — Alan Cumming, John Hurt, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Nigella Lawson.

miss marple is hotter than you think

Article first published as Miss Marple Is Hotter Than You Think on Blogcritics.



It's partly a tribute to the strength of Agatha Christie's characters and stories that Hollywood and its equivalents keep churning out new versions every few years. David Suchet has got a lock on the inimitable Hercule Poirot. Thank goodness for that. He is such a perfect Poirot in every way that I am not able to contemplate someone else trying to step into the Belgian detective's shiny tight patent leather shoes.

Miss Marple, for some reason, has never been as easy to capture. Maybe because the character's description by Christie is as fluffy as the shawls Marple is always knitting. Poirot is specific. In fact he has so many quirks and eccentricities that Christie grew to loathe being forever saddled with him while the public loved him. Miss Marple, apart from being elderly and smart and more than a bit of a snoop doesn't have many other descriptors except blue eyes and white hair. She has been open to interpretation to readers — plug in your favorite little old lady stereotype and add a pink or blue wooly shawl.

Miss Marple has also been open to interpretation by a variety of actresses. Margaret Rutherford made a series of four B&W films in the 1960s. They are very enjoyable and silly comedies, but as any Christie devotee will tell you, they aren't Miss Marple.

Miss Marple saw a surge of popularity in the 1980s. Angela Lansbury in The Mirror Crack'd (1980) is a good attempt. I enjoy her version of the character, but I think she found a better fit for her vigorous physicality in Jessica Fletcher. Helen Hayes was my perfect physical idea of Miss Marple. She's petite and fluffy and wily. She was in two American made-for-TV movies in the mid-80s. They lack the British locale and polish, but are fun to watch.


Joan Hickson is to me the ultimate Miss Marple, as Suchet is the ultimate Poirot. She may be the least "fluffy" of the portrayers, but she gets everything else very, very right. From 1984 to 1992 she played Marple in 12 movies.

From 2004-2010 creators of the latest Marple series tried to sex up the stories and even Miss Marple herself. They are often confusing to watch, as so much of the original stories have been changed. Geraldine McEwan is a good actress, but her Miss Marple is just creepy to me. Julia McKenzie took over the role after McEwan, a bit more in the manner of Hickson's Marple, but the dramatizations of the stories are still pretty awful. Some of my favorite Christie novels like Towards Zero suddenly have Marple plunked in the middle of them where she doesn't belong. If you love Miss Marple, I'd skip these and find the Hickson versions on DVD.

Apparently these latest Marples weren't deemed sexy enough, because the latest news is that yet another Marple franchise is in the works, this time starring ... Jennifer Garner. The mind boggles. Obviously all previous incarnations of white hair and knitted baby items will have to be tossed out. As a huge Christie fan I should be shaking my head in disgust or outrage, right? Somehow it just makes me laugh and wonder if it might be fun to watch.

The idea is so completely off-the-wall that it might even work. Why the folks behind this production are bothering to trade on the Marple name at all is confusing, but maybe it will provide them with some decent plots to pull from, at the very least. Garner is also producing the film. I wish it had been scaled down to be a TV series instead of a feature film, as that seems to be where this actress shines. Can Garner pull a Robert Downey and mess with a beloved character and still be great? Only time will tell. But somehow, I suspect, the resilient Miss Marple will weather this latest incarnation and turn up again, in another guise, in a year or so.

the secret of chimneys

What is with all the perverted Miss Marples? And by that I mean both sexually and just plain off-course from their original Agatha Christie novels. The latest Marple, The Secret of Chimneys, was actually going along fine, all the way through the first murder, with a great group of actors, both familiar (Edward Fox, Dervla Kirwan) and new (to me, at least—Charlotte Salt, Jonas Armstrong), a marvelous setting, the perfect Clue-like atmosphere—"I was in the drawing room when I heard the shot." And then it totally blew it, introducing an unnecessary sexual subplot, changing the motives for murder, and worst of all, changing the murderer. All of this would have been OK if it had been pulled off with good plotting. But no.


Somehow, no matter who is playing Miss Marple since the wonderful and still definitive Joan Hickson did in the eighties and nineties, a sexual element to the stories has been introduced, actually, forced. Because obviously no one would watch Agatha Christie without more sex, right? That's why we tune in, right? Sheesh. It seems that the folks involved in these shows have taken Miss Marple's kitchen-sink mentality—nothing can shock or surprise the little old lady sleuth, whether it be sex, theft, murder, etc.—and completely missed the point of the character. She has managed to view all of life's experiences just by looking (some might say spying) out her garden window in St. Mary's Mead. All the added incest, love affairs, etc. in these productions are just that—added. And unnecessary. They'd do better to spend screen time delving into the characters. Give the actors something interesting to play. But that would require good writing ...

The funny thing is that Christie's novels have never been devoid of sex. Illicit love affairs (The Hollow, The Murder on the Blue Train) are frequently the cause of murders. There is almost always at least one romance blooming, sometimes two, in the backdrop of all the death and crime and murder. Sometimes the hero or heroine even falls in love with the murderer. There have been lesbian couples (A Murder is Announced) and clearly homosexual men (The Moving Finger), maybe not at the forefront of her plots, but as important characters. She was not exactly progressive, but for a writer who started publishing in the 1920s and ended in the 1970s, she wasn't afraid to explore character, no matter what their sexual preference. But the most recent Marples have not only brought sex to the forefront, and added gay characters (more as a token character, as their sexuality never seems to directly affect the story), but worse than anything, all the changes are done at the expense of the mystery. Which is why most tune in in the first place, for a good puzzle. Christie was renowned for her intricate plotting, ingenious twists and surprise murderers—but when the script has been changed to arbitrarily focus on the biggest-name actor in the cast, then it might as well be Murder She Wrote. Jessica Fletcher wouldn't have put up with this crap, so why is Miss Marple?


Admittedly, the original The Secret of Chimneys, written in 1925, had an extremely convoluted and complicated plot (and no Miss Marple, by the way), involving political intrigue and hidden identities, so it could stand some updating and streamlining for television. I don't mind if a Christie (or any book for that matter) is messed with in a creative way if it makes good television. I love that the Poirots have all been set and styled in the 1930s, and that Hercule Poirot's Catholicism, one of many character details in the books, has actually been brought front and center to add real dimension to David Suchet's portrayal of the Belgian detective. Change is good, if it is done well and for the right reasons. But these new Marples—uh uh.

Related articles

• Agatha Christie's Marple: The Pale Horse, ITV1, 9pm (mirror.co.uk)

happy birthday Agatha Christie!

I guess Google doesn't think Americans would "get" the Hercule Poirot "G" as so far this Google Doodle only seems to be available to Americans, according to Mashable ...



Today is Agatha Christie's 120th birthday. If you have been reading this blog, you'll know that I had my own "summer of Christie," spurred on by the excellent Masterpiece Mystery Poirots that were televised recently. Murder on the Orient Express was an especially lavish production, with David Suchet deepening his long-term portrayal of my favorite detective, M. Poirot.

I had a ton of books to chose from, as Christie's entire oeuvre (in paperback) seemed to be in the house. As I tried to decide which books to pick I noticed that many were English printings. Probably foreign airport vacation purchases. In fact, I know that one book I decided to read towards the end of my marathon, Hallowe'en Party, was purchased at either the hotel bookstore, or more likely Schiphol after a trip to Egypt—and I read it cover-to-cover on the plane ride home.

I decided to stick with Papa Poirot, and read The Big Four, The Clocks, The Hollow , Funerals are Fatal/After the Funeral,  the aforementioned Hallowe'en Party, and The Labours of Hercules. Whew! It was interesting. In The Clocks Poirot hardly makes an appearance, or only shows up at the end—presumably this was when Christie was tired of her master detective, but of course, the critics and the readers never were, and still aren't. Funerals are Fatal was the American title for After the Funeral. I'm sure marketing is a consideration, but I've never understood the seemingly random re-naming of books for an Amrican audence (Sorcerer's Stone, anyone?) Is it a dumbing-down, or just an attempt to make an English product more acceptable or understandable to an American audience? Is Funerals are Fatal more "American" then After the Funeral?



Other British/American renamings include:
The Sittaford Mystery/Murder at Hazelmoor
Lord Edgware Dies/Thirteen at Dinner
Murder on the Orient Express/Murder in the Calais Coach
1934 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?/Boomerang Clue
Three Act Tragedy/Murder in Three Acts
Death in the Clouds/Death in the Air
The A.B.C. Murders/The Alphabet Murders
Dumb Witness/Poirot Loses a Client
Hercule Poirot's Christmas/Murder for Christmas
also A Holiday for Murder
Murder is Easy/Easy to Kill
Ten Little Niggers/And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe/An Overdose of Death/The Patriotic Murders
Five Little Pigs/Murder in Retrospect
Sparkling Cyanide/Remembered Death
The Hollow/Murder After Hours
Taken at the Flood/There is a Tide...
They Do It with Mirrors/Murder with Mirrors
Destination Unknown/So Many Steps to Death
4.50 from Paddington/What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!

Nine times out of ten the British title seems better to me. The majority renamed seem to be Poirots, too, although there are quite a few Marples and others included.

Of the books I read this summer, The Labours of Hercules was perhaps the most unusual. Aside from the overlay of Hercule Poirot taking on twelve "final" cases before his retiring to perfect the cultivation of "vegetable marrows," the book also saw him traveling the globe and fighting, on more than one occasion, drug (cocaine) dealers in London. Probably my favorite short story from this collection would be "The Capture of Cerberus," where Poirot gets to indulge in a clinch with the Countess Vera Rossakoff, the only woman that we know of that he has ever cared for—his Irene Adler.

I'm taking a break from Poirot and Dame Agatha for a while, as there are plenty of other books I have been neglecting, but this has been a highly enjoyable diversion. And I am looking forward to Suchet filming the rest of the Poirot catalog. He and Christie never seem to go out of style.

little grey cells

Exactly! It is absurd—improbable—it cannot be. So I myself have said. And yet, my friend, there it is! one cannot escape from the facts.—Hercule Poirot, Murder on the Orient Express

Like Audrey at Born for Geekdom I have been enjoying the latest Poirot movies on Masterpiece Mystery. These last three are so good in fact, that I am already experiencing some Hercule withdrawal. Luckily they are available on-demand through early August, as well as on the PBS website. A quick peek on imdb reveals three more Poirots already filmed, so I'm trying not to be upset that these Suchet/Poirots are done airing. The next three renditions in the pipeline should be Hallowe'en Party, Three Act Tragedy and The Clocks. The Clocks, one of the first Christies I ever read, is also one of her most confusing and gimmicky puzzles, but still rich in detail—I'm eager to see it transposed into Suchet's 30s-era Poirot's world. Watching these movies has also been a nice companion piece to the book I'm reading, Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, which provides a glimpse into the prolific author's methods.



I have a long history with Agatha Christie and her master detective, Hercule Poirot. One summer when I was a kid of about ten or eleven and had read all the children's books in the house—before there was a young adult fiction category or a Barnes and Noble or Borders or even Amazon at my disposal—I rifled through my mom's bookcase and discovered Agatha Christie. I think the first book I tried to read was a Miss Marple mystery, The Moving Finger. I was attracted to my mom's Christie collection equally by the garish cover art as well as the creepy titles. I liked The Moving Finger enough to try another, this one featuring the little Belgian (don't call him French!) sleuth Poirot. Probably The Hollow, which still remains one of my favorite Christies, with its expert blend of art, mystery, murder and romance.

Over the years I have, I think, read them all, some numerous times. A Poirot is always on my summer re-reading list. Agatha Christie is like comfort food. No matter how many times you have read a mystery there is continued enjoyment to be found in the re-reading—in the characters and how they interact, in her careful use of location, dialogue and human nature to provide the setting for the crimes. If you can remember the solution of the mystery from the last time you read it, you can follow Christie's trail of clues. And, once you know how to look at things, you realize that she always leaves a clue. There are no cheats in her novels. Sometimes, like Poirot, once you know, so many things that were interpreted one way before now seem obvious. Sapristi!


I am not keeping back facts. Every fact that I know is in your possession. You can draw your own deductions from them.—Hercule Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Another fun thing about Christie is her reworking of patterns in her plots. Her entire oeuvre could be looked at as a tapestry, where she works a motif again and again, but each time slightly differently, with different results. Sometimes she reworks a plot very obviously—Sparkling Cyanide is a novel-length version of a Poirot short story, Yellow Iris. The husband-wife dynamic in another one of my favorites,  Murder in Mesopotamia shares similarities to The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Evil Under the Sun is similar to another short story, Triangle at Rhodes.

Christie herself led an interesting life. Her experiences during both world wars as a nurse and in a pharmacy laid the foundation for her use of poison as a murder weapon in so many of her books. Her second marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan leant itself to the exotic settings of many of her novels and gave Hercule Poirot the ability to travel and solve crimes on a global scale.

I don't think I shall ever forget my first sight of Hercule Poirot. Of course, I got used to him later on, but to begin with it was a shock, and I think everyone else must have felt the same! I don't know what I'd imagined—something like Sherlock Holmes—[...] Of course, I knew he was a foreigner, but I hadn't expected him to be quite as foreign as he was, if you know what I mean. When you saw him you just wanted to laugh! He was like something on the stage or at the pictures. [...] He looked like a hairdresser in a comic play!—Murder in Mesopotamia

David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

I have always assumed that Poirot must be a Virgo—his desire to help people while always being convinced he knows what's best, his passion for order and symmetry, his meticulous appearance. Christie, as a matter of fact, was a Virgo. Christie may have felt slightly trapped by Poirot, but he became real and beloved by her readers—he even got his own obituary in the New York Times.

Poirot has been depicted on stage and screen numerous times, but no one has so completely captured Christie's great detective as actor David Suchet. Suchet is Poirot, and, happily, has expressed his desire to film all of the Christie Poirot stories and novels. What a treat for us and an accomplishment for this actor. Apart from his talent, one of the aspects that make the Suchet Poirots work so well is the decision to set them all in one era, the time of the output of her greatest novels, the 1930s. Christie's career spanned many decades, and her readers get an interesting glimpse of England and how it has changed (in her eyes) over the years. But sometimes this leads, in her later books, to an all-too-apparent effort of an older person to appear "contemporary." By transposing all of the filmed Poirots back to the time of the author and her detective's greatest accomplishments, it gives the whole series a classic look and style. This especially benefits the recently broadcast Third Girl. While reading the book it is amusing to see swinging seventies London (sometimes awkwardly depicted) through Christie's eyes, but that never would have transferred successfully to film.



As July winds to a close I have yet to decide on a summer Poirot. Should I choose all-time favorite Murder in Mesopotamia? Death on the Nile? Or maybe Dead Man's Folly, which is supposed to be set at Christie's home, Greenway House. Maybe all three . . .

Related:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (free at Daily Lit)

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