tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85554774453216050352024-03-18T09:41:23.638+01:00Investigating Agatha Christie's PoirotEirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-43175320543401820062022-01-29T15:13:00.001+01:002022-01-29T15:13:58.717+01:00The Future of Poirot (and Christie), Part Two<p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3FYkyW4SI3V7cleQlLW5lz4c835sVstEGwKjNhT7u_JLLbE2FLSPSoYtLIslTC3pHxjK9VCkvFPJ4GuI1A3fSnv8gDoHVIr5fwhFnXoGSx13NrdwTj7GBqzVCsEWQoLy49JJYzw-OVlqf-Uy3cXW3Bk3e76SIecJVdxNmu9dg4bRvVAv-ZU8ZTTkgEg=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3FYkyW4SI3V7cleQlLW5lz4c835sVstEGwKjNhT7u_JLLbE2FLSPSoYtLIslTC3pHxjK9VCkvFPJ4GuI1A3fSnv8gDoHVIr5fwhFnXoGSx13NrdwTj7GBqzVCsEWQoLy49JJYzw-OVlqf-Uy3cXW3Bk3e76SIecJVdxNmu9dg4bRvVAv-ZU8ZTTkgEg=w320-h181" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjknIo3AcdQXQnyZeTui0h06J6R7dGDd0FH1HvsaHW22lQhCdzL0WBGKsoSscF2YVSE5pcqgJ3Jar2tUuLgYcF2I1xuDsdjoV-bHeToqlzu3vubazCvw9DgHgp3_op-9vGWurQCly00fic6tXl3jH5PFmfiMgIYO1e3BiDfM1TunEmo1JtaN5MjG-kLEA=s1500" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1500" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjknIo3AcdQXQnyZeTui0h06J6R7dGDd0FH1HvsaHW22lQhCdzL0WBGKsoSscF2YVSE5pcqgJ3Jar2tUuLgYcF2I1xuDsdjoV-bHeToqlzu3vubazCvw9DgHgp3_op-9vGWurQCly00fic6tXl3jH5PFmfiMgIYO1e3BiDfM1TunEmo1JtaN5MjG-kLEA=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0jdKkhP4vvBQl0FSMD3lUYG3FQ3GsLMdujYBHJf5hPUsFeN_n5_rWFixVEpyCaX1wvSvw9OQKy-Z-O3mSzJW9G1jbxOn9-huakq967QDeRhZZG5y0hiRrroTRNfRwDcjH0sPWpNtimZodyOFFTYXsy129IpxFy-Ct6ZBbduMpDkXkr773fqUO1MM_Pg=s1680" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="1680" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0jdKkhP4vvBQl0FSMD3lUYG3FQ3GsLMdujYBHJf5hPUsFeN_n5_rWFixVEpyCaX1wvSvw9OQKy-Z-O3mSzJW9G1jbxOn9-huakq967QDeRhZZG5y0hiRrroTRNfRwDcjH0sPWpNtimZodyOFFTYXsy129IpxFy-Ct6ZBbduMpDkXkr773fqUO1MM_Pg=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size: large;">Back in 2014, I did a blog post with the title <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-future-of-poirot-introducing-poirot.html" target="_blank"><i>The future of Poirot: 'Introducing Poirot for a new generation'?</i></a>. Given that several years have passed since then, I think it is time to get back to the projects I mentioned and see what has happened in the intervening years - and what we can expect in the future.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> <b>The BBC adaptations (2015-2020)<br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The BBC became the 'home of Christie' on television, with adaptations of <i>Partners in Crime</i> (2015), <i>And Then There Were None</i> (2015), <i>Witness for the Prosecution</i> (2016), <i>Ordeal By Innocence</i> (2018), <i>The ABC Murders</i> (2018) and <i>The Pale Horse</i> (2020). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All except <i>Partners in Crime</i> were adapted by screenwriter Sarah Phelps, in what was collectively branded as 'an exploration of the 20th century through Christie's stories', spanning from the 1920s (<i>Witness for the Prosecution</i>) to the 1960s (<i>The Pale Horse</i>). The public reception varied, with A<i>nd Then There Were None</i> being the most widely praised by fans, critics and regular viewers alike. Other adaptations were criticized by many for their "modern" approach and somewhat free interpretation of the source material. Personally, I am very supportive of the concept and vision behind these adaptations. Phelps tried to explore societal change in the 20th century through the lens of Christie. That is a fascinating approach to adaptation, and a clever way of keeping Christie adaptations relevant to new readers and viewers alike. I do have several complaints, though, particularly the depiction and change of Poirot's back story in <i>The ABC Murders</i>, but that should not detract from the audacity of the creative vision. Unlike many other fans, I became interested in Christie's work partly because her fiction indirectly (sometimes directly) reflected the social, political and cultural issues of its time: Poirot's refugee status, the British class system, British colonies, women's position in society etc. To see adaptations that try to bring this element of her work to the fore has been a fascinating journey, both good and bad.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The less said about <i>Partners in Crime</i>, the better, I think. It should have been a great success. The timing felt right for a new approach to Tommy and Tuppence. Many fans, including me, were hoping it would herald a new age of Partners in Crime, with several series of adaptations. But it was not to be. The casting was wrong, the approach to the stories didn't work, and the viewing figures weren't good. So one series of two adaptations, <i>The Secret Adversary </i>and <i>N or M?</i>, was all we got.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The film adaptations: Crooked House (2017) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017)<br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The film adaptation of <i>Crooked House</i> came a bit out of nowhere for me. I had heard about it being in development, with a script by Julian Fellowes (of <i>Downton Abbey</i> fame), Time Rose Price and Gilles Paquet-Brenner, but somehow its release had completely passed me by. I have to admit I enjoyed both the cast and the adaptation, despite the changes that were made to the story.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> was an anticipated release. I will hopefully get back to that adaptation in greater detail in a later post. Suffice to say I was hesitant to accept a new actor approach the role of Poirot, albeit an excellent one such as Branagh, so soon after Suchet's run. I can't say he even comes close to the character of Poirot for me - there are simply too many action-packed scenes and uncharacteristic behaviour for me to be convinced.... However, I must admit that I am somewhat impressed with the attempt to update Christie for a "contemporary audience", with diversity casting, different pacing and Hollywood-level production design. I also enjoy the fact that the screenwriters seem to be borrowing character names and elements from all of Christie's canon. We'll see what the much delayed adaptation of <i>Death on the Nile</i>, scheduled for release on February 11th this year, will bring to the table.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The pastiche film: Knives Out (2019)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have to admit that I am usually critical of Christie parodies and pastiches; they rarely succeed. <i>Knives Out</i>, however, is absolutely brilliant. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film is its own thing, completely separate from Christie, but it is so clearly and lovingly inspired by her plots that you would be forgiven for mistakenly assuming that it is an adaptation. The most interesting aspect here, to me, is that the film, soon to become a franchise, demonstrates that it could be possible to adapt Christie in a modern-day setting (more about that later). <i>Knives Out</i> exists in a world that is clearly present day, but also has some timeless qualities to it, almost like a Wes Anderson film. I think a present-day Christie adaptation would be very interesting. As long as it avoids the pitfalls that <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> (2001) found itself in. That film should be deleted from film history, quite frankly. In any case, I am eagerly awaiting <i>Knives Out 2</i>, scheduled for release this year.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The 'continuation novels' by Sophie Hannah (2014-2020)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was beyond skeptical to learn that the Christie estate had asked the (admittedly brilliant) crime writer Sophie Hannah to write a new Poirot novel (with three more to follow, and counting). After all, Poirot is dead. Christie wrote <i>Curtain</i> in the 1940s partly to avoid what her family now had agreed to - a continuation after her death. Admittedly, I struggled when reading the first book. It was like reading an imitation of the character I love. I soon realized, however, that once I separated it from Christie's "voice", so to speak, I was able to enjoy both the puzzle and the approach to the character. I must also give credit to Sophie Hannah for coming up with the ingenious idea to fill in a "gap" in the Poirot timeline, 1928-1932. That makes it easier for <span class="Latn form-of lang-en comparative-form-of">nitpickety</span> fans like myself to enjoy the novels. Sophie has written <i>The Monogram Murders</i> (2014), <i>Closed Casket </i>(2016), <i>The Mystery of Three Quarters</i> (2018) and <i>The Killings at Kingfisher Hill</i> (2020) so far.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The present-day 'adaptation': Agatha Christie's Hjerson (2021)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Of all the projects that have appeared over the years, this is by far the most peculiar. I was very intrigued, but also baffled, by the announcement that a present-day television series with Agatha Christie's Ariadne Oliver's Swedish-speaking Finnish detective Sven Hjerson was in development. I just couldn't figure out how they would do it. But as a Norwegian, I was delighted that an attempt at a Nordic Christie was happening. Having watched it, I can safely say it is a thoroughly unique project. It has very little to do with Christie - I mean, how could it, given that almost no source material exists? But they have faithfully incorporated every character trait that Christie ever gave Sven Hjerson with some minor exceptions (they switched out Sibelius for some jazz music, for instance). The present-day setting works well, too. It has some of the same qualities as <i>Knives Out</i>, with a vaguely 70s inspired look. If it gets a second series, I will be excited to see where it leads.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The adventure game: Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The First Cases (2021)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the 2014 post, I mentioned that I was expecting a television series based on the early years of Poirot, as a police officer in Belgium. Well, instead we got this detective and adventure game for PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. I am not a gamer, so I will have to refer you to the sales pitch: <i>"For the very first time, players will discover a new aspect of Hercule
Poirot’s life that has never before been explored, as they experience
one of his first cases as a young police officer and detective in
pre-war Belgium. The development team has created an intriguing new and
original adventure that builds on the familiar world and iconic
character created by best-selling crime writer Agatha Christie. Fans of
the Queen of Crime’s work will easily identify key elements from her
stories, from Poirot’s ‘little grey cells’ to the intricate plotting of
the game, and in the story’s satisfying, unexpected conclusion."</i></span> </p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b> Overall thoughts - and what to expect next<br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I think it is safe to say that we have entered a new era of Christie. Whether the Christie estate is successful in their attempt to 'introduce Poirot to a new generation' is too early to say. Overall, though, I think they have made some really interesting - and at times, daring - attempts at keeping Christie relevant in an ever-evolving world. There is obviously a great deal of respect for her creations underlying much of the development. Some pitfalls have been unavoidable though (hello, <i>Partners in Crime</i>), and some attempts at backstory development are just baffling (hi, <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> and <i>The ABC Murders</i>). But other attempts have been very successful (cheers, <i>And Then There Were None</i> and <i>Agatha Christie's Hjerson</i>), and the Sophie Hannah novels are obviously a commercial success. So I think it is important for fans like myself to be supportive of the vast majority of decisions that are made, while at the same time being vocal about changes that completely undermine the legacy. Hopefully, we will have more reason to cheer than to raise a Twitter storm in coming years....</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Some upcoming adaptations have already been announced. I have mentioned <i>Death on the Nile</i>. Also in the pipeline is <i>Why Didn't They Ask Evans?</i>, an adaptation I for one am very much looking forward to. The mini-series has been written and directed by Hugh Laurie, who also stars in it. Some possible projects are in development, such as adaptations of <i>Endless Night, They Came to Baghdad</i> and <i>Witness for the Prosecution.</i> We'll see what the future brings.<br /></span></p>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-55075136854821073732022-01-08T10:55:00.011+01:002022-01-29T15:10:24.370+01:00The 10-Year Anniversary<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEge9T4dCIvWtFsaudyzZt2crPFup5BjlVDQCocpPVJr0T7EI92R_TEa8VNadCLOyIUqq7p5Ie2dnpBN0zz2bggRNVOAwM_y4puSJW-miI9zC1VvzYNlzQlp-8IuFA3YBYQqVRVNollom5AhKjr84cc2xVZ_LSJ2uqD672OX8mhqgC0i93Z07ml29BcQzQ=s3000" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2092" data-original-width="3000" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEge9T4dCIvWtFsaudyzZt2crPFup5BjlVDQCocpPVJr0T7EI92R_TEa8VNadCLOyIUqq7p5Ie2dnpBN0zz2bggRNVOAwM_y4puSJW-miI9zC1VvzYNlzQlp-8IuFA3YBYQqVRVNollom5AhKjr84cc2xVZ_LSJ2uqD672OX8mhqgC0i93Z07ml29BcQzQ=w400-h279" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">© ITV<br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Hi everyone. It has been a while. The last post on this blog was in July 2015. A lot has happened since then, in the world at large, the world of Agatha Christie, and in my personal life. This blog was - and is - a passion project. It became a hobby during my years as a student. Since then, I haven't had the time to keep it going. However, readers from all over the world have kept sending me comments, e-mails and Twitter DMs, which I am somewhat amazed by and incredibly grateful for. Thank you. I have tried my best to get back to all of you. If I haven't responded to your message, I apologize. I get the impression that the blog has become exactly what I intended it for: a source of information and discussion for all fans of the TV series. I have also noticed that several of you have used my episode-by-episode posts as a handy tool when watching or re-watching the series during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. I could not have asked for more. <br /></span><p><span style="font-size: large;">One of you pointed out to me recently that we are approaching the 10-year anniversary of this blog. Difficult to believe, at least to me, but it is absolutely true. I first published a post in April 2012. Encouraged by all the positive feedback over the years, and with the anniversary giving me the perfect excuse, I will be "resurrecting" the blog, at least temporarily. I will be adding a couple of new posts on topics you have suggested over the years. Stay tuned. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Eirik</i><br /></span></p>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-79885326581803756042015-07-12T10:42:00.001+02:002020-04-05T11:33:34.986+02:00REVIEW: Agatha Christie - The Pocket Essential by Mark Campbell (2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjoAAoDxUvDFxRu1UOqRNW3aQIvfBruzXAbuA__m7OP-kLxi9ypYxp_z9zBm1sLAz2P0Qd-KyLYQLTFKaP9U1iykdh-OJCu9zR1_hFsdTf-5WhcbRHfZp3vUgbugzjs0V2rYVKuVYrq0t/s1600/Agatha+Christie+Pocket+Essential.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjoAAoDxUvDFxRu1UOqRNW3aQIvfBruzXAbuA__m7OP-kLxi9ypYxp_z9zBm1sLAz2P0Qd-KyLYQLTFKaP9U1iykdh-OJCu9zR1_hFsdTf-5WhcbRHfZp3vUgbugzjs0V2rYVKuVYrq0t/s400/Agatha+Christie+Pocket+Essential.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">2015 is the year of Agatha Christie's 125th birthday. The Christie estate is gearing up for two new TV adaptations on BBC1: <i><a href="http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/partners-in-crime-on-the-bbc">Partners in Crime</a></i> this July (miniseries starring Tommy and Tuppence, aka David Walliams and Jessica Raine), and <i><a href="http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/filming-begins-on-agatha-christies-and-then-there">And Then There Were None</a></i> (TV film with an "all star cast"). We could also add the upcoming adaptation of <i><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kenneth-branagh-talks-direct-agatha-802791">Murder on the Orient Express</a></i> (apparently without David Suchet!), possibly to be directed by Kenneth Branagh, and the release of Sophie Hannah's <i>The Monogram Murders</i> last year, to that list. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">To coincide with the anniversary, Oldcastle Books are rereleasing a new and updated edition of Mark Campbell's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agatha-Christie-Television-featuring-Essential-ebook/dp/B00VPPW5X4/">Agatha Christie</a></i>, a 'Pocket Essential' book which examines Christie's entire body of work, as well as every English language adaptation on television, radio, stage and film (not including the not-yet-released BBC1 adaptations and the new MOTOE). Mark Campbell has written for The Independent, Midweek, Crime Time and The Dark Side. He was also one of the main contributors to the two-volume British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, and the last theatre critic for The Kentish Times.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Campbell's book is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to Christie. For some die-hard Christie fans, most of the information should be well-known. We get thorough introductions to each Christie character, including Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Parker Pyne, Harley Quin. We also get a complete checklist of Christie's work, and each character chapter offers a guide to the individual stories, with a case overview, context, and a review by Campbell. But even for die-hard fans, there should be something to get their teeth into. I enjoyed the character descriptions, as they are possibly the most concise and accurate descriptions I've seen, apart from Anne Hart's excellent character studies of Poirot and Miss Marple in the early 1990s. And it's always intriguing to read other reviews of the stories you know, to see whether you agree with them or not. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Campbell includes Christie's Mary Westmacott novels as well as her poetry, children's stories and memoirs. I shouldn't be surprised, since this claims to be a complete guide, but more often than not, books on Christie tend to focus on her crime writing career exclusively. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Since this blog focuses mainly on the Christie adaptations, particularly ITV's <i>Agatha Christie's Poirot</i>, I'm happy to say that Campbell is just as thorough when, later in the book, he turns his attention to every single adaptation of a Christie story. We get the same, handy guide to the individual adaptations, with cast, crew, premiere dates and Campbell's observations. The guide seems to be up to date as of 2015, including the final series of Poirot, Sophie Hannah's novel, and a new stage adaptation of The Secret Adversary. However, as a Poirot fan, I must admit I was somewhat disappointed Campbell didn't offer his thoughts on every single Poirot episode. Instead, we get an overall review. Still, with 70 different adaptations, that would almost amount to a separate 'Pocket Essential' in itself! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />All in all, then, Mark Campbell's Agatha Christie is an impressively complete guide to Agatha Christie's work; an essential Christie encyclopedia. The book is a perfect birthday or Christmas present for anyone who has an above average interest in all things Christie. Or those who don't know her range - from crime to thriller, adventure, poetry, romance and children's stories. I'll certainly have my copy available whenever an 'uninitiated' Christie fan stops by!</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-9261752074529473062015-07-01T12:07:00.001+02:002020-04-05T11:32:04.749+02:00The Screenwriters: Nick Dear<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/roger-crow/adapting-poirot-for-tv_b_4201190.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1y2kHDUO7yRFkZimXZHwqWTSc0ByjsIOgJXjB3bm7qKwMDQYvRAapLA2xjAeO3mLoVvQslT5kCWr71rmkw2jwNKsG1XCJmHVEBtpl6RpZ2Qk_wnG6Zrl3wfuVwtB-6Z7LCbI7CHfGHan/s400/2013-11-21-ndear3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"I was first approached to do it in 2002 I think. (...) I couldn't say Agatha Christie was very high on my reading list. I thought I was much too much of an intellectual for that. I'm now prepared to accept that I might have been too much of a snob because after a dozen years of being associated with the shows, because I have written six of them now for ITV, I think it's very classy entertainment and I'm pleased to be associated with it."</i> (Huffington Post interview, 2013)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nick Dear (1955-) wrote six adaptations for Poirot between 2003 and 2013. Outside of Poirot, he is known as a BAFTA-winning script writer (for <i>Persuasion</i>, an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, in 1995). He has also written biographical TV movies on Byron and Beethoven. In 2011, he adapted Mary Shelley's <i>Frankenstein</i> for the stage, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller (the two Sherlocks!). In other words, he was no stranger to literary adaptations when he was asked to adapt Christie's novels. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Nobody ever grieves for a minute in Christie; 10 seconds of grief, then it's onto the next murder. What we've done with them in the last 10 years is make them rather darker, existentially bleaker, and have Poirot faced sometimes with very difficult moral choices"</i> (Huffington Post interview, 2013)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear's first episode was <i>The Hollow</i>, for Series Nine (2003-2004). I know opinion is divided on whether this is a successful adaptation, but I'm rather fond of it. The novel is complex, in the sense that there's a lot of internal monologue. Dear elegantly balances the melancholy with the humour, the seriousness with the eccentricity of our central character. As the quote above shows, Dear's adaptation and that entire 2003-2004 series was the beginning of a new development in the series. I'm one of the supporters of this move. The difficult moral choices would resurface in his last adaptation, not to mention in <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> and <i>Curtain</i>, adapted by Stewart Harcourt and Kevin Elyot respectively.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"In most of the stories, the proposal is of a world that we recognise in which people behave appropriately and politely, and then very quickly discover that beneath that surface there's all kinds of mayhem." </i>(Huffington Post interview, 2013) </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">The above quotation could describe several, if not all, Dear's episodes. It also helps to explain his changes to <i>Cards on the Table</i>, which was his next adaptation, for Series Ten (2005-2006). The adaptation certainly centres on mayhem beneath the surface. I think most fans consider this adaptation a deviation too far from the source material. The episode is faithful and almost perfect up until the last half hour. I'm all for updating stories for a modern audience if it's done in a clever and almost unnoticable way, but the added gay subtext just doesn't work here, even if it provides a somewhat understandable motive for murder. Look to <i>Five Little Pigs</i> for an example of when a gay subtext really works.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />However, I enjoy the rest of the episode so much that I'm inclined to excuse this peculiar plot change. He writes brilliantly for Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker as Poirot and crime writer Ariadne Oliver (which is probably why four of his six adaptations are Ariadne/Poirot novels).</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"There's been a stipulation from ITV, who always produces it, they're always set in the 1930s. So no matter when they are written, we have to set them in the late 30s, just for that style thing that people like so much." </i>(Huffington Post interview, 2013)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear's third adaptation was <i>Mrs McGinty's Dead</i> for Series Eleven (2008). As mentioned, Dear really makes the friendship between Poirot and Mrs Oliver work. Of course, a great deal of praise should go to the actors, but Dear manages to condense the novels and make changes without losing out on the excellent chemistry between both the characters and the actors. Once again, the theme of secrets beneath the surface is prominent, and Dear effortlessly shifts the setting from the 1950s to the 1930s (see the quote above). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> <i>Three Act Tragedy</i> was Dear's next adaptation, for Series Twelve (2010). Like all (but one) Dear's scripts, it stays remarkably close to its source material. Dear manages to convey the theatricality of the plot as well as the darkening of Poirot's character (as a result of the added friendship with Sir Charles). The more I think of it, Dear is truly the main representative of the change in atmosphere and character study that occurred in the later years of the series.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"To a degree we are looking to 'modernise' the glamour of the story if you like. Not to update it. (...) I say modernise, I don't mean update the story, I mean update the grammar, and sometimes the pace. (...) It's trying not to make them look dated. They are all set in the 1930s, but we try and keep them at the speed that we like to watch TV now."</i> (Huffington Post interview, 2013)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Elephants Can Remember</i>, Dear's seventh adaptation, for Series Thirteen (2013) must have been a real challenge. It was the last Poirot novel Christie wrote, and that shows. I think the adaptation is reasonably successful. The novel is very slow-paced and rather chatty. That wouldn't do for a modern audience, as the above quote shows. It seems Dear's solution was to add the second murder investigation into the Willoughby institute, and that works surprisingly well. Most of the episode is carried by the excellent chemistry between Poirot and Ariadne, however. But the episode is surprisingly faithful, considering the circumstances.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> <i>Dead Man's Folly</i>, for Series Thirteen, was Dear's final adaptation. It's his own favourite, as stated in a recent interview, and I'm inclined to agree with him. It flows well, it has some excellent actors and an unbeatable location. Not to mention the fact that it underlines Poirot's evolving morals, seemingly 'allowing' and approving of a murder-suicide - and that's a long way away from the 'I do not approve of murder'-Poirot from the first series. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />His last adaptation is perhaps also an example of how Dear, for the most part, was gently modernising Christie's stories without making it seem to obvious (as always, Cards on the Table is the notable exception). <i>The Hollow</i> is 'sexed-up' with a very modern sex scene, but that doesn't intrude on the story and occurs is the result of an embellishment rather than a change to Christie's original. <i>Mrs McGinty's Dead</i> plays up the 'mainiac/weirdo killer' element of the murderer's character, but that's arguably a reasonable interpretation of the character. The same goes for <i>Three Act Tragedy</i>, and to a certain extent <i>Elephants Can Remember</i>. We are used to serial killers, psychopaths and maniacs in our modern crime dramas, so it's no surprise that Dear and the team decide to emphasise those elements in Christie to keep up with its audience - for better or for worse. <i>Dead Man's Folly</i>, finally, emphasises the difficult moral dilemmas in the subtext of some of Christie's later novels, and the later adaptations, but without stretching the source material too far. </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-22422200402146866012015-06-12T09:52:00.001+02:002020-04-05T11:43:02.867+02:00The Screenwriters: Guy Andrews<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBj8niXERXMzcsGSu6u2ka0O61OsZLTsP5i02XiBcIGcBmP-kP-lWUYcQTdm_wQ2vCWjIPoCSB8_TPKPGcz1bC3Ifwtc4mser_g_KXo5uJIxK0usP6xmH3IUvZUzaZQorBfYvRMoKI3vqX/s1600/Guy+Andrews.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBj8niXERXMzcsGSu6u2ka0O61OsZLTsP5i02XiBcIGcBmP-kP-lWUYcQTdm_wQ2vCWjIPoCSB8_TPKPGcz1bC3Ifwtc4mser_g_KXo5uJIxK0usP6xmH3IUvZUzaZQorBfYvRMoKI3vqX/s400/Guy+Andrews.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The book, by Agatha's own admission, was not one of her favourites, and we've taken some monstrous liabilities with it."</i> (Behind the scenes: The Mystery of the Blue Train, 2006)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Guy Andrews wrote four scripts for Poirot: T<i>he Mystery of the Blue Train</i> and <i>Taken at the Flood</i> for Series Ten (2005-2006), <i>Appointment with Death</i> for Series Eleven (2008), and <i>The Labours of Hercules</i> for Series Thirteen (2013). He is known for the mini-series <i>Lost in Austen</i>, <i>Blandings</i> and <i>Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement</i>. The first two demonstrates that he is entrusted with adapting other literary classics (Jane Austen and P. G. Woodehouse), and in <i>Lost in Austen</i> I'd say he succeeds, at least within its genre of television. <i>Prime Suspect</i>, the award-winning and exceptional series starring Helen Mirren, proves that he masters the crime genre, and his episode is well done (Prime Suspect 5 won and Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />I have a very conflicted view of Guy Andrews' screenwriting abilities on Poirot, as my episode-by-episode reviews can testify to. The quotation above sums up his approach to the source material - 'monstrous liabilities'. <i>Appointment with Death</i> is easily my least favourite Poirot episode (or at least it would have been if it hadn't been saved by an excellent soundtrack, location and production design). <i>Taken at the Flood</i> is passable, but the whole point of the title and the murder is lost in transition from page to screen. <i>The Mystery of the Blue Train</i> is, again, simply saved by great actors and a beautiful location. Only <i>The Labours of Hercules</i> manages to succeed, and I think that's simply because 'monstrous liabilities' was the only thing we could expect. I'm merely impressed by the fact that he actually managed to create something that almost makes sense and tie up some loose ends in Poirot's life.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">However, I say I'm conflicted, and that's because I realise that he's been given some of the most challenging adaptation tasks. <i>Appointment with Death</i> is the only exception, really, and I offer no apologies for that particular adaptation. Yes, it's filled with internal monologues and overheard conversations, but look at what Nick Dear managed to do with <i>The Hollow</i>, an intensely internal novel, or Kevin Elyot, with <i>Five Little Pigs</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, back to the adaptation challenge and why Andrews should be allowed at least a little leeway. <i>The Mystery of the Blue Train</i> is not one of Christie's best novels, and the team had already adapted the short story on which the plot is based, 'The Plymouth Express'. So changes were, indeed, necessary. Without any knowledge of Christie's novel, the adaptation works, for the most part, for a 'modern' audience. And I'm glad he took the opportunity to emphasise Poirot's increasing loneliness by the end of the episode (though I feel certain that's Suchet's doing). <i>Taken at the Flood </i>suffers from ITV's insistence on keeping the adaptations in the 1930s, which meant the war background was lost in Andrews' script. So the fact that it doesn't completely work isn't entirely Andrews' fault. And once again, he manages to develop Poirot's character by emphasising the hints of Catholicism in the source material (but I think we can thank (?) Suchet for that, too).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Labours of Hercules</i> was the surprise of the bunch for me. Remember, this is a collection of twelve more or less unrelated short stories - an almost impossible task for any script writer and possibly the most difficult of all the Poirot adaptation (with the exception of <i>The Big Four</i>, perhaps). Yes, the Mexian stand-off in the denoument scene and the melodramatic final lines between Poirot and Marrascaud ('I shall not hide' etc) are over the top. And it's disappointing that so many of the short stories are left out. Not to mention the fact that it stretches credibility more than a little that all these people just happen to be in the same hotel (but, to be fair, so does the premise that Poirot just happens to stumble upon a series of cases, in the right order, that resemble the mythological Labours). However, as I've tried to demonstrate in my episode-by-episode review, the atmosphere and character study more than makes up for any plot niggles, in my view.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">To summarise, Andrews is not my favourite of the Poirot script writers. He takes too many risks and the changes tend not to work - unfortunately. But his adaptation of <i>The Labours of Hercules </i>manages to redeem his reputation somewhat, and I think he should be given some leeway for being handed some of the more impossible novels. </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-59538387715330227812015-06-07T20:38:00.002+02:002020-04-05T11:53:14.060+02:00The Screenwriters: Anthony Horowitz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9868313/Anthony-Horowitz-on-shopping-for-greetings-cards.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja8Lc3bmbM6_SWqFP6EbHjwj1g6JvnSi28Y5YOuCETbLo8oZIxjucyVMhX3-WGqd2FDhCjRT4kHyiThuED-o-Lx_Z1OlulmmfdWSvmzGz3KmOqaTKY32VdiZtz2WmN2ga0caR0jfygIMSR/s400/horowitz_2481313b.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9868313/Anthony-Horowitz-on-shopping-for-greetings-cards.html">(Photo: Andrew Crowley, The Telegraph)</a></i></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Anthony Horowitz (1955-) wrote eleven adaptations for <i>Agatha Christie's Poirot</i> between 1991 and 2001. His body of work is too long to summarise here, but he is a miracle man. Where does he get his energy from? In addition to Poirot, he created and wrote nearly all the scripts for the exceptional <i>Foyle's War</i> (2002-2013) and wrote the first few scripts for <i>Midsomer Murders</i> (1997-). He also wrote and created three other successful crime dramas; <i>Murder in Mind</i> (2001-2003, with a significant role for David Suchet in the first episode "Teacher"), <i>Collision</i> (2009) and <i>Injustice</i> (2011). Outside of television, he is a renowned author of young adult novels, and has written for both the Arthur Conan Doyle / Sherlock Holmes (<i>The House of Silk</i>, <i>Moriarty</i>) and the Ian Fleming / James Bond (Trigger Mortis) estates. So he is by no means a stranger to the crime genre.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>"Brian Eastman [the original Poirot producer] was thinking of doing a series of Maigret and they brought me in as a possible writer, and when that didn't happen, I ended up writing scripts for Poirot. Actually, I'm much more of an Agatha Christie than Georges Simenon fan. I first encountered her as a student in my gap year and read them while I was travelling around the world – I think I read about 30 of them in one long journey. Why be snooty about her? She is what she is, which is a wonderful constructor of puzzles."</i> (</span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/10/anthony-horowitz-poirot-tv">The Guardian interview, 2013</a><span style="color: #666666;">).</span> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;">"<i>With Hastings I used to have a competition with Brian (Eastman) to see have many times I could get the words 'Good Lord!' into the script. Hastings would always hear something; Poirot would make an announcement, and Hastings would say 'Good Lord!'. Two or three times in one script was good going, I used to think."</i> (Super Sleuths, ITV, 2006)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Horowitz was first brought in to adapt four short stories for Series Three (1991). These included 'The Million Dollar Bond Robbery', 'The Double Clue', 'The Mystery of the Spanish Chest' and 'The Theft of the Royal Ruby' (which he co-wrote with Clive Exton). Horowitz proved that he understood the dynamic between the main characters, and, for the most part, the right balance between humour and seriousness. In general terms, the changes he makes to the short stories are sensible and often an improvement on the source material (I'm particularly fond of 'The Double Clue' as an adaptation). Interestingly, Horowitz decides to tie some of the stories in with real historical events, as seen in 'The Million Dollar Bond Robbery' (the virgin voyage of the Queen Mary) and 'The Theft of the Royal Ruby' (the actual Prince Farouk of Egypt). This ties in neatly with his work method on Foyle's War, where almost (?) every episode is based on real life events. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It was not until Series Five (1993) that Horowitz returned to write his final three short story adaptations; 'The Yellow Iris', 'Dead Man's Mirror' and 'Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan'. Personally, I'm not as fond of these episodes as I am of the ones I discussed above. 'Dead Man's Mirror' is a difficult short story to adapt, simply because of its length and structure, but Horowitz does a decent job and it does contribute to the gradual 'darkening' of the series. 'Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan' is certainly one of the funnier episodes of the series. I did a google search to research what casual viewers of Poirot thought of Horowitz's episodes, and most seemed to enjoy the fact that they had more humour in them than other adaptations. I would certainly agree that the humour works, but it can come dangerously close to making Poirot a 'buffoon', as Suchet describes it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">'The Yellow Iris' is special, in the sense that it distances itself significantly from the source material. Horowitz enjoyed the process:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>"In an episode of mine, Yellow Irises (sic), which takes place entirely inside a West End restaurant, with a waiter trying to poison somebody at the table, we then managed to turn that into a story about a South American coup connected with some kind of scam with oil prices. In other words, the body of the story had absolutely nothing to do with this actual short story that Agatha Christie had written! Actually, it was an episode that I like very much; it has David Suchet as Poirot facing a firing squad at one particular moment, so that was sort of nice to write." </i>(Super Sleuths, ITV, 2006)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">I actually like that episode, despite the plot changes. The oil scam is reminiscent of some of Horowitz's <i>Foyle's War</i> episodes, in that it takes inspiration from historical events. His changes are based mostly on other events in the Poirot canon (like Poirot going to South America to visit Hastings). But I can understand how some fans might find the changes difficult to accept. Suchet felt the need to explain in his autobiography:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>'Thinking about The Yellow Iris now, it reminds me that her greatest fans sometimes object when we depart from her original story in the television films - and they write to tell me so. I always reply by telling them that I am terribly sorry, but not all of her stories adapt easily to the small screen, they are simply too slight, which is why we describe them as 'based on' her originals. I think her die-hard fans forgive us for the adaptations, but I do understand how they feel.' </i>(Poirot and Me 2013, p. 140).</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Actually, I think that's one of Horowitz's great strengths. Several of the short stories he adapted are slight and need embellishment to fit the 50 minutes time frame of an episode. Others are lengthy and need to be condensed. Horowitz usually manages both while remaining, in essence, true to Christie's plot devices and way of constructing a crime.<br /><br /> For Series Six (1995-1996), Horowitz was brought back to adapt two novels, <i>Hickory Dickory Dock</i> and <i>Murder on the Links</i>. With the former, he once again decided to tie the story in with a real historical event, the Jarrow March in October 1936. Now, having tried to create a working chronology of the episodes, I must admit I still can't quite forgive the discrepancy with other adaptations (and within the adaptation itself!). But Horowitz is know for that, too. He messed up some of the back story details in his own Foyle's War as well. But don't get me wrong, that has absolutely no impact on the adaptation per se, it's just one of those quibbles nerds/fans like me tend to highlight... (Sorry, Anthony). <br /><br />Having said that, I do think he does an acceptable job with <i>Hickory Dickory Dock</i> (the mouse motif of the episode is really annoying, but that isn't his fault). The novel is a challenge, because it's one of the first post-war novels to be adapted to the 1930s setting and transporting a student hostel with its diverse residents to the 30s is essentially an impossible task. <br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><i>Murder on the Links</i> is, by and large, a great episode. Yes, I know some fans dislike the newsreel sequence, but apart from that I really do believe in the love story of Bella and Hastings, and Horowitz makes only minor changes to the novel. <br /><br />Horowitz's final Poirot scripts were <i>Lord Edgware Dies</i> for Series Seven (2000) and <i>Evil Under the Sun</i> for Series Eight (2001). I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm not particularly fond of any of the episodes from those two series. Perhaps it is because the team seemed to be running out of steam and the adaptations started becoming more formulaic. However, both scripts offer very capable adaptations of Christie's novels, and it's obvious that Horowitz knows Christie inside out. Curiously, he decides to add an Argentinean restaurant in <i>Evil Under the Sun</i>. In fact, Argentina seems to run as a subplot through several of his adaptations. Hastings mentions his dream of a farm in South America in 'The Double Clue', Poirot goes to South America in 'The Yellow Iris', Hastings returns from Argentina with the farm in financial difficulties in <i>Lord Edgware Dies</i> and he opens the restaurant in <i>Evil under the Sun</i>. I'm not entirely sure that was deliberate, apart from the fact that Hastings had to come back from his life with Bella for the remaining adaptations. But it's a curious fact, nonetheless. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>"I think it's fair to say that Agatha Christie had a serious influence on my work and I look up to her to this day." </i>(The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduction by Anthony Horowitz, p. xi) </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #666666;"><i>"The detective-sidekick relationship is a very helpful one and has been in use ever since Conan Doyle created it. Think Morse and Lewis, Barnaby and Troy or even Foyle and Sam." </i>(The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduction by Anthony Horowitz, p. xiv)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Personally, I see several links between Poirot and <i>Foyle's War</i>. For instance, I'm not surprised to see Horowitz admit that the relationship between Foyle and Sam mirrors that of Poirot and Hastings. In fact, I would suggest Horowitz's family unit (Foyle, Sam, Milner) mirrors Exton's family unit in Poirot (Poirot, Hastings, Japp/Lemon). Another similarity between the two series is the humour and warmth that Horowitz brings to his adaptations. He deserves as much credit as Exton for creating the family dynamic and the familiarity and warmth of the central characters in Poirot. (I must point out, though, that the final scene in <i>Hickory Dickory Dock</i>, between Japp and Poirot, really doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a play on words (i.e. their modern meaning) or simply a way to display Poirot's distaste for English cooking, but I do cringe a little every time a watch that particular scene. <br /><br />In summation, it's fair to say that Anthony Horowitz left a distinct mark on the Poirot series. He contributed to producer Brian Eastman's main purpose for the show; to give it a definite time and place (linking it to historical events) and create a 'family' and a main character dynamic for viewers to grow fond of (using humour and catchphrases - Good Lord!). With <i>Foyle's War</i> and his many other successful projects in later years, he has proved that he is a crime writer in his own right, beyond scriptwriting for Poirot. </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-61963607534110148062014-07-29T21:53:00.002+02:002020-04-05T11:58:02.910+02:00The Screenwriters: Clive Exton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Clive Exton (1930-2007) was the principal screenwriter for most of the original Poirot series. He also oversaw a number of scripts as a script consultant. For an overview of his career, see <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1560725/Clive-Exton.html">this obituary</a> in The Telegraph. Other notable works, much in the same vein as <i>Poirot</i>, include <i>Jeeves and Wooster</i> (1990-1993), the P. G. Wodehouse stories, with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie), and <i>Rosemary and Thyme</i> (2003-2006), a television series about two female gardening detectives. Exton wrote all 23 episodes of <i>Jeeves and Wooster</i> at the same time as he was doing Poirot. They are similar, in some ways. Poirot is set in the 1930s, Jeeves and Wooster in the 1920s. Both sets of adaptations have a lot of humour in them, and they both centre on dynamic duos. You could even argue that Rosemary & Thyme follows the same pattern. In any case, that is certainly a very Christie-esque series. However, I should point out that Exton's work as a screenwriter was much broader than just gentle Sunday night television; the obituary in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/aug/21/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries">The Guardian</a> focuses on 'his highly individual mixture of black comedy and oblique social criticism'. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Writing about <i>Poirot </i>and <i>Jeeves and Wooster</i>, The Telegraph states in the obituary that 'both adaptations reflected his love of precision in language and his understanding of how people express themselves, as well as his ability to spin out and knit together plot lines from often scanty material'.That is certainly true of his Poirot adaptations, on more than one occasion. <br /><br />In total, Exton wrote 20 scripts for <i>Poirot</i> (1989-2001). I won't go into detail about every adaptation (have a look at my episode-by-episode posts for that), but I would like to give an overview of his adaptations, and comment on a few of them. <br /><br />For Series One, he adapted 'The Adventure of the Clapham Cook', 'Murder in the Mews', 'The Adventure of Johnny Waverley', 'Problem at Sea', 'The Incredible Theft' and 'The Dream'. Overall, the adaptations stay impressively close to their source material. This was before the screenwriters felt the need to add lengthy chase scenes or make changes to murderers, motives and plot essentials. Exton does, however, initiate a significant deviation from Christie by introducing the Poirot 'family'; Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon appear in nearly every episode until Series Eight. He also expands their back stories, with an added car interest for Hastings, and eventually an interest in the occult for Miss Lemon. In the 2007 Super Sleuths documentary, Exton explains: 'I do think, for a television series, you need a basic family unit, whether it's a family or not; people who interact with each other. Also, it's very useful, for a not very clever writer like me, to have somebody for Poirot to confide in.' <br /><br />Personally, I think Exton made the right decision. ITV intended Poirot to become its Sunday night drama 'flagship'. To make people tune in week after week, there had to be something more than just Christie's murder plots to make the nation (and later the world) tune in. His approach to the main cast, 'the big four', also seemed in tune with the short stories on which the early adaptations were based. Christie's short stories are generally much lighter than her novels. Personally, I'm also convinced that Exton and the Poirot team, like Christie, were inspired by the successful Jeremy Brett <i>Sherlock Holmes</i> series, in which the detective is surrounded by Watson, Mrs Hudson and Inspector Lestrade. <br /><br /> For Series Two, Exton did Peril at End House, 'The Veiled Lady', 'The Cornish Mystery', 'Double Sin', 'The Kidnapped Prime Minister' and 'The Adventure of the Western Star'. After the success of the first series, the Poirot team had decided to make some changes. Most importantly, Suchet wanted to make Poirot more human. He explains the process: 'Clive Exton's script certainly helped me. For he too wanted a little more humour in the new series, to make Poirot a bit more moving. It was an excellent idea, even if I sometimes had to restrain him from going too far towards making the little Belgian a comic character, for that certainly was not the Poirot I knew and wanted to portray. But at the same time, Clive also brightened both Hastings and Japp, making them a little less stiff. All this helped to make the films feel more affectionate towards Poirot than some of the first series. (Poirot and Me 2013 p. 77). I suppose nearly all of the above episodes had more humour in them, from Poirot in disguise to the Belgian film star Marie Marvelle. Generally speaking, Exton's scripts are faithful, but some of the additions (or time slot filler) doesn't always work. Suchet admits: 'I'm afraid I was never really happy with Double Sin, The Adventure of the Cheap Flat and The Adventure of the Western Star. They all seemed a little flat to me, a little too one-dimensional compared to the others.' (p. 84-85). However, Exton's adaptation of Peril at End House works particularly well, and I notice that it has a tendency to pop up on people's lists of their favourite episodes. <br /><br />For Series Three, Exton adapted only two episodes; <i>The Mysterious Affair at Styles</i>, and 'The Theft of the Royal Ruby' (co-written with Anthony Horowitz). The Styles adaptation is near-perfect, with very understandable changes and a genuine respect for the source material. The same could (almost) be said of 'The Theft of the Royal Ruby', but here we have another of those slightly annoying chase scenes added.<br /><br />The two novel adaptations that followed for Series Four are interesting, in more ways than one. Both mark a significant shift towards darker material and darker adaptations that would eventually take over from the cosy family unit. <i>The ABC Murders</i> is a particularly successful adaptation (though, again, with an added chase scene at the denouement); Suchet frequently refers to it as his personal favourite. The serial killer plot, and particularly the way Exton adapts it to the screen, significantly darkens the series. The second novel, <i>One, Two, Buckle My Shoe</i>, opens with a particularly brutal murder scene and has an eerier atmosphere throughout. For those who claim Exton was stuck in his family unit, then, his Series Four adaptations should prove essential viewing. Likewise for those who claim the shift towards darkness in Series Nine was sudden.<br /><br />For Series Five, Exton adapted 'The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb' and 'The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman'. Both adaptations work, particularly the first, but I think that is more due to its setting than its plot. The second is, yet again, weakened by a lengthy chase scene. Why Exton insisted on adding these scenes I will never understand. Obviously, they are perfect padding to slight stories, but they do seem more and more as an 'easy' way out. He makes up for this in his adaptation for Series Six, though. Hercule Poirot's Christmas is classic Christie, and the adaptation is generally quite successful.<br /><br />When Poirot returned after its four-year hiatus for Series Seven, Exton seemed to have lost his way somewhat. <i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i> has some interesting points in its favour (for instance, I'm very fond of the opening lines from Poirot on the brutality of humanity), but the denouement doesn't work at all, and I'm not convinced the voice-over was the best way to keep Christie's ingenious twist. Suchet says of the episode: 'I felt it lacked something. I am not sure exactly why; perhaps it had something to do with my expectations being too high. The denouement was exciting and unexpected - it should have been marvellous, but somehow, there was something missing.' (Poirot and Me p. 187). Unfortunately, <i>Murder in Mesopotamia</i> for Series Eight is another questionable endeavour. The addition of Hastings feels contrived, and the story itself seems as though it has run out of steam.<br /><br /> In summation, then, how could I describe Exton's legacy? Despite his tendency to use chase scenes as padding, and his sometimes contrived attempts at keeping 'the unit', I remain convinced he was the right man for the job when the series began. For one, he was a Christie fan, and handled her most 'classic' stories with great care. More importantly, to establish the family unit was an ingenious move; I'm sure that helped establish Agatha Christie's Poirot as the phenomenon it is today (Hastings, Miss Lemon and Japp have almost become cult figures!). </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-25089282481885789442014-07-28T23:05:00.001+02:002020-04-05T14:53:01.238+02:00The Complete Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Some people tend to see Poirot as one- or two-dimensional, but those who do are almost always the ones who have never read the books. If you do read them, you realise at once that there are certainly three dimensions to his character. And every time I played him, I tried to bring those extra elements of Poirot's character to the surface, reflecting the different dimensions revealed in Dame Agatha's own stories about him."</i> (David Suchet, Poirot and Me p. 86, 2013)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is a truth universally acknowledged (to borrow a famous first sentence) that David Suchet spent years perfecting his performance as Hercule Poirot. He read all the stories and compiled a character dossier, a copy of which was included in his memoir <i>Poirot and Me </i>(2013). He has repeatedly stated that he aimed to stay true to the character as Christie wrote him. For me, Suchet fully managed to inhabit that character, and I find it impossible to pick up a Poirot story and not envisage his Poirot and hear his voice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Under the headline "The Complete Poirot", I will examine, in the coming weeks and months, the development of our all-time favourite main character in Christie's stories, and discuss passages or characteristics that are (a) included in Suchet's dossier, or (b) present in the television adaptations themselves. The books will be discussed in chronological order (based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercule_Poirot_in_literature#Books_in_chronological_order">this Wikipedia list</a>), rather than in publication order (although they largely overlap). <br /><br />Let's begin with Poirot's very first case, <i>The Mysterious Affair at Styles</i>, published in 1920. Page references are from the HarperCollins collection <i>The Complete Battles of Hastings</i>,<i> Volume I, </i>published in 2003.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"I came across a man in Belgium once, a very famous detective, and he quite inflamed me. He was a marvellous little fellow. He used to say that all good detective work was a mere matter of method. </i>[...]<i> He was a funny little man, a great dandy, but wonderfully clever."</i> (pp. 10-11)</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Poirot was an extraordinary-looking man. He was hardly more than five feet four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man, who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police force. As a detective, his flair had been extraordinary, and he had achieved triumphs by unravelling some of the most baffling cases of the day." </i>(p. 20)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">These are the first descriptions of Poirot and his appearance in any of Christie's books, courtesy of Arthur Hastings. It seems unnecessary to list the similarities between Poirot and Suchet's portrayal on this point, but I'll do it briefly. There is no denying that Poirot is 'a great dandy', certainly from an English point of view. I suppose that would go under note 22 on Suchet's list: 'Very particular about his appearance', as well as note 33: 'His appearance (including hair) is always immaculate. His nails groomed and shined.' According to the IMdB, Suchet's height is 5' 7'', which is very close to Poirot's 5' 4''. He has an egg-shaped head (enhanced in the particular adaptation of this story, I notice, by the hat (see above)).<span style="font-size: large;"> Note 48 on Suchet's list reads: 'Can't abide being or
feeling untidy. A speck of dust is "as painful as a bullet wound".' This
refers to the quote above, 'I believe a speck of dust would have caused
him more pain than a bullet wound'. It's a characteristic that will
flourish both in later Poirot stories and in later Suchet adaptations.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">It
would be careless of me not to mention the limp, Poirot's war injury.
This is one of only two characteristics (as far as I know) that Suchet
hasn't included in his portrayal (the other is, of course, the green
colour of his eyes). In a BBC Radio 4 interview in 2012, Suchet
explained why this is the case: 'The only thing I've never externalised
for Poirot is, in fact, in the original books, he has a limp, and it was
a choice of my first producer in the series that I shouldn't limp,
because if the series goes on too long, it may become a disadvantage! I
actually wanted to, so that's the only aspect of Poirot I go on record
for saying that I haven't actually achieved; to find his literal war
wound.'</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'As we drove through the village, I remembered that I wanted some stamps, so we pulled up at the post office. As I came out again, I cannoned into a little man who was just entering. I drew aside and apologised, when suddenly, with a loud exclamation, he clasped me in his arms and kissed me warmly. 'Mon ami Hastings!' he cried. 'It is indeed mon ami Hastings!' </i>(p. 19)</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Suddenly clasping me in his arms, he kissed me warmly on both cheeks, and before I had recovered from my surprise ran headlong from the room.' </i>(p. 149)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">A few months back, I was interviewed by Norwegian public radio, and one of the questions I was asked was 'When did Poirot become a 'hugger', someone who displays affection?'. The question was raised in response to Poirot's reunion with Japp in <i>The Big Four</i>. I replied that Poirot, both in the books and the television series, is no stranger to displaying affection, particularly towards people he cares about. Obviously, though, as Suchet points out in note 77, he 'rarely shows his emotions'. In the 2006 <i>Poirot & Me</i> documentary, Suchet referred to the first scene, and the meeting with Japp in <i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i>, as his favourite moments with Hugh Fraser and Philip Jackson. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #666666;"><i>'Yes, indeed,' said Poirot seriously. 'I know Mademoiselle Cynthia. It is by the charity of that good Mrs Inglethorp that I am here'. [...] 'Yes, my friend, she had kindly extended hospitality to seven of my country-people who, alas, are refugees from their native land. We Belgians will always remember her with gratitude.' </i>(p. 20)</span></span><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'I looked at the extraordinary little man, divided between annoyance and amusement. He was so tremendously sure of himself. As though he read my thoughts, he nodded gently. 'Oh yes, mon ami, I would do what I say.' He got up and laid his hand on my shoulder. His physiognomy underwent a complete change. Tears came into his eyes. 'In all this, you see, I think of the poor Mrs. Inglethorp who is dead. She was not extravagantly loved - no. But she was very good to us Belgians - I owe her a debt.'</i> (p. 72)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">These two quotes refer to Poirot's background as a war
refugee. This is rarely referenced in the series (I can only think of
'The Double Clue' and <i>The Clocks</i>), but it plays centre stage in the <i>Styles</i> adaptation.</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'A window above me was cautiously opened, and Poirot himself looked out. He gave an exclamation of surprise at seeing me.' </i>(p. 31)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">In <i>Poirot and Me</i>
(2013), Suchet discusses to the way this particular scene was adapted
for the screen: 'It is to my eternal regret that this is one occasion
when I totally let down the man I had become so close to. In the film, I
open the window and look out without brushing my hair before doing so.
Now, Poirot, the man I knew and loved, would never, ever, have done
that. He would have brushed his hair carefully, no matter how urgent the
knocking on his front door. To this day, I regret that I didn't brush
my hair before opening the window. Every time I see that scene, I feel
I've let him down.' (p. 97). So this is a very obvious breach of his
mantra - true to Agatha. However, this explanation should more than make
up for it. The quote further underlines his attention to detail and
care for the character.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>'Poirot smiled kindly on me. 'The mind is confused? Is it not so? Take time, mon ami. You are agitated; you are excited - it is but natural. Presently, when we are calmer, we will arrange the facts, neatly, each in his proper place. We will examine - and reject. Those of importance we will put on one side; those of no importance, pouf!' - he screwed up his cherub-like face, and puffed comically enough - 'blow them away!'</i> (p. 32) </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>One fact leads to another - so we continue. Does the next fit in with that? A merveille! Good! We can proceed. This next little fact - no! Ah, that is curious! There is something missing - a link in the chain that is not there. We examine. We search. And that little curious fact, that possibly paltry little detail that will not tally, we put it here!' He made an extravagant gesture with his hand. 'It is significant! It is tremendous!'</i> (p. 32)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">These two quotes illustrate Poirot's methodical approach
to detective work. The first was even lifted straight from the page and
onto the screen. Suchet's Poirot approaches every case in much the same
way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>'He was carefully engaged in brushing his coat before
putting it on, and seemed wholly engrossed in the task.' (...) He opened
a drawer, and took out a small dispatch-case, then turned to me.' </i>(p.
32)</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">See Suchet's Note 72: 'Always brushes his coat before
venturing outside. A clothes brush is nearby'. The dispatch-case was
included in the adaptation, too. It was never used again, though Poirot
did use a similar one in the adaptation of <i>The Big Four</i>, as he examined the chess board.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Excuse me, mon ami, you dressed in haste, and your tie is on one side. Permit me.' </i>(p. 32) </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'He's such a dear little man! But he is funny. He made me take the brooch out of my tie the other day, and put it in again, because he said it wasn't straight' </i>(Cynthia to Hastings, p. 124)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Suchet's Note 84: 'He often straightens Hastings' tie. He will remove a lady's brooch and replace it because it was put in crooked (M. Affair at Styles - Cynthia p. 130)'. See also Note 86: 'Cynthia from M. Affair at Styles says: 'He's such a dear little man! But he is funny.'. Both qualities would re-appear in later stories and adaptations.</span> <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Poirot stopped for a moment, and gazed sorrowfully over
the beautiful expanse of park, still glittering with morning dew. 'So
beautiful, so beautiful, and yet, the poor family, plunged in sorrow,
prostrated with grief.'</i> (p. 33) </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a small glimpse of the darkness to the character, that would later be explored in more detail by Suchet.</span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'He rose from his knees, and walked slowly across to the
mantelpiece, where he stood abstractedly fingering the ornaments, and
straightening them - a trick of his when he was agitated.' </i>(p. 37)</span></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Poirot
had walked over to the mantelpiece. He was outwardly calm, but I
noticed his hand, which from long force of habit were mechanically
straightening the spill vases on the mantelpiece, were shaking
violently.</i>' (p. 64)</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Suchet's Note 31: 'A PASSION for tidiness and
will always straighten objects if crooked or unsymmetrical.' Of course,
as Hastings points out in the quote, this is particularly the case when
he is agitated. Suchet's Poirot does it a lot, especially in the later
episodes. Nearly every interview takes place in a drawing-room by a fire
place so that he can straighten the objects! </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Finally, he poured a few drops of the cocoa into a test
tube, sealing it up carefully. His next proceeding was to take out a
little notebook. 'We have found in this room', he said, writing busily,
'six points of interest.'</i> (p. 37)</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">See Suchet's Note 30:
'Sometimes uses a pocket notebook'. Suchet uses a notebook in the
episode.The test tube is an example of Poirot's more forensic approach
in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. In later years, he would declare his
disdain for tangible evidence.</span> </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNEeD0GN2-kuM5lBUwCccell2EjR2YDHhainXGKy-3a_YAaltc7dGMPZsXJl8Pbgrw5P9q_L2UeraIay2JcYdcm2ZptsMh2cqd17_OJuzRh8V6_eQdue-IAFdwRPOAbg_9445QiB1J2Pzm/s1600/poirot+flower+bed.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1193" height="481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNEeD0GN2-kuM5lBUwCccell2EjR2YDHhainXGKy-3a_YAaltc7dGMPZsXJl8Pbgrw5P9q_L2UeraIay2JcYdcm2ZptsMh2cqd17_OJuzRh8V6_eQdue-IAFdwRPOAbg_9445QiB1J2Pzm/s640/poirot+flower+bed.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From "The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">'He had stepped outside the french window, and was standing, apparently lost in admiration, before the various shaped flower beds. 'Admirable!' he murmured. 'Admirable! What symmetry! Observe the crescent; and those diamonds - their neatness rejoices the eye. The spacing of the plants, also, is perfect.' </span></i><span style="font-size: large;">(p. 40)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Suchet's Note 12: 'Likes neatness - can't tolerate a mess or anything disorderly'. Suchet's Poirot frequently refers to the symmetry of his surroundings. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'In her attitude towards Poirot, she was inclined to be suspicious, but he soon broke down her defences. He drew forward a chair. 'Pray be seated mademoiselle' [...] Poirot looked at her keenly. 'My good Dorcas, it is necessary that I should know every detail of that quarrel as fully as possible. Do not think you are betraying your mistress's secrets. Your mistress lies dead, and it is necessary that we should know it all - if we are to avenge her. Nothing can bring her back to life, but we do hope, if there has been foul play, to bring the murderer to justice. </i>(p. 41)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">The quote above illustrates Note 61: 'Very good with servants and working classes. Never patronises them'. A similar scenario can be found in 'The Adventure of the Clapham Cook', both the story and the adaptation. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Poirot observed me with quietly twinkling eyes. 'You are not pleased with me, mon ami?' </span></i><span style="font-size: large;">(p. 48)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Note 17: 'A great "Twinkler". Has very "twinkly eyes" (green!!)'. Suchet based his performance in the early series on this particular characteristic. His Poirot would be charismatic, friendly and likeable (despite of his other character traits). Other characteristics would become more important in later years, but Suchet's Poirot never lost his twinkle. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Oh, lá lá! That miserable cocoa! cried Poirot flippantly. He laughed with apparent enjoyment, raising his arms to heaven in mock despair, in what I could not but consider the worst possible taste.'</i> (p. 49-50)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Again, Suchet's Note 77 serves as an illustration: 'Rarely shows his emotions and yet dislikes the English reserve. Sometimes though with his arms raised he will utter "Oh lá lá"!'. However, unless I am mistaken, Suchet never makes use of this particular exclamation in the television series. But certain exclamations of joy are evident in the series on momentous occasions (typically an 'ah!' followed by raised arms and a smile). </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Chut! no more now!' (p. 54) <br />'Tcha! Tcha! You argue like a child!' </i>(p. 99)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Note 80 on Suchet's list: 'WIll utter "CHUT!" instead of "Ssh"' and Note 47: 'When dissatisfied, restless, frustrated or angry will make the sound of a cat sneezing "Tchat".' The former is not a particularly common occurrence in the series, but the latter can be observed in several of the books and adaptations.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>'<span style="color: #666666;">But what was it?' 'Ah!' cried Poirot, with a gesture of anger. 'That I do not know! [...] And 1' - his anger burst forth freely - 'miserable animal that I am! I guessed nothing! I have behaved like an imbecile! [...] Ah, triple pig!' </span></i><span style="color: #666666;">(p. 64)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Both in Styles and in later adaptations, this character trait would be displayed. Suchet explains in the 2006 documentary: 'Very often, both in the books and in our series, you see Poirot very nearly getting it wrong. I suppose it's one of the few times that you really see Poirot getting emotional. When he does get it wrong (...) he gets very angry with himself, and calls himself an idiot and an imbecile (...) which is something completely out of character, because he would never normally admit to this sort of thing. (...) Poirot does it, because that's his greatest crime to himself; getting it wrong.'</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">'As we walked briskly away from the house, I glanced at him more than once. I had often before noticed that, if anything excited him, his eyes turned green like a cat's. They were shining like emeralds now. 'My friend', he broke out at last, 'I have a little idea, a very strange, and probably utterly impossible idea. And yet - it fits in.' </span></i><span style="font-size: large;">(p. 66)</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>I was opening my lips, when Poirot stopped me with a gesture of his hand. 'Not now, not now, mon ami. I have need of reflection. My mind is in some disorder - which is not well.' For about ten minutes he sat in dead silence, perfectly still, except for several expressive motions of his eyebrows, and all the time his eyes grew steadily greener. At last he heaved a deep sigh. 'It is well. The bad moment has passed. Now all is arranged and classified. One must never permit confusion. </i>(p. 71)</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">'Still frowning, he went across to the desk and took out a
small pack of patience cards. Then he drew up a chair to the table, and
to my utter amazement, began solemnly to build card houses! My jaw
dropped involuntarily, and he said at once:</span> 'No, mon ami, I am not in my second childhood! I steady my nerves, that is all. This employment requires precision of the fingers. With precision of the fingers goes precision of the brain. And never have I needed that more than now! </i>[...] <i>I can build card houses seven storeys high, but I cannot' - thump - 'find' - thump - 'that last link of which I spoke to you' </i>[...]<i> It is done - so! By placing - one card - on another - with mathematical - precision!'</i></span></span><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> I watched the car house rising under his hands, storey by storey. He never hesitated or faltered. It was really almost like a conjouring trick.'</i> (p. 148)</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'I stopped suddenly. For Poirot, uttering a hoarse and inarticulate cry, again annihilated his masterpiece of cards, and putting his hands over his eyes swayed backwards, and forwards, apparently suffering the keenest agony. </i>[...] '<i>I have an idea'</i> (p. 148-49)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">These quotes all need to be discussed together, because they concern Poirot's moment of revelation, the epiphany. It's a frequent occurrence, both in the series and in the stories. Suchet refers to it in Note 82, which is a direct quote of Hastings's description on p. 71); 'Four about ten minutes...'. Suchet also refers to the 'little ideas' in Note 83: 'He enjoys his "little ideas" - this became a catchword. Indeed it did, both on TV and in Christie's stories. The card house would reappear in later adaptations, see 'The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim', <i>Three Act Tragedy</i>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcufkIYuE_Ye_b7zdpGH8D2zEMdPjn_UnyrlsfmlMykRunR8NIS7pQs1eHfdB1J7POrZUB9Ze9U-4LLoG6KfVVbxeB7mjhSFelkx8GRmNj4vBouv1PsP7o7uLTdENVQ_C38lySbDWIiKih/s1600/poirot+russian+cigarettes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1190" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcufkIYuE_Ye_b7zdpGH8D2zEMdPjn_UnyrlsfmlMykRunR8NIS7pQs1eHfdB1J7POrZUB9Ze9U-4LLoG6KfVVbxeB7mjhSFelkx8GRmNj4vBouv1PsP7o7uLTdENVQ_C38lySbDWIiKih/s640/poirot+russian+cigarettes.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest"</td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>'He offered me one of the tiny Russian cigarettes he himself occasionally smoked. I was amused to notice that he stowed away the used matches most carefully in a little china pot.'</i> (p. 70)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Suchet's Note 38: 'Smokes tiny black Russian cigarettes from a cigarette case (silver)', and note 85: 'When he hasn't got his lighter, will light his small Russian cigarettes with a match stick which he will then place in a small pottery pot'. His smoking habit is particularly evident in later episodes. I can't remember seeing him use a china pot, though. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mon dieu!</i> (p. 86)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Note 76: 'Never or very rarely says "Mon Dieu!" But often will exclaim "Sacré", "Milles Tonnerres!". It's certainly true that the two latter exclamations are more common, but I'm fairly certain I've heard Suchet's Poirot exclaim mon dieu on more than one occasion (not to mention in the novels, as the above quote proves). </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>'Mesdames and messieurs,' said Poirot, bowing as though he were a celebrity about to deliver a lecture' </i>(p. 93)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">This is a typical example of Poirot's 'moment of theatre', as Suchet calls it. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'Sometimes, I feel sure he is mad as a hatter; and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is method in his madness'</i> (p. 125)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">See Suchet's Note 87, which is a direct quote of the above statement. Suchet's Poirot does seem to provoke this reaction in people, as he is often accused of having lost his mind or following the wrong track.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'The happiness of one man and a woman is the greatest thing in all the world</i>' (Poirot to Hastings, p. 169)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">It seems fitting to end the first examination of Suchet's portrayal with this quote, because it reflects Poirot's appreciation and admiration for marriage and relationships, a character trait Suchet would explore further and broaden in the second half of the series. See Note 89: 'Genuinely believes that the happiness of one man and one woman is the greatest thing in all the world'.<br /><br /> Next time, I'll take a closer look at the first short stories!<br /> </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-83141977624735830422014-06-10T16:58:00.001+02:002020-04-05T13:12:37.144+02:00The Screenwriters: Kevin Elyot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the coming weeks and months I will examine and discuss some of the key members of the Poirot production team, with particular focus on their work on Poirot, of course. My initial plan was to look at these crew members in chronological order, so to speak, but when I read about <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jun/09/kevin-elyot">the sad passing of Kevin Elyot yesterday</a>, it felt natural to start with him.<br /><br /> Kevin Elyot (1951-2014) was a British playwright and screenwriter. I won't attempt to discuss his career in detail. For that, I refer to this well-written obituary. The Guardian's Michael Coveney summed up his subject (as a writer) as 'the longing for love and remembrance of loves lost'. This is certainly true of some of his non-Poirot work that I've read or seen, like My Night with Reg, Clapham Junction and Christopher and His Kind. But it's also true of his Poirot (and Marple) adaptations. <br /><br />Elyot adapted three Poirot novels for the series: <i>Five Little Pigs</i>, <i>Death on the Nile</i> and <i>Curtain: Poirot's Last Case</i>. The tragic story of the Crale family, Jacqueline de Bellefort's vendetta, and the final hour of the friendship between Poirot and Hastings - all these adaptations could fall under that phrase in The Guardian. In an behind-the-scenes interview, Eylot explained the appeal of Poirot to him: </span><blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">'What appealed - appeals - to me about him is that he's a foreigner, and an outsider, a refugee, in a very class-ridden, and snobbish, and xenophobic society. That instantly gives any situation he's in an edge, and I find that very... full of potential.' </span></i><span style="font-size: large;">(Behind the Scenes: Death on the Nile, 2004)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm not in any way qualified to make assumptions based on Elyot's career, but that seems to fit in well with his record of writing 'gay stories', in lack of a better phrase, stories about outsiders, often faced with prejudices from the society around them. Poirot is a 'bloody little frog', as one character describes him, and he is frequently met with a substantial amount of scepticism, even in the three stories Elyot adapted. For instance, in <i>Five Little Pigs</i>:</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'As he had often felt lately, things were not what they used to be. Dash it all, private detectives used to be private detectives - fellows you got to guard wedding presents at country receptions, fellows you went to - rather shame-facedly - when there was some dirty business afoot and you'd got to get the hang of it. But here was Lady Mary Lytton-Gore writing (...) And Lady Mary Lytton-Gore wasn't - no, decidedly she wasn't - the sort of woman tou associate with private detectives (...) And Admiral Cronshaw (...) And now here was the man himself. Really a most impossible person - the wrong clothes - button boots - an incredible moustache! Not his - Meredith Blake's - kind of fellow at all. Didn't look as though he'd ever hunted or shot - or even played a decent game. A foreigner.' </i> </span><span style="font-size: large;">(The War Years: Five Little Pigs, p. 222)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Personally, I cherish Elyot's adaptations, all three of them. <i>Five Little Pigs</i>, as a whole, is still my favourite Poirot episode. It's a difficult novel to adapt successfully, with internal monologues and observations, and I think the balance was just about right between flashbacks to the past and the present day. <i>Curtain</i> was faithfully and accurately adapted, with the right amount of sensitivity to its themes. An apt farewell with a beloved character. <i>Death on the Nile</i> was possibly less successful, particularly with some of the changes to the minor characters, but nonetheless among the better episodes of the entire series. The scene, singled out by David Suchet in several interviews, between Jacqueline and Poirot, with dialogue borrowed from Dead Man's Folly, is a magnificent glimpse of that character trait that would blossom both in later novels and in later adaptations; Poirot's longing for love and remembrance of loves lost (think Vera Rossakoff, Verginie Mesnard and 'the mystery of love'). <br /><br />As such, I think Elyot brilliantly managed to move the character of Poirot on, to deepen, in collaboration with Suchet of course, the interpretation and add layers and dimensions. Regardless of what some fans might think of his more radical changes (mercifully fewer between on <i>Poirot </i>than on <i>Marple</i>), he deserves praise for that accomplishment. To me, he remains one of the best Poirot screenwriters. </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-41226866404891610662014-04-18T19:02:00.004+02:002020-04-05T13:21:46.005+02:00The future of Poirot: 'Introducing Poirot for a new generation'?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">ITV's long-running series of Poirot adaptations, <i>Agatha Christie's Poirot</i>, has ended. The final episodes aired in the UK in November. Of course, fans in several countries around the world are still waiting eagerly for the final series, (for instance, <a href="http://www.nrk.no/ostlandssendingen/samlingssted-for-poirot-nerder-1.11672307">the final four episodes air on consecutive nights in Norway this Easter</a>, and<a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-final-poirot-mysteries-with-david-suchet-to-air-this-summer-20140414,0,3507511.story"> in the U.S. the final series will be broadcast on PBS and Acorn TV this summer</a>), but it's only a question of time before a remarkable journey is over.<br /><br />So, what now for our favourite mustachioed Belgian detective? David Suchet has hinted at remaking a few of the stories for the cinema if there's the money and the interest, but I am fairly certain that's wishful thinking. However, the Christie Estate seems as eager as ever to continue the success story of Christie and Poirot. I'm one of those people who will never be able to envisage Poirot without David Suchet, but I will try to keep an open mind for future projects. Since my last post back in November, exciting news have emerged:<br /><br /><b>No more Marple or Poirot adaptations from ITV</b><br />This is hardly a surprise. Suchet has reached his goal. It would have been nice, of course, to see further <i>Marple</i> adaptations with Julia McKenzie, but they had almost run out of non-Marple stories to adapt (and seemed reluctant to explore the short stories). Besides, the Estate seems to have been busy behind the scenes with the deal below:<br /><br /><b>BBC becomes the new 'home' of Agatha Christie</b><br />Coinciding with the 125th anniversary year of Agatha Christie in 2015 (and, without a doubt, the end of Poirot on ITV), the BBC has struck a deal with the Agatha Christie estate for exclusive rights to make Christie adaptations. Two dramas have already been commissioned: <i>Partners in Crime</i>, which will feature Christie's sleuths Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, and <i>And Then There Were None</i>, a remake of the classic story.<br /><br /> Of course, none of these are Poirot adaptations. However, if we are to believe the Daily Mirror, exciting discussions about further options are ongoing, and <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/case-closed-itvs-miss-marple-3190778">'Both Marple and Poirot could be revisited further down the line'</a>. Also, <a href="http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/new-tv-adaptations">the official Agatha Christie Ltd press release</a> mentions that RLJ Entertainment and Acorn Productions (the new rights owners) are working towards developing the Christie stories 'for a new generation'.<br /><br />Both these statements seem to suggest that a modern-day Poirot or a Belgium-set Poirot prequel (as suggested by Suchet in an interview) is at least being considered. Now, personally, I don't see any of those options working. First, Suchet is synonymous with the character; both his performance and not least his accent would be impossible to copy. Second, Poirot as Christie wrote him is very much a character grounded in the inter-war years. I can't see him working in a modern-day context. Third, I fear a period prequel following his years in the Belgian police force would be distracting and potentially damaging to the original character.<br /><br />Having said that, I was convinced a modern-day Sherlock and an Inspector Morse prequel would never work - and then the brilliant <i>Sherlock</i> and <i>Endeavour</i> series proved me wrong. So let's wait and see what happens. We should never say never. Even if Suchet will never be surpassed - of that I am remain convinced.<br /><br /><b>A remake of Murder on the Orient Express</b><br />Speaking of replacing Suchet - <a href="http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/new-murder-on-the-orient-express-film">a remake of Murder on the Orient Express has been announced</a>! I must admit my expectations are incredibly low. I assume Suchet won't be involved. He has been very positive about his own MOTOE adaptation (2010), so there's no reason why he would want to do a remake so soon after that episode. Consequently, they would have to find a different actor to play the character, so soon after the end of Suchet's reign. I'm convinced most Christie fans will find it difficult to adjust to a new screen Poirot already. Also, I'm not convinced the producers, including Ridley Scott (best known for his <i>Blade Runner</i> and <i>Gladiator</i> films) and Simon Kinberg (from the Downey Jr. <i>Sherlock Holmes</i> films) are the right team for the job. But again, I reserve judgement for the end product. <br /><br /><b>Sophie Hannah's Poirot novel to be released in September</b><br />Admittedly, Sophie Hannah's Poirot novel was announced ages ago (read my blog post on that here). But news have recently emerged of a <a href="http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/global-plans-for-new-poirot">massive marketing campaign</a>, so I thought I'd mention it again. I've promised to reserve judgement on this, too, and I wish Hannah the best of luck, but I'm not convinced there's a need for a new Poirot novel.<br /><br /><b>The future?</b><br />Taken collectively, these pieces of news tell an interesting tale of the future of Christie and Poirot. Christie's grandson Mathew Pritchard and the new rights holders all seem prepared to introduce the character to 'a new generation'. We already know this will entail a new film adaptation and a new novel, and chances are he will be revisited on television some time in the future, too. What will come of these efforts is hard to know at this point in time, but I think we can say that Poirot is by no means dead and buried.<br /><br />P.S. Suchet never received the BAFTA or the National Television Award I was hoping for, but he WAS awarded the <a href="http://www.agathachristie.com/news/article/david-suchet-wins-lifetime-achievement-award">Royal Television Society's Lifetime Achievement Award</a> for his achievement as Hercule Poirot. Well deserved!<br /><br /><i>My apologies for the long blog silence. I have had a busy couple of months. But fear not, I aim to do several exciting blog posts in the months to come!</i></span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-89433751821539923872013-11-20T21:10:00.002+01:002020-04-05T13:26:18.148+02:00Episode-by-episode: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> We have reached The End.<br /><br />This adaptation was based on <i>Curtain: Poirot's Last Case</i>, first published in 1975, just a few months before Christie's death, but written during the war, in the early 1940s. The novel was adapted for television by Kevin Elyot (who also scripted <i>Five Little Pigs </i>and <i>Death on the Nile</i>) and directed by Hettie Macdonald (who also directed <i>The Mystery of the Blue Train</i>).<br /><br /> <b>Script versus novel</b><br />The press pack to this final episode reveals that Kevin Elyot was asked by the production team to adapt <i>Curtain</i> more than ten years ago, when he wrote the scripts for <i>Five Little Pigs</i> and <i>Death on the Nile</i>. I'm not at all surprised they asked him. His script for <i>Five Little Pigs</i> is possibly the best of the entire series, and <i>Death on the Nile</i> proved that he wasn't daunted by the task of writing an adaptation most Poirot fans have been both eagerly waiting for and dreading at the same time. He had also demonstrated that he fully understood Poirot's character, and that he could handle the darker side of Christie without making unnecessary changes. In my opinion, he was the best man for the job.<br /><br />Elyot has made certain minor changes to the story. The murder cases that made Poirot suspect Norton are only alluded to throughout, and we don't see the newspaper clippings until Poirot's confrontation scene with Norton (which, by the way, is a brilliantly scripted scene). He has also done away with the notion of 'X' , and instead tried to keep the audience guessing. Most of Hastings' long monologue sections are deleted, which shouldn't come as a surprise given that this is a television version of a novel. Nearly all the central elements from these are kept, though. We learn of his wife's death (Elyot cleverly avoids using her name - she was called Bella in the series and Dulcie/Cinderella/Cinders in Christie's stories), his sadness, his 'simple' mind (all beautifully conveyed by Hugh Fraser through different facial expressions and brilliant acting). Some small scenes, like Hastings' visit to Boyd Carrington's manor, nearly all conversations with Nurse Craven, and Hastings' encounter with the old woman in the village, are also deleted, while others, like the inquest, are significantly shortened or moved around a bit. Some minor additions are made, like 'This is not a wheel-barrow, Hastings!' (a lovely unintentional (?) reference to Hastings' driving over the years), and 'You have lard for a brain!', mirroring several comments over the years ('Why is it the fate of Hercule Poirot to live among such philistines!'). <br /><br />The most significant additions, if you can call it that, are a couple of scenes in which Poirot is alone, speaking to himself. In all three scenes we see him praying (emphasising the religious subplot of the later series), and in two of them he's having small heart attacks (mentioned in the novel). The religious element shouldn't come as a surprise to those who have seen the more recent episodes. Suchet and the team have been slowly building up towards this very adaptation to make this believable. In the novel, Poirot discusses both the bon Dieu and his own doubts in his final letter to Hastings, so it's natural that this aspect of his character is emphasised here. Also, all his remarks are made in scenes that Hastings, who narrates the novel, could not have witnessed, so I'd consider this acceptable creative license. Personally, I'm also convinced that this adds an important dimension to Poirot, It's part of Suchet humanisation of the character, and it's beautifully done. His heart-breaking death scene in particular. <br /><br /> Essentially, though, this is a very faithful adaptation. Most of the dialogue is lifted almost verbatim from the novel, and several elements are strikingly similar. See, for instance, the introduction of Daisy Luttrell. She wears garden gloves and mirrors, like the first appearance of Evelyn Howard in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Christie and Hastings comment on this in Curtain (the novel). Similarly, Poirot's first 'mon ami Hastings' feels like a throw-back to their first meeting in the post office all those years ago. Most importantly, Eloyt devotes almost a third of the episode to the aftermath of Poirot's death and his final letter to Hastings. It makes for an unusual and very moving denouement. The confrontation between Norton and Poirot is chilling. (I must admit, though, that I would have preferred Poirot to keep his fake moustache on. I realise it's what Christie wrote and it was necessary to pass as Norton, but I kept thinking I was watching David Suchet playing a killer, not Poirot killing a criminal. Oh well. As Tom, a reader of the blog, said to me: At least we know what Achille might have looked like!).<br /><br /> All in all, Kevin Elyot has done a magnificent job creating a moving, thoughtful, chilling and brilliant adaptation of one of Christie's greatest plot twists. It's so much more than we could have hoped for: near-perfection.<br /><br /> <b>Direction, production design, locations, soundtrack</b><br />Hettie Macdonald's direction is such a contrast to her previous adaptation, <i>The Mystery of the Blue Train</i>. The floating shots and the experimental use of camera angles are more or less gone. In their place we get close-ups of faces and broader overview shots that work exceptionally well for the episode. There's also something about her 'peering' approach that simply works much better here than it did in her previous episode; Poirot is hunting down a ruthless sadist, after all, not just a jewel thief. The opening sequence is particularly well done. Scenes of Margaret Litchfield being hanged (she died in an asylum in the novel) are inter-cut with scenes of Elizabeth Cole (her sister) playing the Chopin piece to Poirot, as Hastings arrives in his taxi. The entire set-up is very reminiscent of Five Little Pigs, in which Caroline Crale's execution is inter-cut with Lucy Crale's memories from her childhood. Intriguingly, both hangings didn't appear in Christie's original novels. Litchfield died in an asylum and Caroline Crale died in prison. This was in keeping with Christie's golden rule - never let an innocent character hang, but I really think the story is much more effective because of the changes. Moreover, I was delighted to see the first shots of Poirot. The camera moves from his patent leather boots, to his hands, and finally to his head, in separate shots - a lovely homage to 'The Adventure of the Clapham Cook', the first episode of the entire series. <br /><br />Macdonald's direction, the colour grading and the excellent production design bring out the autumnal quality of both the setting and the story. Really, having watched this adaptation, I think an autumn setting suits the story much better than the summer setting of the book. I must admit than I am more than a little disappointed that the production team didn't use Chavenage House, the location in which The Mysterious Affair at Styles was filmed. The location was unavailable, apparently, but I don't understand why they couldn't have found a more similar 'country manor'. Was it really necessary to go for a castle? It doesn't look remotely similar. Having said that, I was pleased that the new location has a few similarities with Chavenage, and I really think it worked for this particular adaptation. It makes the characters look small in a vast space, and the house itself almost becomes a character - the ghosts of the past. <br /><br />Christian Henson's soundtrack for the episode is ingenious. Not only is there a perfect balance between eerie, almost Hitchcockian music and more melancholic touches, but the use of Chopin's 'Raindrop Prelude' (Op. 28 No. 15) is perfect. Again, this reminds me of Five Little Pigs, in which Gunning used Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1 as a running theme. The Chopin piece is extra poignant because it is used for Poirot's death scene. The music, combined with Suchet's superb acting, create an intensely moving atmosphere.<br /><br /> <b>Characters and actors</b><br />The supporting cast for this episode is more or less perfect. Special mentions should be given to Helen Baxendale, Aidan McArdle, Anne Reid and Alice Orr-Ewing. They all manage to make their characters feel more human and/or chilling. The stars of the show, however, are David Suchet and Hugh Fraser. Let me start with Hugh Fraser. This is an actor who, for so many years, played a character whose emotional (and intellectual) range was very limited; a man who was famous for his 'I say, Poirot' and 'Good Lord!'. Fraser really comes to the fore in this adaptation; he is given so much more to play with. The grief over Hastings' wife, the concern for Judith (which will eventually drive him to attempt murder - a shocking moment, I'm sure, for several fans), and last but not least: the death of Poirot. The man who had been his closest friend, 'like a father'. Fraser does an absolutely outstanding job, and I sincerely hope he continues his career in the future.<br /><br /> Now - the leading man. David Suchet. What can I say? If you have ever been in doubt, then surely this is the moment to conclude: he is the definitive Poirot. What an unbelievably exquisite performance! I can only imagine what was running through his mind as he shot these scenes (or, actually, I can read about it, in Poirot and Me, published this month). The physical transformation is complete - down to the voice and the weariness of the man. The death scene is a remarkable piece of acting. Stunning and gut-wrenching at the same time. I am in awe of what this man has achieved in 25 years. He has made a cardboard cut-out a living, breathing human being that we actually care about. Given the previous incarnations of Poirot on stage and screen, that is quite an achievement. David Suchet, I salute you.<br /><br />Au revoir, Poirot. (I can't say 'adieu' just yet).</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-15550758354699592192013-11-18T16:29:00.001+01:002020-04-05T13:33:43.220+02:00REVIEW: David Suchet's 'Poirot and Me' (2013)<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Last week, Agatha Christie's Poirot came to an end as Curtain: Poirot's Last Case was broadcast on ITV. But fear not! To coincide with the broadcast of the final series, Headline Publishing have released a book, written by David Suchet in collaboration with Geoffrey Wansell, called Poirot and Me. The book is an absolute must-have for any dedicated Poirot fan!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I first heard about the plans for this release back in autumn 2012, I was immediately over-excited. Having seen numerous interviews with Suchet in the past, as well as his documentaries, I was confident that we could expect great things from this book. In short, my expectations could not have been higher. This is the man who for twenty-five years has portrayed one of my favourite literary characters in an iconic television series.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let me start by saying that it did not disappoint. Far from it. With over 300 pages, the book includes comments on every single episode ever made, plus some biographical Agatha Christie information. For the first time, we get the full story of how Suchet became Poirot (the walk, the talk, the appearance), with first meetings, first costume fittings, first shoots and several acting epiphanies included. We are also treated to little anecdotes from his encounters with the Poirot fans, some of which are absolutely delightful to read. We even get his 'character dossier', the list of 93 Poirot characteristics that he carried with him on set (I was secretly hoping for this to be included, but I never thought we'd actually get to see it!), and a series of photos Suchet has taken on the sets over the years.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is far more than just a Poirot 'encyclopedia', though. This is the life story of a character actor. I don't think I have ever seen a character actor who has been given the opportunity to describe the process of becoming different characters. In short, his craft. Poirot aside, we also get glimpses of all the other great characters Suchet has played, including the famous Shakespeare roles, George in <i>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf</i>, Salieri in <i>Amadeus</i>, Robert Maxwell in <i>Maxwell</i>, James Tyrone in <i>Long Day's Journey Into Night</i>, and many others. We get to share his anxiousness as he waits for the phone call from ITV saying that they want to do another series, his money worries, and holidays with his family. Sometimes when you read 'celebrity biographies' you can tell that it has been 'polished' by some PR department, and certain stories have been included to put the writer in a good light. This, however, is a very personal story told in what appears to be a very truthful and honest manner. Geoffrey Wansell should probably be given some credit here, too, because the book is incredibly 'visual', in the sense that you really feel, as a reader, that you've actually witnessed all these things. You have been a part of Suchet's journey. That is quite unusual.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Personally, there were some things I was even more delighted to read about than others. It was encouraging to read about Suchet's disputes with some of the Poirot directors, his determination to re-introduce Whitehaven Mansions after a long absence and include Poirot's manservant, his personal contributions to the set designs (he bought the clock on Poirot's mantelpiece for the production team!), and his firm belief to stray true to the character. This is a man with a vision. In fact, that's a thought I kept coming back to while reading the book. On several occasions, Suchet has said that his aim as an actor is to serve the writer. 'Without actors, writers don't have a voice'. These glimpses behind the scenes demonstrate Suchet's determination. He has been committed to Agatha Christie, regardless of what some Christie 'purists' might say, while at the same time fleshing out Poirot to truly iconic dimensions (see my post on <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2012/10/the-complete-poirot-david-suchets.html">Suchet's achievement</a> here). His reflections (in the book) on Murder on the Orient Express and the moving story from the filming of Poirot's final case, Curtain, underline this, too.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">All in all, <i>Poirot and Me</i> is a treasure-trove of information for any fan of David Suchet, Hercule Poirot, and Agatha Christie - not to mention anyone interested in acting, television and adaptation work. Highly recommended!</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">P.S. I've been told by Headline that an audiobook version will be released on 21 November 2013, read by David Suchet! The book lends itself easily to an audiobook, and I'm sure the story will feel even more personal when read by Suchet himself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoH1BM-VDPAno1Oo9mDJhSZCNME_4ku08rO26-WgISJPua7xA45y6Uz77M6-sYF7OEX-bVTk0dA92WXm4DNkZIejhyphenhyphenRJYizcN0ztumz6KdMY0tb9JKtwPPPLrub65Th3N9SuRS1faxWi6t/s1600/image2.jpeg"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoH1BM-VDPAno1Oo9mDJhSZCNME_4ku08rO26-WgISJPua7xA45y6Uz77M6-sYF7OEX-bVTk0dA92WXm4DNkZIejhyphenhyphenRJYizcN0ztumz6KdMY0tb9JKtwPPPLrub65Th3N9SuRS1faxWi6t/s200/image2.jpeg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NKnzmjn0gYRYki1psF2Ipj4dSLBuqZvg3_nTY4uciWPIXOsI5l0lT5fOUE6gIqYcUsOz7EThr2C0yunzuoOIEX7tC2fqPXN77WW6UfsghNLP736-E-L0fSgztpqexnu8xTfTl4mRMQKD/s1600/image.jpeg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NKnzmjn0gYRYki1psF2Ipj4dSLBuqZvg3_nTY4uciWPIXOsI5l0lT5fOUE6gIqYcUsOz7EThr2C0yunzuoOIEX7tC2fqPXN77WW6UfsghNLP736-E-L0fSgztpqexnu8xTfTl4mRMQKD/s200/image.jpeg" width="155" /></a><i></i></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Richard, a reader of the blog, kindly sent me these photos from one of Suchet's promotional talks. It must have been quite an evening for you!</i></span></div>
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Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-44595270169847975132013-11-13T19:41:00.003+01:002020-04-06T17:27:23.364+02:00Episode-by-episode: The Labours of Hercules<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRqhupEpGIC57FJ8YtUyrYEgeNXe4qshu1NCaksVXuFhyphenhypheny1vEX6Ug6CBT6KcC9cRk9jLP_dG_MeE9IRhjXwaSDqKSrCfdmhRW4omnvWHYbB7TCVUoZvjMZXs-c2MiQOLFhDHH4AFeK9Ic1/s1600/LABOURS+first+promo+photo+1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRqhupEpGIC57FJ8YtUyrYEgeNXe4qshu1NCaksVXuFhyphenhypheny1vEX6Ug6CBT6KcC9cRk9jLP_dG_MeE9IRhjXwaSDqKSrCfdmhRW4omnvWHYbB7TCVUoZvjMZXs-c2MiQOLFhDHH4AFeK9Ic1/s400/LABOURS+first+promo+photo+1.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> This episode was based on a series of interconnected short stories, assembled in <i>The Labours of Hercules</i>, first published in 1947. It was adapted by Guy Andrews and directed by Andy Wilson. <br /><br /> <b>Script versus short story collection</b><br />This adaptation was a Herculean task (to borrow the pun). Fans - me included - have been discussing for years how the team behind Poirot would ever be able to adapt this collection. Essentially, this is a series of thematically interconnected stories. They are linked together by Poirot's decision to do only a selected number of cases before he retires, and all the cases are to resemble the labours of Hercules in some way or other. Now, in the earlier years of the series, this could almost certainly have been expanded into a series of 50 minute episodes, and a part of me is disappointed that this didn't happen. But for those of us who know a bit about the history of the television series, that would probably never have happened. As a matter of fact, it's remarkable that they even got to make all the other short stories in the early years, before the series was effectively cancelled in 1994/1995.(That is not to say that I wouldn't have loved to see these as a series of episodes!).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Considering that the final series nearly didn't happen - and the fact that this collection was one of the candidates to be dropped - I think we've been lucky to see an adaptation of it at all.<br /><br /> The scriptwriter chosen for this difficult task was Guy Andrews. Just to remind you: he also scripted <i>The Mystery of the Blue Train</i>, <i>Taken at the Flood</i> and <i>Appointment with Death</i>. That's one weak, one slightly unbelievable, and one terrible adaptation (in very crude terms). As you will know if you've read my episode-by-episode look at Appointment with Death, that's a very clear candidate for my least favourite episode of Poirot. It's saved by the beautiful cinematography, music, production design and acting. I was more than a little nervous when I heard that he had been commissioned for The Labours of Hercules. At the same time, this adaptation called for changes. Radical changes. And I was perfectly prepared to accept loads of them if he - against all odds - managed to make it work.<br /><br />I think he did. It's not perfect and it's not 'complete', since all the stories aren't included. But it actually works as a full-length episode. Andrews' crucial decision was to create a new story using elements from several of the short stories. The prominent short stories here are 'The Arcadian Deer', 'The Erymanthian Boar', 'The Augenean Stables', 'The Stymphalean Birds', 'The Girdle of Hippolyta' and 'The Capture of Cerberus'. 'Boar' is definitely the central one, though. We get a political scandal ('The Augenean Stables'), an art theft ('The Girdle of Hippolyta'), a murdered girl, Lucinda LeMesurier (a reference to the only unfilmed short story, The LeMesurier Inheritance), a heart-broken chauffeur (mechanic in the story, 'The Arcadian Deer') reunited at the end of the episode with his Nita (aka the ballet dancer Katrina Samoushenka), two con-artists and an easily fooled Foreign Office secretary ('The Stymphalean Birds'), the marvellous Countess Vera Rossakoff, her daughter (daughter-in-law in the story), a dog and a doctor (from 'The Capture of Cerberus'). Nearly all of these characters are gathered in one location, the Hotel Olympus in the Swiss Alps ('The Erymathian Boar'), joined by a dodgy hotel manager (partly inspired by 'The Stymphalean Birds'), a shifty waiter, a parlor-game enthusiast and a mysterious master criminal called Marrascaud ('The Erymanthian Boar).<br /><br /> This means that six of the short stories have been more or less properly adapted. The remaining six have not been adapted, but there are some elements of the adaptation that might be linked to them, if you look hard enough. (You can skip this paragraph if you disagree). Elements of 'The Cretan Bull' are in the relationship between Katrina Samoushenka and Dr Lutz. He is playing with her mind, convincing her that she is mad, much like Hugh Chandler is manipulated in the short story. Dr Lutz might also share a passing resemblance with Dr Andersen from 'The Flock of Geryon'. Lutz might be working on Katrina in order to have her money (assuming she has some, since she's a world famous ballerina). Also, in a conversation with Poirot, he is most anxious to underline that he is 'not a Nazi'. This could be seen as a reference either to Lutzmann in Christie's first version of 'The Capture of Cerberus', or a reference to Dr Andersen in 'The Flock of Geryon', who was expelled from university in Nazi-Germany for being a Jew. Moreover, Alice is charismatic, just like Dr Andersen; she persuades Katrina into hiding the diamond necklace for her, and makes Gustave do her 'dirty work' for her. Binky, Alice's dog, whom Poirot refers to as Cerberus, could also be a reference to 'The Nemean Lion', as could Alice herself (the central criminal of the adaptation, much like Amy Carnaby in the short story collection, and Dr Lutz, who might be Binksy's true owner, since the dog recognised him so instantly (cf Sir Joseph Hoggin). The scapegoating of Katrina could also be seen as a link to Tony Hawker in 'The Horses of Diomedes'. The false rumours surrounding Harold Waring (who has taken the blame for the Foreign Secretary) can be considered a reference to 'The Lernean Hydra'). The diamond necklace is possibly a reference to 'The Apples of Hesperides'. Poirot says he 'knows the story of these stones' (though, in context, this seems to refer to the story of how Katrina has been hiding them). Tom, a reader of the blog, suggested that the diamonds might be called 'apples', similar to Ruth Kettering's 'heart of fire' from The Mystery of the Blue Train. This would tie in well with the goblet from the short story, which also has a long history behind it. Finally, the character Countess Rossakoff recognises from a night club in Brindisi could be a reference to the drugs ring in 'The Horses of Diomedes'. Admittedly, these connections are very far-fetched, but they underline the fact that The Labours of Hercules could be considered more or less adapted.<br /><br /> After a few false turns, including the subplots from 'The Stymphalean Birds' and 'The Arcadian Deer', Poirot reveals the culrpit Marrascaud to be Alice Cunningham, Rossakoff's daughter. She stole the jewels and hid a series of paintings (collectively titled 'The Labours of Hercules' - a clever way to include the title) in the hotel. Poirot restores order, and reunites 'Nita' with the chauffeur. <br /><br />Certain elements of this adaptation don't seem to work. For instance, I was not too pleased about the Mexican stand-off in the denouement scene, and I am still not convinced that bringing together all these different people with different accents was an entirely good idea. It's more over-the-top than we've been used to with Poirot. <br /><br />Having said that, I think the decision to focus on Poirot's inner journey (as a sort of sequel to the turmoil he was facing at the end of <i>The Murder on the Orient Express</i>) was an incredibly wise one. This is the penultimate episode of the series. Not only is there a need to continue challenging Poirot's ideas of justice and morality; it's also appropriate to give him a chance to recollect his thoughts on his career and his choices in life. Tom, the chauffeur, is a reminder of what he has missed out on in life. As Dr Burton puts it, Poirot has had a remarkable career 'at the expense of having a family'. In my opinion, Andrews manages to combine these two threads of Poirot's character in the reappearance of Countess Rossakoff and her daughter. He is challenged by Rice and Clayton, who suggest; 'The Countess Rossakoff is a criminal, monsieur, and you have done nothing to promote her arrest. You could do the same for us'. Poirot declines the threat, stating that 'Poirot, he will not be pressed'. However, when he reveals the culprit to be Countess Rossakoff's daughter, and Rossakoff tries to convince him to let her go, he is more explicit:</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;">'I am not the law, Countess'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">'Hercule. Spare my daughter. Spare her as years ago you spared me. Please, dorogoy.'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">'No Countess. Poirot, he is not your love. He is Poirot'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">'Then I shall accompany my daughter. A love like ours could have burnt down a city. Such a waste.'</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"> Re-introducing Rossakoff is important, because Poirot is able to confront both his sense of justice (where is the line between an 'acceptable' and an 'unacceptable' crime, and how far can he stretch his role as judge, jury and executioner?), and his loneliness. In the end, Poirot draws the line at allowing Marrascaud aka Alice to escape justice, and he realises that he made the decision about 'family life' several years ago. The final scene, in which he looks down on a pair of cufflinks he was given by the Countess, seems to suggest that he has reconciled himself with the decision to leave the Countess behind.<br /><br /> Poirot's inner journey of self-discovery and redemption is also emphasised in his scenes with Alice. She suggests a link to the episode title that I am a lot more intrigued by:</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;">'The Labours of Hercules. That is how you unconsciously conceive your career. You are the modern incarnation of Hercules.'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">'How resourceful of me.'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">'Dr Lutz should name a condition after you: the Hercules complex; the compulsion to conquer all obstacles however forbidding. It is why you are driven to chase Marrascaud. You simply have to.'</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"> To me, this is what truly elevates this adaptation to the level of a character study. Andrews links the mythological figure to the fictional detective by emphasising their common purpose. Poirot is convinced that his raison d'etre in life is to rid the world of crime, as he says to Hastings in Peril at End House (the novel). Faced with failure, he has once again plunged into an investigation of a missing maid (cf The Adventure of the Clapham Cook), and by chance been given the possibility of catching the criminal who killed the girl he had promised to protect. His aim, of sorts, is redemption. But has he redeemed himself? Alice Cunningham suggests that he hasn't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #666666;"><i>'Do you feel redeemed, monsieur? Does this atone for the death of Lucinda? Because that was a bit of a mess, wasn't it. I heard you say the words Poirot promising to protect her. You poor man's Hercules. So vain, so ineffably smug, and you failed... Don't turn your back on me. I shall find you.'</i></span></span><span style="color: #666666;"><i><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">'I shall not hide.'</span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"> Although the adaptation ends with the reuniting of the lovers from 'The Arcadian Deer' and Poirot seems to reconcile himself with his decision to 'travel alone' in life, I think this scene is left ambiguous for a reason. Poirot has solved the case, but he has not remained unchanged after years of murder and horror. This is important, because it helps set the scene for the final <i>Curtain</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">'Poirot's journey (...) is a rather brilliant classic hero's tale. Poirot is at a low ebb, is given a mission, takes up the call to action, receives help and hindrance from various shades of his life and past and arriving at a physically cleansed and renewed position where he no longer has to "hide" himself and his doubt.' </span></i><span style="font-size: large;">(Andy Wilson, director) </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"> I realise now that this has evolved into a discussion of Poirot's character and Suchet's interpretation, instead of a straight-forward look at Andrews' adaptation. However, I think it's necessary to include all of this, because I am convinced this is why the adaptation works for me. Yes, the premise is silly. Yes, it's not perfect. Yes, we didn't get all the short stories. Yes, some of the characters are caricature. But this is an elaborate character study of the man we have become so familiar with. It's a point to reassemble Poirot's thoughts on himself and our thoughts on Poirot. In the words of Goethe (and Poirot): 'the threshold is the place to pause'. We are at the threshold, just about to enter the base, the finale of Curtain. What better place to reassemble the loose ends (loneliness, professional life, love life etc) and prepare to enter?<br /><br /> <b>Direction, production design, locations, soundtrack</b><br />Andy Wilson's direction is perfection itself in this episode. Some viewers have complained that it's too dark, but his note in the episode press pack gives the reason for this: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #666666;"><i>'After a bright and garishly coloured opening sequence, when Poirot visits his doctor and in the journey through the hotel, colours will be drained and subdued, at the hotel almost monochrome. The snow ad landscape and the pale interior of the hotel itself lending weight to the monochromatic state of Poirot's feelings; the world for him has become colourless as he cannot find the energy to engage his little grey cells in proper employment. The film should have a slightly psychotic tone.'</i></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">His directing choices are interesting and not distracting. Several of the scenes have been beautifully shot. I particularly enjoyed the evening scenes at the hotel, as Poirot, Rossakoff and Alice play 'snap'. There's also a brilliant shift of location from the entrance hall to Poirot's hotel room, as Suchet turns around (rather like the recent Sherlock series).<br /><br /> Jeff Tessler's production design is as good as ever. Despite the heavy use of CGI, the team almost manage to convince us that this is a snow-bound hotel, when in fact the episode was shot mainly on location at RAF Halton House, Aylesbury. There's a glimpse of Whitehaven Mansions, too, through the window of Poirot's car, but I can't tell if that's footage from a previous episode. It probably is. Read the interview with him in the press pack if you are interested in the production team's process. Other locations used include The Funicular, Saint Hilaire du Touvet, in France (yes, the funicular was actually shot on location, but the inside was re-built as a set at Pinewood Studios), and the pavilions at Syon House, Brentford (the chauffeur sequences).<br /><br /> Christian Henson's soundtrack is particularly good in this episode. Such a shame that it isn't released on the new soundtrack album. There's a touch of the old theme tune (see, for instance, the moment when Poirot considers taking on the chauffeur's case), and a general sense of nostalgia mixed with psychological thrillers. Excellent.<br /><br /> <b>Characters and actors</b><br />This really is The David Suchet Show. Honestly, this is an acting masterclass. We get some hints of Poirot's eccentricities, like him carefully unpacking his 'toiletteries' and his tendency to speak in the third person ('It helps Poirot administer a healthy distance from his genius'). There's also his loneliness and disillusionment (the scenes after the first murder), and his sense of regret (all scenes with Rossakoff). To crown the performance, we have Poirot's matchmaking trait at the end, reminiscent of several previous episodes. (By the way, the little box containing the cufflinks is such a nice homage to 'The Chocolate Box' and Virginie Mesnard's lapel pin vase. Now Poirot wears momenta from both of the women in his life; Countess Rossakoff and Virginie Mesnard.)<br /><br />Of the guest cast, Orla Brady (taking over the part from Kika Markham) and Simon Callow are the standouts, but all the characters are wonderfully fleshed-out, perhaps because of their short story origins. Brady actually manages to create some sense of continuity from Markham's portrayal, although she's slightly more vivacious and humorous (in keeping with the short story). Callow and Suchet simply interact well together, and they create some classic moments. </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com93tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-23543410809579730012013-11-07T21:34:00.000+01:002020-04-06T17:42:53.068+02:00The Final Series of 'Poirot': An Overview<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoW_4UAiC8YDruQBqEu6zDy55EKdvuN_Mu__aSk_nujUt_E5Lj7_0J6p8NGoUGzdYmJKgVnCsf_1GHhaRrUh8Qu88VzgFzftf4xpKbOiIlJ57Iu7rCoIIRrcbVvbOU10JyWdybmdqr_If4/s1600/39983+%2528Dead+Mans+Folly+press+photo+23-10-13+Radio+Times%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoW_4UAiC8YDruQBqEu6zDy55EKdvuN_Mu__aSk_nujUt_E5Lj7_0J6p8NGoUGzdYmJKgVnCsf_1GHhaRrUh8Qu88VzgFzftf4xpKbOiIlJ57Iu7rCoIIRrcbVvbOU10JyWdybmdqr_If4/s400/39983+%2528Dead+Mans+Folly+press+photo+23-10-13+Radio+Times%2529.JPG" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since the final four episodes have just started airing in the UK, I've decided to do a post on all the information you'll need on Series Thirteen; <i>Elephants Can Remember</i>, <i>The Big Four</i>, <i>Dead Man's Folly</i>, <i>The Labours of Hercules</i>, and <i>Curtain: Poirot's Last Case</i>.<br /><br /> The post will be updated and re-posted constantly in the coming weeks, with links to press releases, press packs, trailers, clips, important interviews, reviews and photos that might interest fans. As always, comments are more than welcome, so feel free to ask questions, give a small review or post your thoughts in the comments section!<br /><br /> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>S13E1: Elephants Can Remember</b></span><br /><b>Produced</b>: January/February 2013 <br /><b>Aired</b>: Sunday 9th June 2013, 8pm<br /><b>Viewing figures</b>: <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a488557/poirot-final-series-opens-with-over-45-million-on-itv.html">4.47 million (excluding 405,000 on +1)</a><br /><b>Press pack</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-packs/agatha-christies-poirot-elephants-can-remember#.Uml5YRAw81c">Elephants Can Remember: Production Notes</a> (includes interview with David Suchet)<br /><b>Trailer</b>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJcs99Mx1h8">Elephants Can Remember (ITV trailer)</a><br /><b>Reviews:</b> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10106748/Agatha-Christies-Poirot-Elephants-Can-Remember-ITV-review.html">The Telegraph</a>, <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/w2dkj/agatha-christies-poirot--series-13---1-elephants-can-remember">Radio Times</a> (spoiler free), <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jun/08/adieu-to-poirot">The Guardian</a><br /><b>Photos</b>: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/29/david-suchet-hercule-poirot-elephants-can-remember_n_3351801.html">Huffington Post</a> (19 promotional photos!)<br /><br /> Read my episode-by-episode look at 'Elephants Can Remember' <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2013/10/episode-by-episode-elephants-can.html">here</a>. <br /><br /> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>S13E2: The Big Four</b></span><br /><b>Produced</b>: February/March 2013<br /><b>Aired</b>: Wednesday 23rd October 2013, 8pm<br /><b>Viewing figures</b>: <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a526021/poirot-final-episodes-begin-with-44m-on-itv.html">4.40 million (excl 405,000 on +1)</a><br /><b>Press pack</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-packs/poirot-big-four#.Uml-LBAw81c">The Big Four: Production Notes</a> (includes interviews with David Suchet, Philip Jackson and Sarah Parish)<br /><b>Trailer</b>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCq1giTg00">The Big Four (ITV trailer)</a><br /><b>Reviews</b>: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10400714/Agatha-Christies-Poirot-The-Big-Four-ITV-review.html">The Telegraph</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2474639/Agatha-Christies-Poirot-Ambassadors-CHRISTOPHER-STEVENS-reviews-nights-TV.html">The Daily Mail</a>, <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cpmd66/agatha-christies-poirot--series-13---2-the-big-four">Radio Times</a> (spoiler free), <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/oct/23/david-suchet-poirot-tv-great-casting">The Guardian</a> (praise of the series), <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/video/2013/oct/29/video-review-boardwalk-empire-poirot-iceland-foods-monday-mornings-toast-london">The Guardian</a> (video, 2:42 min in)<br /><b>Photos</b>: See my posts <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2013/10/the-old-gang-is-back-photo-released-for.html">'The old gang is back'</a> and <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2013/10/the-big-four-behind-scenes-photos-and.html">'The Big Four: behind the scenes photos and screencaps'</a><br />Read my episode-by-episode look at 'The Big Four' <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.com/2013/10/episode-by-episode-big-four.html">here</a>.<br /><br /> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>S13E3: Dead Man's Folly</b></span><br /><b>Produced</b>: May/June 2013<br /><b>Airs</b>: Wednesday 30th October 2013<br /><b>Viewing figures</b>: <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a527765/poirot-holds-steady-at-44m-for-second-episode-on-itv.html">4.37 million (excl 285,000 0n +1)</a><br /><b>Press pack</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-packs/poirot-dead-mans-folly#.UmmA6hAw81c">Dead Man's Folly: Production Notes</a> (includes interviews with David Suchet, Zoë Wanamaker and Tom Ellis)<br /><b>Clip</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/agatha-christies-poirot-dead-mans-folly-video#.UmmFLhAw81c">Dead Man's Folly (video)</a><br /><b>Trailer</b>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w9LE_U5JRc">Dead Man's Folly (trailer)</a><br /><b>Reviews</b>: <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cprp72/agatha-christies-poirot--series-13---3-dead-mans-folly">Radio Times</a> (spoiler free), <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/10415912/Poirot-Dead-Mans-Folly-ITV-review.html">The Telegraph</a>, <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-previews/what-time-agatha-christies-poirot-2653973">Mirror</a><br /><b>Photos</b>: see <a href="http://david-suchet.ru/en/photos/article/245-final-day-of-shooting-agatha-christies-poirot-2013/43-photos">these stunning behind-the-scenes photos</a> from Dasha's David Suchet website. Also, <a href="http://sghaywood.wordpress.com/?page_id=515&preview=true">here's the official stills</a> - a lovely collection of photos!<br /><br />Read my episode-by-episode look at 'Dead Man's Folly' <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2013/11/episode-by-episode-dead-mans-folly.html">here</a>. <br /><br /> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>S13E4: The Labours of Hercules</b></span><br /><b>Produced</b>: April/May 2013<br /><b>Airs</b>: Wednesday 6th November 2013<br /><b>Viewing figures</b>: <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a529453/poirot-holds-firm-with-audience-of-42-million-on-itv.html">4.21 million (excl 365,000 on +1)</a><br /><b>Press pack</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-packs/poirot-labours-hercules#">The Labours of Hercules: Production Notes</a><br /><b>Trailer</b>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsGjUhsZQuo">The Labours of Hercules (trailer)</a> <br /><b>Clip</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/agatha-christies-poirot-labours-hercules-video#.Une3l-JbeQI">The Labours of Hercules (video)</a><br /><b>Reviews</b>: <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cpymk5/agatha-christies-poirot--series-13---4-the-labours-of-hercules">Radio Times</a> (spoiler free), <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10431162/Poirot-The-Labours-of-Hercules-ITV-review.html">The Telegraph</a><br /><b>Photos</b>: See my post: <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2013/10/first-promotional-photos-from-labours.html">'First promotional photos from The Labours of Hercules'</a><br /><br />An episode-by-episode look at 'The Labours of Hercules' will be up by next week. </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKJe6hB49s1SAYrbOQRGac6Z9VM035we1g_nZFYIl9SknO-55Slfov_Nv3eq76zWwS2SlvRMyazVViwQDGD1DY_TIWtVOQkYlUaMv-Dj-PGZ9s57oYYMnWsVZLqNV3z2Ooacc9cCiL2Do/s1600/Poirot+Curtain+first+promotional+photo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKJe6hB49s1SAYrbOQRGac6Z9VM035we1g_nZFYIl9SknO-55Slfov_Nv3eq76zWwS2SlvRMyazVViwQDGD1DY_TIWtVOQkYlUaMv-Dj-PGZ9s57oYYMnWsVZLqNV3z2Ooacc9cCiL2Do/s640/Poirot+Curtain+first+promotional+photo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>S13E5: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case</b></span><br /><b>Produced</b>: October/November 2012<br /><b>Airs</b>: Wednesday 13th November 2013 (confirmed!) <br /><b>Viewing figures</b>: N/A<br /><b>Press pack</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-packs/curtain-poirot%E2%80%99s-last-case#.UnEyq_ldArU">Curtain: Poirot's Last Case: Production Notes</a>. Here's the <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep5week46/agatha-christies-poirot-curtain-poirots-last-case#.UmwGtBAw81c">press release</a>.<br /><b>Trailer</b>: N/A ( <a href="http://investigatingpoirot.blogspot.no/2013/10/the-end-is-near_10.html">'The End is Near'</a> trailer is amazing!)<br /><b>Clip</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/agatha-christies-poirot-curtain-poirots-last-case-video#.UnvZS-LiRco">Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (video)</a> <br /><b>Reviews</b>: <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cp55f8/agatha-christies-poirot--series-13---5-curtain-poirots-final-case">Radio Times</a> (spoiler free)<br /><b>Photos</b>: see below for a behind-the-scenes shot of Suchet. Also, have a look at <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2479338/Hercule-Poirot-prepares-unravel-final-TV-murder-24-years-television.html">this article</a> from The Daily Mail, and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10374111/David-Suchet-interview-Poirot-has-been-my-best-friend.html">this article</a> from The Telegraph. Both include several photos.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Documentary: Being Poirot</span></b><br /><b>Produced</b>: Summer 2013 (?)<br /><b>Airs</b>: Wednesday 13th November 2013 (immediately after Curtain)<br /><b>Press release</b>: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week46/being-poirot#.Um5Tl_ldArU">Being Poirot</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Behind the scenes articles & interviews</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/439374/Poirot-s-last-case-After-25-years-his-detective-days-are-numbered">http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/439374/Poirot-s-last-case-After-25-years-his-detective-days-are-numbered</a><br /><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/439451/Labour-of-Hercule-Poirot-25-years-of-mysteries">http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/439451/Labour-of-Hercule-Poirot-25-years-of-mysteries</a><br /><a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-10-23/agatha-christies-poirot-discover-the-locations-of-the-hit-detective-series">http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-10-23/agatha-christies-poirot-discover-the-locations-of-the-hit-detective-series</a><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/25-years-70-episodes-700-million-viewers-suchet-hangs-up-his-homburg-8918419.html?origin=internalSearch">http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/25-years-70-episodes-700-million-viewers-suchet-hangs-up-his-homburg-8918419.html</a><br /><a href="http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/the-end-of-an-era-for-poirot-25-years-70-episodes-700-million-viewers-29721440.html">http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/the-end-of-an-era-for-poirot-25-years-70-episodes-700-million-viewers-29721440.html</a><br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2481668/David-Suchet-hardest-days-filming-career--pain-saying-goodbye-Hercule-Poirot.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2481668/David-Suchet-hardest-days-filming-career--pain-saying-goodbye-Hercule-Poirot.html</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>DVD releases: 'The Definitive Collection' and 'Collection 9'</b></span><br />Available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk. Release Date: 18 November 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agatha-Christies-Poirot-Definitive-Collection/dp/B00EQ30DDQ/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_3_G7DS">The Definitive Collection</a> will contain all seventy episodes, plus Suchet's Being Poirot documentary, an interview with David Suchet, the David Suchet on the Orient Express documentary and a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of Murder on the Orient Express.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agatha-Christies-Poirot-Collection-DVD/dp/B006NVU7WG/ref=pd_sim_d_h__2">Collection 9</a> will contain the final five episodes, plus Suchet's Being Poirot documentary and an interview with David Suchet.</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com62tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-55007644799665879882013-11-07T18:46:00.003+01:002020-04-06T17:47:34.724+02:00Episode-by-episode: Dead Man's Folly<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This episode was based on the novel <i>Dead Man's Folly</i>, first published in 1956. It was adapted by Nick Dear (by now one of the 'regulars'), and directed by Tom Vaughan. <br /><br /><b>Script versus novel</b><br />Nick Dear's script is a very faithful retelling of the novel. Certain sections are moved around, some have a slightly different setting, and some sections are shortened down (especially the interviews), but most of the action is kept intact. Let's look at some of the changes. Obviously, the time setting has bee changed from post-war 1950s to pre-war 1930s. This doesn't manifest itself in any particular changes, apart from the deaths of Mrs Folliat's sons. Moreover, Dear adds an opening sequence that takes place a year before the investigation. The incident is based on conversations with Mrs Folliat and Merdell later in the novel. These opening sequences from the past that will later have an impact on the plot have become a norm on these productions over the years; a number of episodes have the same addition. Furthermore, the telephone call from Mrs Oliver in the opening chapter is removed, including Miss Lemon and the Whitehaven setting. Miss Lemon's absence makes sense, both because this episode isn't explicitly set after The Big Four, and because Poirot is in semi-retirement at this point of his career. George the valet could have made an appearance, but they probably decided not to include him because of availability issues or costs. Instead, Poirot has received a telegram from Mrs Oliver and is on his way from the station when we first see him. Some characters are deleted in the subsequent sections, including the Mastertons (though Mrs Masterton becomes Warburton's wife, and Warburton becomes a Member of Parliament), Sergeant Cottrell (his lines are given to Hoskins instead), the Chief Constable, and Mrs and Mr Tucker (Marlene's parents). None of these deletions really impact the story, and they are probably all a result of time constraints rather than creative decisions. A subplot involving Alec Legge and a man in a turtle-patterned shirt is deleted (probably due to time constraints, or possibly the fact that it doesn't really add anything to the plot). The incident in the camellia garden with Mrs Oliver and Poirot is deleted, and so is the police re-enactment of the possible drowning of Hattie.<br /><br />Finally, the ending is changed. The setting from the denouement is changed from Folliat's lodge to the boathouse (they seem to have avoided the lodge throughout - I wonder if the location was unavailable or didn't suit the period setting?). Also, in the novel, the fate of the Mrs Folliat and her son is left open ('Will you leave me alone now? There are some things that one has to face quite alone...'). Here, Mrs Folliat asks Poirot to allow her to meet her son before she is arrested. He allows it, 'as a courtesy from an old gentleman'. She goes to James's study and tells him to do exactly what she tells him to do, for once in his life. Outside, two shots are heard, and they presumably commit a murder-suicide. Poirot seems to approve of this with the final word of the episode: 'Bon'. The new ending is intriguing. It gives the Folliats a more explicit fate, but we are not told who killed whom (reminiscent of <i>Elephants Can Remember</i>). Also, it's interesting to view Poirot's changed sense of justice since his encounter with the culprits in <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i>. The decision he had to make there has obviously affected his sense of justice (although he has 'allowed' suicides before - <i>Peril at End House</i>, <i>The Hollow</i> etc). <br /><br />All in all, Dear has done an excellent job. The script is very faithful to its source material. He must know Christie pretty much inside out by now, having adapted a total of six episodes. That doesn't come close to Clive Exton, but his adaptations have generally done justice to the novels they were based on (possibly apart from the ending of <i>Cards on the Table</i>).<br /><br /><b>Direction, production design, locations, soundtrack</b><br />Tom Vaughan's direction really suits the atmosphere of the story and the location. He utilises the garden, the boathouse, and the woods to their utmost potential. They almost become a character of their own, helped along by the crows in the trees (reminiscent of The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor). The garden fête scene feels slightly rushed, but it does convey the hustle and bustle of the event. The production team have done an excellent job with the fête and the particularly colourful costumes in this episode. The main location used was Greenway, Agatha Christie's holiday home. It's a beautiful setting, and it really affects the way the story progresses. The house becomes a character of its own. Christian Henson's soundtrack works well for the episode (notice the minute hints to the theme tune every now and then). Some might find the muted brass instruments a bit too much, but I think they work for the atmosphere the adaptation is trying to create.<br /><br /><b>Characters and actors</b><br />Poirot is generally quite displeased with his skills this time around. That's partly based on the novel, but certain minute references are added to his 'grey cells' slowing down. Then there's his changing sense of justice, as evidenced in the end scene. It will be interesting to view this episode again when all 70 episodes have aired and consider the development of his sense of justice and morality. Of course, plenty of Poirot's eccentricities are added. He 'twirls his moustache to a ferocious couple of points' (the sentence, taken from the novel, was even a scene description in the script!), he struggles with the countryside and walking around in the woods, and he takes an instant dislike to the students in shorts. Also, there's a particularly funny scene with a large Kewpie doll, taken straight from the novel. Apparently, the scene was not intended to be included in the script, but Suchet asked for its inclusion (which reminds me of the scene with the marrow he insisted on for <i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i>). The interaction between Suchet and Wanamaker is as brilliant as ever. Ariadne's incoherent police interview reminded me of the peacock scene from Third Girl. The afternoon tea between them in London was a nice addition. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Poirot called Ariadne back to Nasse by a telegram, the exact same method and the exact same meeting place (the battery). It highlighted the sense of humour between them. I only wish they had included the tiny reference to Hastings in that scene (but that's a minor complaint). The final exchange between them, on their two favourite methods (deduction and intuition) was also a nice touch.<br /><br />Of the guest actors, Sinead Cusack stood out as Mrs Folliat. Sean Pertwee did a good job as Sir George, and several of the actors in minor roles suited their characters perfectly. The lack of an Italian accent (or small grammatical mistakes) in Stephanie Leonidas' Hattie was something of a plot hole. Similarly, Fransesca Zoutewelle's Dutch accent seemed a bit overdone, but then again the point of her character is to stand out as 'foreign', so perhaps it was necessary.</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-72560399544516753352013-11-03T09:11:00.000+01:002020-04-06T17:49:13.055+02:00'The Labours of Hercules': Screenshots from AleKino broadcast<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"ueetba", a Poirot fan from Poland, very kindly sent me these screenshots from the broadcast of <i>The Labours of Hercules</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-12774184619199598542013-10-31T19:19:00.003+01:002020-04-06T18:15:03.302+02:00Adapting Poirot: Q&A with Ian Hallard<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is a very special blog post! Screenwriter and actor Ian Hallard kindly offered to do a Q&A on the process of adapting <i>Agatha Christie's Poirot</i> stories for television. He has co-written <i>The Big Four</i> (2013) with Mark Gatiss, and acted as a script associate on the other adaptations Gatiss has scripted, <i>Cat Among the Pigeons</i> (2008) and <i>Hallowe'en Party</i> (2010). He also played Edmund Drake in <i>Hallowe'en Party</i>, and appeared in a cameo as Mercutio in <i>The Big Four</i>.<br /><br />This Q&A offers a rare glimpse behind-the-scenes of the television series we all love. A big thanks to Hallard for taking the time to do this!<br /><br />SPOILERS on <i>Cat Among the Pigeons</i>, <i>Hallowe'en Party</i> and <i>The Big Four</i> follow. Don't read on if you haven't seen the adaptations. <br /><br /><b>1) You and Mark have adapted some of the ‘impossible’ Christies. Were you commissioned for these or could you choose from the remaining novels?</b><br /><br />Mark was approached due to an existing working relationship with Damien Timmer, the executive producer on the Christies, and asked if he’d be interested in adapting one of the remaining stories. That must have been in about 2005 or 2006, by which time most of the classic novels had already been produced, and ITV were left with an increasingly diminishing pile of books which, with the best will in the world, could not be described as the cream of Dame Agatha’s oeuvre! Nevertheless, we are both lifelong Christie lovers, so we jumped at the chance to collaborate on them. Mark initially said he’d be interested in ‘The Big Four’ purely because of the challenge involved, but instead he was asked to consider ‘Cat among the Pigeons’. Then, a couple of years later, we were asked to do ‘Hallowe’en Party’, presumably because they thought it would be a good match for Mark and his sense of the macabre. And finally, when the last 5 stories were greenlit, after all those years, the call came for ‘The Big Four’. So we pretty much did the ones we were assigned, with the exception of requesting ‘The Big Four’. Though we definitely got the impression that no one else was clamouring to adapt it!<br /><br /><b>2) How does the process work? Page by page? Script meetings? Producer/Suchet involvement? Number of drafts? </b><br /><br />It varies from one script to the next. Usually there will be some kind of discussion with the production team about what we and they think the story needs, and what is achievable on the budget and within the 90 minute time scale. ‘Cat’ was relatively straightforward to adapt, as the structure is strong, and we were able to stick pretty closely to the story beats of the original. ‘Hallowe’en’ is more rambling, so that required more work, and then ‘Four’ even more so. Mark and I spend hours, days, weeks(!), forensically dissecting every element of the plot and the characters – deciding on any themes we want to highlight and what we think is expendable. We talk through all the potential plot holes, logic problems and any restructuring of the plot. Then finally we get on with the writing of it! Once the first draft is delivered, we meet with the producer and the script editor to discuss it, we agree on a set of notes, and then we work on a second draft and the process continues until we’re all happy with what we have. As you get nearer to the shoot and the director has come on board, he may suggest a change based on a particular location that has been found and which would work particularly well for a specific moment. David Suchet deliberately chooses only to read the very last draft or two, because he doesn’t want to get too attached to a scene, a character or even a line that may end up being cut!<br /><br /><b>3) What constraints are placed on you by ITV, the Christie estate, and the producers? (e.g. costs, creative licence, series continuity, character development?)</b><br /><br />We’ve had relatively free rein regarding creative decisions, although it’s a collaborative process, and every adaptation has involved lengthy discussions about what stays and what goes and the overall tenor of an episode. <br /><br />Some of the decisions are purely logistical. For example, with ‘Hallowe’en’ we were told right from the start that Zoe Wanamaker was only available for the first two weeks of the shoot, which unfortunately meant that Ariadne’s involvement in the story had to be limited in some way. We came up with the idea of a cold confining her to her bed, meaning she could still be a continuing presence, but also that all her scenes could be shot all at once over a day or two and so hopefully you don’t feel her absence too strongly!<br /><br />You’re constantly aware that even for a high budget, prestige show like ‘Poirot’, the funds are not limitless. So, as we write, we’re bearing in mind that if we include any more than sixteen or so guest speaking characters, we’re going to be asked to cull some of them. Equally, during filming, moving between multiple locations is time-consuming and expensive, so a producer will always be grateful if you can limit the number of different locations, and put as many scenes as possible in the same place. (This is particularly relevant in a more ‘episodic’ story like ‘The Big Four’.)<br /><br /><b>4) Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon are back! Could you describe the process of reintroducing them?</b><br /><br />Well, we always knew that Hastings was going to be returning in ‘Curtain’, so we wanted ‘The Big Four’ to be mostly Japp’s farewell story. In fact, we were concerned that, after all this time, the emotional impact of Hastings and Poirot’s reunion in ‘Curtain’ might be diluted if we’d only just seen the two of them so recently. For a while we debated whether Hastings should appear in our episode at all! Hopefully we ended up having the best of both worlds by only bringing Poirot and Hastings together in the final minute of the episode.<br /><br />It was Damien Timmer who suggested we use this as a final ‘walkdown’ for the Old Guard, and of course it’s a nice coincidence that ‘The Big Four’ can refer to Poirot, Hastings, Lemon and Japp as well.<br /><br />Also – and I don’t think this is really a spoiler – the fact that Poirot stages his own death in the novel gave us the opportunity of dramatising his funeral with his oldest friends, which isn’t something you’ll see in ‘Curtain’.<br /><br />In terms of their backstories, it’s muddied a bit by the fact that in the series’ chronology, it’s only actually been a couple of years since they all saw each other, whereas of course, in the real world, it’s more like eleven or twelve! Consequently, we’re in a strange situation where the gap feels much longer for the audience than it does for the characters! As a result, we decided to keep the time scale and the circumstances deliberately vague. We wanted a sense that they had drifted apart as people often do, and that as Poirot himself has aged and become a more sombre and solitary character, they have not been part of each other’s lives very much. We leave it to the audience’s imagination as to why this might have come about, but Miss Lemon’s line that she supposes Poirot must have grown used to acting on his own these days, hints at a certain melancholy which fits in with the mood of these final valedictory episodes.<br /><br /><b>5) Purists’ reactions to the plot changes are mixed, particularly the new ‘denouement’, Achille/Vera/Tysoe. Why were these changes made?</b><br /><br />We’ve approached every script with the intention of maximising its strengths and staying as true to the source material as possible. Nothing gets altered or omitted without good reason. Of the three we’ve worked on, ‘The Big Four’ is obviously the adaptation that departs most significantly from the novel – and this is for a variety of reasons. <br /><br />It’s no coincidence that it’s been left till the very end, and although the book is a lot of fun, I think you’d be hard pressed to describe it as any kind of classic: it does show signs of being cobbled together in a hurry. Poirot suddenly becomes a mixture of Sherlock Holmes and a pre-Bond James Bond; globetrotting, getting kidnapped and blown up, all of which is not very consistent with the character we’ve seen develop in the TV series over the years, especially now he’s in his old age. In addition, the villain who is a ‘master of disguise’ is all very well on the page - but how do you successfully conceal the same actor playing five or six different parts without either the characters or your audience twigging? And the Fu Manchu-like evil ‘Chinaman’ definitely feels like a product of its time and wasn’t an element of the story that we particularly wanted to perpetuate in the twenty-first century!<br /><br />The one instruction we had from ITV and the producers when we started work was that the adaptation had to, as much as possible, resemble a traditional episode of 'Poirot'. And of course, we knew that the budget would never stretch to filming in a variety of foreign locations with a guest cast of thirty to forty characters. So it was always a case of trying to come up with something which represented the fun and craziness of the novel, whilst still grounding it in some kind of reality.<br /><br />We decided to focus on the three murder mysteries within the story – ‘Leg of Mutton’, ‘Chess Problem’ and ‘Yellow Jasmine’, as we thought these were stronger than the pure ‘thriller’ episodes where Hastings or Poirot get kidnapped and then escape from the villains. The problem we encountered is that once you accept the notion of the Big Four as this incredibly powerful cabal, with limitless supplies of wealth, power and intelligence at their disposal, the cases do end up seeming rather trivial. For example, in ‘Chess Problem’, Christie has Number Four spending months masquerading as Dr Savaranoff in order to inherit his money. But why bother when you have Abe Ryland – the richest man in the world – on your team?! Then there’s ‘Leg of Mutton’ which has a clever solution, but again, if the terrifying and all-powerful Big Four want to kill off Whalley, why mess about having to dress up as a butcher in order to do it?<br /><br />So Mark came up with the idea that rather than the Big Four being real, they could all be the fantasy of just one man. That would explain why some of the cases might at first seem comparatively inconsequential, and remove the curse of the secret society which “sounded like something out of a book”. It also gave us something the book doesn’t have and which you ideally want in a Poirot episode – a twist for Poirot to reveal at the denouement. And given that in the book Darrell is an actor, it seemed logical to play up that element and explore the theatrical setting.<br /><br />We needed a way for our villain to publicise his scheme. How about an ambitious journalist to do the job, and whip up some public hysteria in the febrile atmosphere of 1939? Enter Tysoe. He was then able to be a conduit between Darrell and Poirot and provide a succession of false clues and red herrings.<br /><br />We lost Countess Rossakoff because we couldn’t find a way to work her into the narrative in this new structure. With Japp, Lemon and Hastings also around, plus the three separate murder mysteries, there simply wasn’t time to do justice to her. And again, we knew she was going to feature in ‘The Labours of Hercules’, so we felt we could cut her with a clear conscience!<br /><br />Deleting Achille was a much harder decision. It had been one of the things that we’d been excited about doing when embarking on ‘The Big Four’. However, the idea of Achille just being a clone of Hercule seemed a bit dull and rather a wasted opportunity, so for a long while, we considered making him a complete contrast to Poirot: an unshaven, slovenly womaniser. But whilst this would have been fun, ultimately we couldn’t imagine Poirot being able to suppress his fastidiousness sufficiently to convince in the role. He isn’t a master of disguise like Sherlock Holmes after all – so would Japp and the others have gone along with the charade despite presumably seeing through it? (Not even Japp is that stupid, after all!) It would have been fun, but with the plot steam-rolling its way to its conclusion, it just ended up being another element that we would have had to explain with yet further exposition at the end. A shame to lose him, but we wanted to focus on the funeral and Poirot’s reunion with his friends instead.<br /><br />I did get a tweet from a very angry man who said he was 'livid' and that Mark and I should be arrested for the outrages we had perpetrated on the book! Well, you're never going to please everybody. If you hate the adaptation that much, you can always go back and read the book and you never have to watch the TV version again! Would purists only be happy if they see every single character and episode from the novel faithfully recreated on the screen? The story has to work for an audience who know nothing of the original material, and who have no interest in seeing it preserved in aspic. As long as we're satisfied we've done the best job we can, that's all we can aim for, although of course it is nice if people enjoy your work, and happily we received plenty of positive messages and tweets and only one or two which were negative!<br /><br /><b>6) Generally speaking, how do you decide what to cut/keep/add/change in the various adaptations? </b><br /><br />Sometimes it’s very simple. The novel of 'Cat' had more characters than we could do justice to on screen, so some inevitably had to go, and Miss Vansittart was an obvious candidate. She's really a paler imitation of Miss Bulstrode, so we didn’t feel she would be much missed, plus it made sense to make Miss Rich the second ‘victim’ instead. By having Miss Chadwick fail in her murder attempt, it made her a more sympathetic character, ready for when she redeems herself at the end by saving Miss Bulstrode’s life.<br /><br />Other changes in ‘Cat’ were made for a bit of added colour. We made Miss Springer nastier, a blackmailer, and killed her with a javelin rather than a gun. (Although when we wrote it we never imagined Ann launching her spear from across the other side of the sports hall - which goes to show you can never predict exactly how a director might choose to interpret your script!)<br /><br />Ann disguising herself in order to get her hands on the tennis racquet is another example of something which is straightforward on the page but much harder to translate to the screen, so that episode was eliminated. And Miss Blake didn’t have a motive in the book, so we added one, and the intrigue of the voodoo doll gave us a nice segue into the commercial break – which is another thing you constantly have to have in your mind when writing for ITV!<br /><br />The biggest change was probably involving Poirot right from the start. As a late Christie, she clearly would rather not have had him in it at all, but obviously that was never going to happen!<br /><br />When it came to ‘Hallowe’en Party’, we knew we’d have to be a bit more inventive. After the startling and arresting image of the murder victim in the apple bobbing tub, the rest of the story is very much late Christie – meandering and a bit repetitive. We wanted to extend the atmosphere and spookiness of Hallowe’en beyond the party itself into the rest of the episode (it gets a bit forgotten about in the book). So we added sequences like Rowena being stalked in the garden, Ariadne’s nightmare and Poirot’s fireside story denouement. Also, most of the characters are single women living alone, which in a dramatisation isn’t much help, as you need characters to interact with each other. It’s all very well being told that Rowena Drake is a dreadful and bossy woman, but far more effective to give her two children to be unpleasant to – then you can show it! And we rather liked the idea of the insular village populated principally by women. The only male residents we see are the elderly vicar, Edmund the mummy’s boy, and strange Leopold. So it’s no wonder all the women are transfixed and swooning at the arrival of the exotic Michael Garfield!<br /><br />Equally, with a limited number of cast members, you want to maximise your cast of characters and try to make everyone as suspicious as possible. Consequently, we omitted Supt. Spence and his sister, and gave their function to Mrs Goodbody. That’s often the case with an adaptation – you find a way of combining several characters into one: so Mrs Goodbody gets to be a source of information and a suspect and thematic colour as the ‘witch’ at the party.<br /><br />You also don’t have long to establish each character and give them a motive: you want to make them distinctive enough to give the actor something to get their teeth into and to make them memorable for an audience - particularly when they don't have very much screen time, hence Rev Cottrell being the penny-pinching vicar, Mrs Reynolds the moaning martyr and Frances the bored and boozy vixen!<br /><br />You quickly realise how succinct you need to be with your story telling to fit everything into ninety minutes. A character or a scene really has to justify their place in telling the story in order to survive being cut.<br /><br /><b>7) Did the fact that The Big Four is one of the final episodes, essentially a build-up to Curtain, impact your script choices at all?</b><br /><br />Impact upon! (That was Mark popping in to make a contribution, by the way.) Other than reuniting Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon, and giving us the chance to show Poirot’s funeral, not especially. Given the more sombre tone of the later episodes, it had to feel thematically consistent with the rest of the series, which a completely faithful adaptation of the source material would have struggled to do.<br /><br /><b>8) I also run a Poirot chronology blog. What made you decide on 1939? Have you had a particular series chronology in mind in your three adaptations?</b><br /><br />Our brief for all of the episodes has been to keep the period setting as the 1930s. Given that the novel is a departure for Poirot into the world of international intrigue, and as time is marching on for him, it made sense to move the story into the months preceding World War II. Other than that, it’s really the series producer and script editors who keep an eye on that sort of thing. Sometimes the art department ask for a decision on when exactly the script is set to produce a prop, for example a newspaper which requires that information.<br /><br /><b>9) You mentioned on Twitter that you would have included all of Poirot's friends at his funeral in The Big Four if the budget had been unlimited, and that Ariadne Oliver was in an early draft. Any other scenes or characters you would like to mention that didn’t survive the time/budget constraints, in The Big Four, Cat Among the Pigeons, and Hallowe'en Party? </b><br /><br />Yes how wonderful would that have been! To see rows of characters paying their respects – Col. Race, Miss Bulstrode, Supt. Spence, Colin Lamb, Ariadne... It’s always annoying when soap opera characters die and their kids who apparently live in the next town don't bother to show up at the funeral! There was supposed to be a big floral wreath from Ariadne but I'm not sure whether that ended up being shot. And yes, in the first draft, it was Ariadne rather than Hastings who burst through the door at the end with the line “I thought you were dead!”<br /><br />As for other casualties: there's nothing too significant I think. A romantic scene between Adam Goodman and Ann Shapland had to be dropped from 'Cat' because they ran out of time to shoot it. Mrs Reynolds had a husband in an early draft of 'Hallowe'en' who didn't survive to the final shooting script.<br /><br />And our first pass at 'Four' experimented with a suggestion of a romantic attraction between Poirot and Mme Olivier (she also inherited some of the characteristics of Countess Rossakoff) – but maybe that would have been a sacrilege too far!<br /><br /><b>10) There are plenty of references to past episodes in The Big Four. Some fans have also pointed out that there are several nods to Sherlock. Were these deliberate? </b><br /><br />Similarities to Sherlock? Well of course the original novel is directly indebted to so many aspects of Conan Doyle's work, which Christie herself actually acknowledges with the sly comment that Poirot makes about all great detectives having brothers who would be even more celebrated were it not for constitutional indolence! Life is littered with so many of these coincidences: even down to the fact that Mark of course plays Mycroft Holmes (the equivalent of Achille) in 'Sherlock'. The irony is that we've been pencilled to work on 'The Big Four' for years now – long before 'Sherlock' was even a twinkle in Mark and Steven Moffat's eyes! And yet Mark, by sheer coincidence, ended up working on 'The Big Four' and his new 'Sherlock' episode 'The Empty Hearse' at more or less the same time, when of course both stories deal with our heroes' apparent demises and subsequent resurrections.<br /><br />Other nods? Some of them were deliberate: the letter to Miss Bulstrode for instance, the references to Mrs Japp, the lines about “bringing down the curtain”, and the themes of thwarted or frustrated egos - for both Darrell and Flossie – but also for Poirot of course! As Darrell rightly points out, there's absolutely no need for Poirot to stage these elaborate denouements, much less fake his own death – it's just that he adores a theatrical flourish. Both Mark and I have always been interested in that side of the character. Poirot in the books is a vain, pompous, insufferable little egomaniac, so it's fun to tweak everyone's expectations of him, to undercut the image of this twinkly, avuncular figure, and expose the less pleasant side of his personality!<br /><br /><b>11) Finally, was the new ending (The Big Four) inspired by <a href="http://presscentre.itvstatic.com/presscentre/sites/presscentre/files/Poirot%20The%20Big%20Four%202013.pdf">the story of Suchet's grandparents</a> or the location you filmed in?</b><br /><br />Yes, I saw David's interviews about his grandparents, and I'm afraid I have to spoil the romance! We didn't know the story beforehand and it wasn't an inspiration for the film's climax. Nor did we write it with a specific location in mind - Hackney Empire was simply the choice of the production team.<br /><br /><i>Please do not reproduce without permission. Contact me via e-mail (poirotchronology@gmail.com) or on Twitter (@pchronology).</i><br /><br /><i>A big thanks to Tom, a fellow Poirot fan, for brilliant question ideas!</i></span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-64516982003012036202013-10-31T18:18:00.001+01:002020-04-06T18:21:54.798+02:00A frame-by-frame look: Polish trailer for 'The Labours of Hercules'!<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Labours of Hercules</i> airs tomorrow in Poland, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ui_TtsD4mc">a trailer</a> has finally been released. ITV also released a <a href="http://presscentre.itvstatic.com/presscentre/sites/presscentre/files/Poirot%20The%20Labours%20of%20Hercules.pdf">press pack</a> today. By the way, this won't be spoiler-free, so if you don't want to know anything - look away now. If you do, then you should read the press pack synopsis as well, because that will help you understand the screencaps.OK. Let's have a closer look:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMKtAeSmeQid5UnyIiFxoJrAoMpHtQM3qudAVDAFpKVZpyJofAyssmfexdvRqLxi8xY5_bg0_fN6qR52qvh2EeVUD-IWvb6sGZ6XnTOA8IosuhyzxbXqVvxeCvcAXLZ-gEl38U8ozc83t/s1600/L1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMKtAeSmeQid5UnyIiFxoJrAoMpHtQM3qudAVDAFpKVZpyJofAyssmfexdvRqLxi8xY5_bg0_fN6qR52qvh2EeVUD-IWvb6sGZ6XnTOA8IosuhyzxbXqVvxeCvcAXLZ-gEl38U8ozc83t/s320/L1.jpg" /></a><br /><br />First shot - and we're in the Swiss Alps! Slightly worried about the obvious CGI work here (understandable as it is, given the budget). The location is taken from 'The Erymanthian Boar', which is the central story of the adaptation (judging by this trailer and the press releases so far).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9VWYFe4MzHXzosQ62elGt-lsWDwKsctbmBELsdHuRs9COANaDd4o0FOSRQdexQaAKZ-v5sZ6JLeUw24R_pCcqUnz2muzpx-oUuLO_Xpd8yYVhDjaTu8g6MKAGiXtZlkrEmwHNXi0tlsO/s1600/L2.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9VWYFe4MzHXzosQ62elGt-lsWDwKsctbmBELsdHuRs9COANaDd4o0FOSRQdexQaAKZ-v5sZ6JLeUw24R_pCcqUnz2muzpx-oUuLO_Xpd8yYVhDjaTu8g6MKAGiXtZlkrEmwHNXi0tlsO/s320/L2.png" /></a><br />This is a new character, not present in any of the short stories: Francesco, the owner of the hotel. Fake snow! Hooray.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdQUlxUsyk0ruILr7damFxAEyMpHrolgII377-AbAE5-JYYoTqE0f62k2Qzm_121ltQFmL2Dp22kklwEV2rQ-sDl6YLQJLGeROp_ZOtkFGiALwYFqpgN6DCO3w9MZU6UFWDjeBdeP9zPw/s1600/L3.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdQUlxUsyk0ruILr7damFxAEyMpHrolgII377-AbAE5-JYYoTqE0f62k2Qzm_121ltQFmL2Dp22kklwEV2rQ-sDl6YLQJLGeROp_ZOtkFGiALwYFqpgN6DCO3w9MZU6UFWDjeBdeP9zPw/s320/L3.jpg" /></a><br />...aaand more fake snow! The location used is Halton House, Aylesbury.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMeLEJ0Z4F9ofAjPV-b-fCQFIVpa7fi1a1gmOmhYwEwL76NVxDf7zrMbv5pQ1EI7-O0AEztUDJmtq8FL6tvVTDQnV_-Fd9TbMemgXbQ1Mbpn-sqyU4B7_lFIssdImk7Io1kuOPghSEcL9N/s1600/L4.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMeLEJ0Z4F9ofAjPV-b-fCQFIVpa7fi1a1gmOmhYwEwL76NVxDf7zrMbv5pQ1EI7-O0AEztUDJmtq8FL6tvVTDQnV_-Fd9TbMemgXbQ1Mbpn-sqyU4B7_lFIssdImk7Io1kuOPghSEcL9N/s320/L4.jpg" /></a><br />Here's our leading man. In what looks like <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> mode? (He's wearing the same coat, scarf and hat)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8sGd1B2PXj2DzPcIKO9nm0AypO_LNp4cWD8C5XtYlhR7Zav_5LlrBHTVcocuSCUlEgH5Tdyg4UFPgwuiwdxtrGxmWd9uC8ac1_gcOkzyLsosSImTyAbdLlHjIuUAqVFQEQoGA54nRB2o/s1600/L5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8sGd1B2PXj2DzPcIKO9nm0AypO_LNp4cWD8C5XtYlhR7Zav_5LlrBHTVcocuSCUlEgH5Tdyg4UFPgwuiwdxtrGxmWd9uC8ac1_gcOkzyLsosSImTyAbdLlHjIuUAqVFQEQoGA54nRB2o/s320/L5.jpg" /></a><br />Now, this is where they lost me. What's going on with the sunglasses? This is in front of the mountain lift they use to get to the hotel (actually built on location next to Halton House, and covered in - you guessed it - more fake snow).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6__56iSgVYgPcU8HoeiuNk1-aXdBB05GfDzVJ4VcV_BgTWRN3z7tmlt1QKdcYxSqla00bE6-dIQJW6FDHo9i2FnXWbSH1ZQBTy-951gYBBiE8I5MLXv6kl7n_ZPLDG__YfrLZaaBSsDr/s1600/L6.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6__56iSgVYgPcU8HoeiuNk1-aXdBB05GfDzVJ4VcV_BgTWRN3z7tmlt1QKdcYxSqla00bE6-dIQJW6FDHo9i2FnXWbSH1ZQBTy-951gYBBiE8I5MLXv6kl7n_ZPLDG__YfrLZaaBSsDr/s320/L6.jpg" /></a><br />Poirot in an apparently empty reception. This has a sort of <i>At Bertram's Hotel</i>-feel to it, don't you think? (not entirely sure if that's a good thing).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlrPdEbSbniasUbIyN2ttWTqA94VyQIyz4SwErWxb1SAMTKKvdm8Y4pElcBn9Ormuvj9dezJl22c7cHcMewElQXm95X6lCH1zt9NuGcW8av4RolPnmpeA68YVU48EyHdpKyyPpeYfVIKr/s1600/L7.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlrPdEbSbniasUbIyN2ttWTqA94VyQIyz4SwErWxb1SAMTKKvdm8Y4pElcBn9Ormuvj9dezJl22c7cHcMewElQXm95X6lCH1zt9NuGcW8av4RolPnmpeA68YVU48EyHdpKyyPpeYfVIKr/s320/L7.png" /></a><br />Guest list! Intriguing. There's a certain Countess staying here as well...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynXHTIQjAtozr4Q1Byus8DIyXaWCI6QSbmbd_xXxkiNhqFfqyVDIkXepgwD1hUGFlq_l4FwToxMPIotcOIUhnpmgp-TKz5F3cwNg2ysjrhWi_HCc3hWqIcQrvgGmWIFEp90tiU3XinZp8/s1600/L9.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynXHTIQjAtozr4Q1Byus8DIyXaWCI6QSbmbd_xXxkiNhqFfqyVDIkXepgwD1hUGFlq_l4FwToxMPIotcOIUhnpmgp-TKz5F3cwNg2ysjrhWi_HCc3hWqIcQrvgGmWIFEp90tiU3XinZp8/s320/L9.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZySlxuDZwBLiwhJzXBAMJwN1ZQiEycv3r22iVGiHVeL43DYlQWTw-6TH0Z71SQIe-fbkndZzLY5IoSX8TNq00WQ6bH4MSSZnbWpFroSoebEm724LO6utRRe-54zIb_uiPyzUBGcm_0mJ/s1600/L8.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZySlxuDZwBLiwhJzXBAMJwN1ZQiEycv3r22iVGiHVeL43DYlQWTw-6TH0Z71SQIe-fbkndZzLY5IoSX8TNq00WQ6bH4MSSZnbWpFroSoebEm724LO6utRRe-54zIb_uiPyzUBGcm_0mJ/s320/L8.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRaSWsHBcVtJy9Z1fX5jCVmoLmEOC8vnWAWYMqr9g6BU2_bjUvTW42_iZKAOLwN14N69rEUNBvXT7FV0HwrrdYvGJRqrqc-VCYigJJEvRKsFYqUwXLyilW8F4w5Du-skVOvpMLpINeCuf/s1600/L10.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRaSWsHBcVtJy9Z1fX5jCVmoLmEOC8vnWAWYMqr9g6BU2_bjUvTW42_iZKAOLwN14N69rEUNBvXT7FV0HwrrdYvGJRqrqc-VCYigJJEvRKsFYqUwXLyilW8F4w5Du-skVOvpMLpINeCuf/s320/L10.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr-LSXR2TtHCc9HpXjXPkoVeJVCExkTTjwHdTEYqN7-0UJNvT-1Hz3kWSVAmjTMr4XzJyoUG86QR6iPKnDfINiq5uCTwkntKpWw4fHh5wWY_qHkeEmi2sXVqzkAEbxwVIBb18L_p0sarF0/s1600/L11.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr-LSXR2TtHCc9HpXjXPkoVeJVCExkTTjwHdTEYqN7-0UJNvT-1Hz3kWSVAmjTMr4XzJyoUG86QR6iPKnDfINiq5uCTwkntKpWw4fHh5wWY_qHkeEmi2sXVqzkAEbxwVIBb18L_p0sarF0/s320/L11.jpg" /></a><br />So... what's going on here, then? The girl with the necklace is Lucinda LeMesurier (a reference to 'The LeMesurier Inheritance'), according to the press pack.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZenkK5vVlK3FLX96_BO3Z1hYpvWIIk4OKGq1BcWoRqwVFHb7Efn6rcWoQW3UoFD9fvhUz8ujZCQcChWnJbM053YkAOjBq-BkjLc4rJsCfIJZUSXd7f1eHr50G-859_3Bab2O7bbG78ZT/s1600/L12.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZenkK5vVlK3FLX96_BO3Z1hYpvWIIk4OKGq1BcWoRqwVFHb7Efn6rcWoQW3UoFD9fvhUz8ujZCQcChWnJbM053YkAOjBq-BkjLc4rJsCfIJZUSXd7f1eHr50G-859_3Bab2O7bbG78ZT/s320/L12.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7A5DpmM3oJXd2bj0s9GuiJ3wNG6zfhuLW9TTYWH40x2sec3XDxuiN8KGL9I-9nq-TWcNidmMFqKzGO8a_OgFFBOKFGArudB8R3JvEKoRhpGl7Vv8A9RxcOGfVku3xkQfPYBqdcpP8ItX7/s1600/L13.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7A5DpmM3oJXd2bj0s9GuiJ3wNG6zfhuLW9TTYWH40x2sec3XDxuiN8KGL9I-9nq-TWcNidmMFqKzGO8a_OgFFBOKFGArudB8R3JvEKoRhpGl7Vv8A9RxcOGfVku3xkQfPYBqdcpP8ItX7/s320/L13.jpg" /></a><br />A painting is missing! 'Hercules Vanquishing the Hydra', according to the press pack.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhklbr6yBAtPZ_DHns8Gr78jRUXtvRRsBFgNDQ_Vm8SwkG2P-i5JPIoZSDajvyisxpqF1DIYFSvU2lQK4Zp1-k2HzV_nm4T0R3ZBQeoH_3RYtT4QuZwOxcwtzvi5edhYZa16fdIwSyRv5dV/s1600/L14.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhklbr6yBAtPZ_DHns8Gr78jRUXtvRRsBFgNDQ_Vm8SwkG2P-i5JPIoZSDajvyisxpqF1DIYFSvU2lQK4Zp1-k2HzV_nm4T0R3ZBQeoH_3RYtT4QuZwOxcwtzvi5edhYZa16fdIwSyRv5dV/s320/L14.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEJBW_TcKXGU3EygX2TFdqKoiEYvSIM3uGYLZbP5hcoYSsKs85FW_zb5lya1znVvFlw4CKTGZ88Si18gfUdT9Omf-mOvR9MG9NWmxgg9cg6hsb1bQEyk2Ybaem-K2oxkrALv2kPR2bH4a/s1600/L15.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEJBW_TcKXGU3EygX2TFdqKoiEYvSIM3uGYLZbP5hcoYSsKs85FW_zb5lya1znVvFlw4CKTGZ88Si18gfUdT9Omf-mOvR9MG9NWmxgg9cg6hsb1bQEyk2Ybaem-K2oxkrALv2kPR2bH4a/s320/L15.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Egufhdmo1Jwq-i6VQ-u32cc3upnasEGr1gmsCAyzn5sbpAu6zsHS06SKbeQe34DGhcMqPvKLCCWSnykL660oiqBu6tx2ljKPJlT-m15WjW8GQ8a41r9Pn5SxzuEiAzBew8KR786siKoN/s1600/L16.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Egufhdmo1Jwq-i6VQ-u32cc3upnasEGr1gmsCAyzn5sbpAu6zsHS06SKbeQe34DGhcMqPvKLCCWSnykL660oiqBu6tx2ljKPJlT-m15WjW8GQ8a41r9Pn5SxzuEiAzBew8KR786siKoN/s320/L16.jpg" /></a><br />Something sinister is going on. Very James Bond-ish.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTa1u-pPiGUxDUGSalq-G_UY32HPQwvY3GfoqgcQnxuwrsJj8s5Q_iq7GBdGlY_8iZ4082H0zffhV_cadsAvmLa7yxu11uBiV5Fblj6MYj70wYGht2TAxhZiShkjDbmJHE8eIDSSknnek/s1600/L17.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTa1u-pPiGUxDUGSalq-G_UY32HPQwvY3GfoqgcQnxuwrsJj8s5Q_iq7GBdGlY_8iZ4082H0zffhV_cadsAvmLa7yxu11uBiV5Fblj6MYj70wYGht2TAxhZiShkjDbmJHE8eIDSSknnek/s320/L17.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPM1cJY6E4waNodDCX6yXysKzUhBR2ed3GbqnoHjgjGGyW855HeqdjT41tyrY0jVV2tTeUxMHVW0C23uzPTSwPuJgKoJDh_gzlKdR5-Iir6P0L-5sAYy_3X5YdV-8MpT9aabNaQrP1iPJ/s1600/L18.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPM1cJY6E4waNodDCX6yXysKzUhBR2ed3GbqnoHjgjGGyW855HeqdjT41tyrY0jVV2tTeUxMHVW0C23uzPTSwPuJgKoJDh_gzlKdR5-Iir6P0L-5sAYy_3X5YdV-8MpT9aabNaQrP1iPJ/s320/L18.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPHCC2nqtSLd6g_M0XnZdWiJv9vFI7aiMgmwvDp_jzKc7F7HiPfCSCvIa3pr5ZU4rOtb9Gz9glggBf1lX_YZ6tXYJp6VXIpRprF7MAw4613bn_iZilRCvaOv5RIgqVpT44Dy8xHBetNfU/s1600/L19.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPHCC2nqtSLd6g_M0XnZdWiJv9vFI7aiMgmwvDp_jzKc7F7HiPfCSCvIa3pr5ZU4rOtb9Gz9glggBf1lX_YZ6tXYJp6VXIpRprF7MAw4613bn_iZilRCvaOv5RIgqVpT44Dy8xHBetNfU/s320/L19.jpg" /></a><br />More fake snow and CGI! (But those mountains look quite impressive, actually).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL98E21d7hOQLYfcgCHaUytN2sniFYQ5HASvjVWxFUc-jizr8mY0rCNfvyn6i8HzyguF0Yv3V7iq3MQBHdBsVgZc5QR-0Uxm8Ciod8bVBFNGbN3NFQqDHp9rXMCpcUfdvCImipRD0hci3g/s1600/L20.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL98E21d7hOQLYfcgCHaUytN2sniFYQ5HASvjVWxFUc-jizr8mY0rCNfvyn6i8HzyguF0Yv3V7iq3MQBHdBsVgZc5QR-0Uxm8Ciod8bVBFNGbN3NFQqDHp9rXMCpcUfdvCImipRD0hci3g/s320/L20.jpg" /></a><br />Here's a waiter who doesn't know what he's doing...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0hoqK_ItknkvrD7wyzmKJgztQSDOMhX79vRKnV-PRR8x-gud7Zph9YMM_4URQzYU2woxNaVZWTLfuye_NteM_3Kxh2HcOMbI3A5YAk91V8DkdKxVAzQQY5QwSzXwcjNmFz_xmx4YbZ0Lj/s1600/L21.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0hoqK_ItknkvrD7wyzmKJgztQSDOMhX79vRKnV-PRR8x-gud7Zph9YMM_4URQzYU2woxNaVZWTLfuye_NteM_3Kxh2HcOMbI3A5YAk91V8DkdKxVAzQQY5QwSzXwcjNmFz_xmx4YbZ0Lj/s320/L21.jpg" /></a><br />Poirot seems to have figured it all out (or has he?). It's his signature 'ah!' move.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbzllGZxIP7LZmcVB4UPwWDj3w5gjqbn8pncni16m0o6knhTNv3XVFwDIWoI4jtLdTgIOeB-YZ5VmKIY5iGGFRBZz2LcQYpSFppNsgNjzrzhyx6su_n1IiNZYxc6b3Pm7snlEyyAW8EQ3/s1600/L22.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbzllGZxIP7LZmcVB4UPwWDj3w5gjqbn8pncni16m0o6knhTNv3XVFwDIWoI4jtLdTgIOeB-YZ5VmKIY5iGGFRBZz2LcQYpSFppNsgNjzrzhyx6su_n1IiNZYxc6b3Pm7snlEyyAW8EQ3/s320/L22.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5wKlfQ377rBVWUXnpRYMkc4pNwO8sV88pde3Q0FCey9Hn5kz52hZ2aD1-NpynY6qP327-cT8NExCwke00iWTXgMigm_XKVev8g6mC3ygI-sazBY3Ml9LPtWQSErcjBTkqtdyCg5GWhjD/s1600/L23.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5wKlfQ377rBVWUXnpRYMkc4pNwO8sV88pde3Q0FCey9Hn5kz52hZ2aD1-NpynY6qP327-cT8NExCwke00iWTXgMigm_XKVev8g6mC3ygI-sazBY3Ml9LPtWQSErcjBTkqtdyCg5GWhjD/s320/L23.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3otmw8iHHa-38DtQv0iXjasOKUR3gAY4DQ25I1oab0J4RrSOjfpiwLbQF8yOMfgMfuudDot2EmjFyXBn_XWvdUhTrkaQIRkh51IusH_jXAz42HyLHwROGPlMwL-HNJwdcPRXP9giH-jm/s1600/L24.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3otmw8iHHa-38DtQv0iXjasOKUR3gAY4DQ25I1oab0J4RrSOjfpiwLbQF8yOMfgMfuudDot2EmjFyXBn_XWvdUhTrkaQIRkh51IusH_jXAz42HyLHwROGPlMwL-HNJwdcPRXP9giH-jm/s320/L24.jpg" /></a><br />Someone is having a bad day... And more James Bond effects!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rJu-SGchneKx8SfBDhDUjnJAdZhkQfk6uMuDjtOh2Obyoq2QJso6fotG9-J6txl1N4cQ1cDhFpkxymmE5_6L-ZVnLlc6oNoPFfaq-Tb3oOlQU8Su6wTzCW2AzpidZFhvU5riY_3Kwt1q/s1600/L25.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rJu-SGchneKx8SfBDhDUjnJAdZhkQfk6uMuDjtOh2Obyoq2QJso6fotG9-J6txl1N4cQ1cDhFpkxymmE5_6L-ZVnLlc6oNoPFfaq-Tb3oOlQU8Su6wTzCW2AzpidZFhvU5riY_3Kwt1q/s320/L25.jpg" /></a><br /> Alice Cunningham might not be exactly what she appears to be.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDN-H-YgMR5Xq8K1umq1BC4ryvKg7p8Hta9nFLYYK8xESbS9IgyavkxN5HEk3Dk0XjPIKSHqoHMK_GBZmdmqrVRY0xbyS2CcLuU0__9GsZ0iNrR0gZ0eYbwnK4iZQNxBwU-E66P7tJoDuc/s1600/L26.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDN-H-YgMR5Xq8K1umq1BC4ryvKg7p8Hta9nFLYYK8xESbS9IgyavkxN5HEk3Dk0XjPIKSHqoHMK_GBZmdmqrVRY0xbyS2CcLuU0__9GsZ0iNrR0gZ0eYbwnK4iZQNxBwU-E66P7tJoDuc/s320/L26.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWClB2dkS7qZLSubC1Te_c6-p964FW5vLYPtq-Twd60WxBW18tfkMjrfZe5pT3KX9iGQ4oSDiDQc3jEIt7xYDvXONgtJyFPEAZadeRs59uVu9d9D-r3cMJzbTkHmLXITp4WtwSXewVQjkp/s1600/L27.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWClB2dkS7qZLSubC1Te_c6-p964FW5vLYPtq-Twd60WxBW18tfkMjrfZe5pT3KX9iGQ4oSDiDQc3jEIt7xYDvXONgtJyFPEAZadeRs59uVu9d9D-r3cMJzbTkHmLXITp4WtwSXewVQjkp/s320/L27.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tcS8xKYdTnl6XoVmrQIeRHBzFEowH3nfLT5Jvj_AVqKHTW672PDr-RGsM69tbhNnggRdilVX8rerLaAME8vjkncdwPsHJgnqvdfZU04n8pK53_sabDJ46znakiHrx8aynQ5F7cogicPc/s1600/L28.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tcS8xKYdTnl6XoVmrQIeRHBzFEowH3nfLT5Jvj_AVqKHTW672PDr-RGsM69tbhNnggRdilVX8rerLaAME8vjkncdwPsHJgnqvdfZU04n8pK53_sabDJ46znakiHrx8aynQ5F7cogicPc/s320/L28.jpg" /></a><br />Poirot seems to be failing after all. Someone's dead! (Lucinda?)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69uxSigWkYwP5YA0mklq6qMUS-gzKttVDVg_v1w7SkOVldlIVp0OhzJp4lg3YEq6-aIUYhlqBRxXa3sHOIPA8gwetA-QdJvPYu28mjZqOyGqiK9z-P0ylGOfSPkCAQ11YlgCfHd8MbQm9/s1600/L29.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69uxSigWkYwP5YA0mklq6qMUS-gzKttVDVg_v1w7SkOVldlIVp0OhzJp4lg3YEq6-aIUYhlqBRxXa3sHOIPA8gwetA-QdJvPYu28mjZqOyGqiK9z-P0ylGOfSPkCAQ11YlgCfHd8MbQm9/s320/L29.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwR1H7_yIM0biQi1viiRoqBMG9KteqnD3I-YdUU627olYeIIRDJiIBVkr8eN-UkgibZW6Pprc7vTRLsanFjZTFakYi4ATgtRCrQwymHktJRumGUq9mjkFhRGHm0fJDS_g5jDWtxw_bpa6/s1600/L30.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwR1H7_yIM0biQi1viiRoqBMG9KteqnD3I-YdUU627olYeIIRDJiIBVkr8eN-UkgibZW6Pprc7vTRLsanFjZTFakYi4ATgtRCrQwymHktJRumGUq9mjkFhRGHm0fJDS_g5jDWtxw_bpa6/s320/L30.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEVrH3cbPV6ChTVCgcRQIfKDIzLCkd1nTRH7OCT80dxZtcb7mRrRNWWE5M_2BQ3fqDu-8iTtwIFTYJeD52tgfWXjM9LMCkbVFrZAmlsV1-Ykj2ia-kUmGKe4npXCWdMAD7D901O_UVK5m0/s1600/L31.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEVrH3cbPV6ChTVCgcRQIfKDIzLCkd1nTRH7OCT80dxZtcb7mRrRNWWE5M_2BQ3fqDu-8iTtwIFTYJeD52tgfWXjM9LMCkbVFrZAmlsV1-Ykj2ia-kUmGKe4npXCWdMAD7D901O_UVK5m0/s320/L31.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9llMuneRSAB17TSnvZgGbRS1JDNTvT9Ic1Xo9NnUb_TvTi65DYg95XLMaxO9D7X1if69KKWw8_47XuN0iSXg4J7PihyphenhyphenUSiazejGk08vQdhG0wGw00xI5lUQaZN__tD4zNVTGZX3ak8PiO/s1600/L32.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9llMuneRSAB17TSnvZgGbRS1JDNTvT9Ic1Xo9NnUb_TvTi65DYg95XLMaxO9D7X1if69KKWw8_47XuN0iSXg4J7PihyphenhyphenUSiazejGk08vQdhG0wGw00xI5lUQaZN__tD4zNVTGZX3ak8PiO/s320/L32.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMOX0ie8f6R102gRY92qpaE98RnPh_3mTOfxJVNTrsDxua-UNrq6oPbqzmEz9v342H99DjRTHI2YTEjXp0IiGDc2s11YAOnSN6B0qM74wvWdEfDkqSQkCltrRkep0IcgkQXa0Xw0zXtoAN/s1600/L34.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMOX0ie8f6R102gRY92qpaE98RnPh_3mTOfxJVNTrsDxua-UNrq6oPbqzmEz9v342H99DjRTHI2YTEjXp0IiGDc2s11YAOnSN6B0qM74wvWdEfDkqSQkCltrRkep0IcgkQXa0Xw0zXtoAN/s320/L34.jpg" /></a><br />OK... Schwartz and Cunningham? Guns? Mexican standoff? Not sure about this.<br /><br />What does everyone think? Judging by the press pack interview with director Andrew Wilson, we're in for a very dark episode exploring Poirot's journey of redemption and retirement.</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-69736475002516517612013-10-30T20:07:00.001+01:002020-04-06T17:57:23.810+02:00Episode-by-episode: The Big Four<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkaSv7VbqoWHl9Biq7FwvayWElHw7Tw9LBLVruGSQ1qbaS4WZeKRVO8GsPmmBASQzhjqRgliU3X2n-qN3ojPFZJSAg-khyfpV4u581UJphifVtDsyXrWDnNc74ibHA0IkEF9Q3Upa32PD/s1600/P.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkaSv7VbqoWHl9Biq7FwvayWElHw7Tw9LBLVruGSQ1qbaS4WZeKRVO8GsPmmBASQzhjqRgliU3X2n-qN3ojPFZJSAg-khyfpV4u581UJphifVtDsyXrWDnNc74ibHA0IkEF9Q3Upa32PD/s400/P.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">This episode was based on the novel <i>The Big Four</i>, first published in 1927. It was adapted for television by Mark Gatiss and Ian Hallard, and directed by Peter Lydon.<br /><br /><b>Script versus novel</b><br /><i>The Big Four</i> is generally considered to be one of Christie's most controversial (and least successful) novels. She finished the novel in 1926, in the wake of her traumatic divorce and the death of her mother. The story is based on a series of short stories that she worked into a novel in order to earn some much-needed money. The plot is quite ridiculous at times, with exploding mountains, caricature villains, racist Chinese manservants and global conspiracies. Unsurprisingly, the novel has been considered unfilmable. The wide range of locations (England, France, Italy, America etc) probably didn't help in that respect either. All in all, I'm not surprised this novel was left until the final series. It's as if the production team have been waiting for it conveniently disappear. (I don't usually go into aspects like the background of the novel and the context of the adaptation, but I think it's absolutely necessary here. It demonstrates what a complete challenge Gatiss and Hallard were facing.)<br /><br />The scriptwriters had to come up with a way to streamline the narrative. This is an incredibly busy story that has Poirot travelling far more than he ever did in the early years, and now he’s even approaching retirement. They also had to include Hastings and Japp, who both appear in the novel. Ideally, they needed to find a way to include Miss Lemon as well. The Poirot fans (me included) would be very upset had Hastings and Japp been deleted from the adaptation. Since they last appeared in 2002, the Christie estate have repeatedly stated that the characters would only appear in the novels that they were originally in; they would not be added. So it naturally follows that they would return for the remaining stories that did include them. Finally, Gatiss and Hallard had to find a way to make the plot believable. I, for one, could never bring myself to believe in Christie's plot. It was too out-of-character for Poirot. Multinational villains fighting for world domination? Twin brothers? (Okay, that one could have worked! More on that later) Radium thieves? A faked death? A mountain explosion and a miraculous escape? You get the point. How could this really be the same character who solves quiet, psychological puzzles in English country houses? (I know some fans will disagree with me here).<br /><br />Gatiss and Hallard decided to open the episode with the return of Poirot's three friends, thus reassuring the fans. Personally, I think the opening scenes with Hastings and Miss Lemon are absolute perfection. Hastings exclaims the (by now compulsory) 'Good Lord!' and Miss Lemon (who is added to the story) complains about the late arrival of the mail. Both lines perfectly encapsulate those two characters. Japp is in Poirot's flat writing letters to Poirot's friends (we get a glimpse of the letter to Miss Bulstrode, a lovely references to <i>Cat Among the Pigeons</i>, also scripted by Gatiss). These scenes culminate in Poirot's funeral. This event doesn't occur until much later in the novel, but it makes sense to introduce it here. Poirot's funeral is perhaps the only event that would believably bring Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon back after such a long absence. Of course, Hastings could always be back on business or on holiday, Miss Lemon could be living somewhere in London and Japp could have an interesting case to discuss with Poirot. But remember that it's been 17 (18) episodes since we last saw them! If they simply returned for an everyday event, then viewers would ask themselves why they hadn't visited him before. The wake scene that follows wasn't in the novel, but it's been perfectly scripted (with Hastings' overwhelming grief and the toast to their old friend). By the way, I think it's a very sensible decision not to be too specific about why or how long they have been absent (Poirot simply says to Japp in a later scene: 'It's been too long. Far too long!').<br /><br />Now, some fans have reacted negatively to the reduced role of Hastings in this episode. Japp and a new character, Tysoe, replace him through most of the novel. This is partly because of the restructured plot (i.e. Hastings returning for Poirot's funeral, just one day before Poirot's big denouement) and partly because the press (i.e. Tysoe) is integral to the new solution, which I will come back to later. As much I would love to see Hastings and Poirot investigate together, I think it's a sensible decision to emphasise the chemistry between Japp and Poirot here (giving Philip Jackson an appropriate swan song). As mentioned, the funeral is the best plot device to bring both Hastings and Miss Lemon back, and this means Hastings can't be present in the earlier investigation (oh, and he does, after all, return from Argentina, so that element from the novel is there). Also, bear in mind that Hugh Fraser gets an emotional swan song with <i>Curtain</i>.<br /><br /> Several of the 'cases' Poirot investigates in the novel have been deleted. These include 'The Unexpected Guest', 'The Man from the Asylum', 'Disappearance of a Scientist', 'The Woman on the Stairs', 'The Radium Thieves', 'In the House of the Enemy', 'The Baited Trap', 'The Mouse Walks In', 'The Terrible Catastrophe' (apart from the 'fatal' explosion), 'The Dying Chinaman' (apart from the funeral description), 'Number Four Wins a Trick', and 'In the Felsenlabyrinth' (replaced by a new denouement). The incidents that are deleted (the radium plot, the events at Abe Ryland's estate, the secret Chinese hide-away) are all fairly far-fetched, placing Poirot in situations that can hardly be described as 'typical Christie'. More significantly, though, they mainly serve one purpose; to reveal the different members of the Big Four. Now, Gatiss and Hallard manage to maintain the essence of this in the three remaining 'cases'; Leg of Mutton is linked to Li Chang Yen, Yellow Jasmine to Madame Olivier, and Chess Problem to Abe Ryland (I'll get back to how they do this later). With this in mind, I'm not too upset about the deleted chapters.<br /><br />As to the characters that are deleted, most fans will be disappointed not to see Countess Vera Rosakoff and Achille Poirot. To be honest, I always thought Rossakoff's connection with the 'Big Four' was a bit too much. A jewel thief? Yes. An adversary to villains seeking world dominance? Probably not. Similarly, Achille always seemed completely unbelievable to me. It's a great twist, and it would have been fun to see it brought to life, but I find it difficult to believe that anyone (let alone master criminals) could be fooled into thinking that someone as unique and distinctive-looking as Hercule Poirot could have a twin. Christie seems to dismiss the idea, too, in the final pages of the novel, and in <i>The Labours of Hercules</i>:</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>‘Brother Achille has gone home again – to the land of the myths. It was I all the time. It is not only Number Four who can act a part.’</i> (The Big Four)</span> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'If I remember rightly - though my memory isn't what it was - you had a brother called Achille, did you not?'Poirot's mind raced back over the details of Achille Poirot's career. Had all that really happened? 'Only for a short space of time', he replied.'</i> (The Labours of Hercules)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">The remaining 'cases' (Mutton, Jasmine, Chess), and two characters that appeared in sections of the novel that have been deleted, i.e. Ingles and Flossie Monro, are tied together to make a more or less believable plot. I'll try to outline the plot in the next couple of paragraphs before I add my final thoughts. (You can skip the next six paragraphs if you already know the plot).<br /><br />After Poirot's funeral, the narrative jumps four weeks back in time. Tysoe, who is a journalist, visits Ingles to inquire about the 'Big Four'. Ingles was a 'retired Civil Servant of mediocre intellect' in the novel, but here he is a senior official at the Foreign Office. Unlike in the novel, he dismisses the idea of the Big Four as 'Bulldog Drummond', complete nonsense. 'The world-wide unrest, the labour troubles that beset every nation, and the revolutions that broke out in some' that he attributed to Li Chang Yen in the novel are here presented by Tysoe, who thinks his unnamed 'correspondent' might be right. This is the first sign that Gatiss and Hallard are taking the adaptation in a different direction. The change is perfectly understandable. If they are attempting to make the story more believable, then the first step on the way would be to have the authorities (i.e. Ingles) dismiss the rather ludicrous idea that there is a group of master criminals seeking world domination.<br /><br />Next up is the Chess Problem. The set-up is essentially the same as in the novel, but we get to witness the actual chess match. Japp, who has become Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard (how he managed to climb the career ladder that quickly, from 1936 to 1939, is beyond me), is in charge of security at a society event. The event is hosted by Abe Ryland, who has become a respected member of a ‘Peace Party’ (founded by Li Chang Yen) that is working for world peace at the brink of war. This was not in the novel, but it links the story to the coming war and provides a somewhat believable cover for a (supposed) 'Big Four'. Poirot is also present, possibly because of his interest in chess (actually, he declares in the novel that he doesn't play chess, but we've seen his chess set at Whitehaven – it first appeared in Third Girl – and seen him play in The Chocolate Box, so this is an acceptable change). There is a lovely scene in which the two friends are reunited (reminiscent of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd). They also briefly touch upon the subject of retirement ('Time, it catches up with us all. Perhaps also for Poirot the shadows are lengthening and the moment it has come to think of a life that is quiet'). Present at the chess match is also Mme Olivier (not be confused with Mrs Oliver!), a brilliant French scientist who specialises in the nervous system (she was more interested in radium in the novel). Like Ryland, she is a member of the Peace Party. She is joined by her friend and ally of the Party, Stephen Paynter (from 'The Yellow Jasmine Mystery'), and his personal physician Dr. Quentin (a local doctor in the novel). Even Tysoe has managed to enter the event. In the game of chess, Ryland substitutes Gilmour Wilson and challenges Savaronoff, but it's Savaronoff who is murdered. Consequently, Sonia Daviloff and the scenes in Savaronoff flat are deleted. As Poirot and Japp start investigating, Poirot is intrigued by Tysoe's mention of the 'Big Four'. Tysoe explains that he has received letters with this information, as well as information on Ryland's past. Poirot goes on to solve the chess murder more or less like in the novel. Ryland is suspected, and he disappears shortly thereafter.<br /><br />Then there's the Leg of Mutton. Jonathan Whalley was 'a lover of all things Chinese' who wrote a biography on Li Chang Yen, the Peace Party founder (in the novel, he was just interested in China). The stolen jade figures have become ivory figures, but the plot remains the same (even with most of the dialogue intact). Poirot solves the murder, more or less exactly as in the novel, and he suspects that the Big Four are involved. Shortly afterwards, Tysoe finds a stabbed man in the street (a clear warning that he should stop his investigation into the Big Four). The scene is somewhat reminiscent of the warnings Hastings receives in the novel after Poirot's death, and the dying Chinaman he encounters. Tysoe, frightened by the warning, comes clean to Poirot and Japp and reveals a set of playing cards that displays the Big Four (a Chinese card for Number One, a chance card from Monopoly for Ryland, a French Dame card for Mme Olivier and La Mort (Death) for Number Four). This is reminiscent of the dying words of Mayerling in the novel.<br /><br />The next case is Yellow Jasmine (but the twist here is 'gelsemine', mentioned in the novel). In the novel, Paynter had written a book on Li Chang Yen ('The Hidden Man in China' – that’s been attributed to Whalley in the adaptation), but as mentioned earlier he has become a friend of Mme Olivier and a supporter of the Peace Party here. The murder is essentially the same (the Chinese manservant, Ah Ling, is even there, but he doesn't get to speak at all). However, a wife, Diana Paynter, and Mme Olivier, are added to the plot, and the nephew Gerald is made the prime suspect (Paynter wrote 'G', not 'Yellow Jasmine' in ink). The wife suspects her husband of having an affair with Mme Olivier. Gerald, Dr Quentin and Mme Olivier are interviewed, and Poirot begins to suspect her (gelsemine falls into her field of research). She later disappears.<br /><br />Poirot then returns to the scene of the Mutton crime, the Whalley household. Jonathan Whalley had an estranged nephew who used to live with him, Albert Whalley, and Poirot searches the attic for clues as to his whereabouts. He finds a scrapbook with clippings from the Methuselah Theatre (as an aside, this means 'man of the dart/spear' or 'his death shall bring judgment' - a hint to the final solution). This leads Poirot to get in touch with former actors from the theatre, and he eventually tracks down Flossie Monro. Their conversation is incredibly well scripted, with just the right amount of sadness and humour. Unlike in the novel, Flossie is not murdered but will serve an important role later on. Shortly afterwards, Claud Darrell, another of the actors, calls Poirot and invites him to meet him. Poirot enters an apartment and is seemingly killed by an explosion (reminiscent of the scene with the match box in the novel). All that is left is Poirot's burnt-out walking stick. This leads us back to the day of the funeral, in which Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon discuss their old friend. Hastings want to continue tracking down the Big Four (like in the novel), but the others disagree and he leaves the flat in anger.<br /><br />Finally, there's the denouement scene. In short, the scene takes place in the Methuselah theatre (not the Felsenlabyrinth). Claud Darrell, aka Dr Quentin and Albert Whalley, has captured Flossie Monro and explains that he did everything for her. She rejected him fifteen years ago, when they were still acting at the theatre, because she wanted to be with 'someone the whole world will remember'. Poirot appears, revealing that he was not killed in the explosion after all. He explains that the Big Four never existed, that Mme Olivier and Abe Ryland had been taken prisoners by Albert Whalley/Claud Darrell. Whalley committed the murders to implicate Ryland (Chess), Olivier (Yellow Jasmine) and Li Chang Yen (Mutton), and create a sense of hysteria and fear around the world - all in an attempt to be remembered and be loved by Flossie. Once revealed, Whalley threatens to detonate dynamite that will blow up the entire theatre (reminiscent of the Felsenlabyrinth in the novel), but Poirot persuades him that he can't kill Flossie. In the end, he pretends to surrender before threatening Poirot with a gun. Tysoe, who has appeared on the scene with Japp, then brings the curtain down on him (literally speaking), and he is killed. The end scene sees Poirot, Japp, Miss Lemon, Tysoe and Flossie celebrate their 'victory' before Hastings appears, confused about Poirot's reappearance. That scene is wonderfully evocative of the early episodes.<br /><br />Several fans have claimed that Gatiss and Hallard have changed too much of the novel and that the new ending is completely unbelievable. Personally, I think the restructuring of the plot and the new ending is a brave attempt at streamlining the narrative and, actually, making the ending more believable. The new ending is still far-fetched. Most viewers would say that the scheme is far too complicated for a madman who wanted to attract the attention of the woman he loves. There are aspects here that I struggle to accept. However, bearing in mind the source material they had to work with (as outlined in my introduction), I think Gatiss and Hallard have found a more or less sensible way to humanize the culprit.<br /><br />I could never truly believe in the idea of master villains controlling the world. Admittedly, Poirot stories are fiction – and anything could happen in fiction – but they are always based on the real world, particularly in the TV series, which has consistently incorporated historical events. These master criminals wouldn’t exist in the real world. A lunatic, however, would. That has been evidenced time and time again. Even elaborate lunatics like Whalley. By making the plot a personal tragedy of sorts, Gatiss and Hallard almost manage to make us feel sorry for Whalley. Orphaned, estranged from his uncle, rejected by his one true love. Also, the decision to emphasise the similarities between Whalley and Poirot (‘We are more alike than you think, Poirot’) is an interesting one, because it highlights Poirot’s less endearing qualities (his showmanship, his self-assuredness). It’s also something of a foreshadowing of Curtain. All in all, then, I’m inclined to accept all the changes Hallard and Gatiss have made, because they have managed to make a more or less coherent story out of what Gatiss has described as ‘an almost unadaptable mess’. <br /><br /><b>Direction, production design, locations, soundtrack</b><br />Peter Lydon’s direction is wonderfully effective. The back of Hastings’ head, the close-up of letters, the grey funeral scenes, the camera zooming in on Poirot’s empty chair, the hooded figures of the Big Four – and that’s just the opening shots! I particularly enjoy the shifts of scenes in the interviews at the Paynter household, the ‘Poirot must think’ sequence (seemingly inspired by Sherlock’s ‘mind palace’), the clock motif throughout (reminiscent of The Clocks), and the flashbacks of the denoument scene (such a complicated plot explained in a matter of seconds). The colour grading is particularly well done throughout as well. The production team have created some wonderful props, including the playing cards, the Big Four lair set, and the miniature theatre with the ‘Big Four’ characters that Poirot finds in the attic. The locations used include Syon House, Brentford (the chess game scene), Hughenden Manor, High Whycombe, Buckinghamshire (the home of Jonathan Whalley and the prison gates), Nuffield Place, Henley-on-Thames (the Paynter house), <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadow-in-the-water/9450577599/">The Undercroft of Lincoln's Inn Chapel, London</a> (the scene with Tysoe and Poirot), and Hackney Empire (the theatre). Christian Henson’s soundtrack is perfect for the episode, sombre and dark for the emotional scenes and cheerful and nostalgic in the investigation scenes (notice the several references to the Poirot theme, particularly in the scene where Poirot tries to find Flossie Monro, and in the end scene.<br /><br /><b>Characters and actors</b><br />Gatiss and Hallard have added numerous references to the early episodes in this episode. I’ve already mentioned Hastings’ ‘Good Lord’ and Miss Lemon’s complaints about the late arrival of the post. Miss Lemon also has a cat called Marina, which is reminiscent of the episodes The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman and The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb. Moran is given some wonderful lines in the few scenes she appears in. I particularly enjoyed the ‘he always liked things just so, didn’t he’ as she straightens Poirot’s chair. This is a wonderful reference to their shared sense of order, not to mention his constant nagging about the tisanes. She certainly had to get used to his many quirks and habits over the years. Similarly, Fraser’s few scenes are very reminiscent of a number of early episodes (apart from his moving breakdown at the wake), e.g. his determination to pursue the Big Four (and antagonism towards Japp), followed by his ‘What do I do now, old chap?’, addressed to the dead Poirot, and his re-appearance in the final scene (completely confused and made to look stupid). <br /><br />Philip Jackson gets a series of wonderful one-liners as Japp. The ever-present in-joke between him and Poirot on his career (Inspector – Chief Inspector) has now become Chief Inspector – Assistant Commissioner, the repeated mentions of Mrs Japp (I would have preferred ‘Emily’, but I realize that most viewers wouldn’t understand who he as talking about) – particularly in connection with the tarot cards, and the no-nonsense action in the denoument scene.<br /><br />David Suchet also gets to add a reference or two. I particularly enjoyed the dispatch case containing ‘the tools of my profession’, which we haven’t seen since The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and the aforementioned ‘think’ scene. David Yelland’s present was a nice nod to the later years. Ariadne Oliver would have been a welcome addition, to complete the references. Apparently, her character was included in an early draft, but she later had to be deleted, presumably because of costs or Wanamaker’s availability.<br /><br />The guest stars all make the most of their scenes. Patricia Hodge is wonderfully over-the-top as Madame Olivier (even if she sounds like Edith from ‘Allo ‘Allo), Barbara Kirby is great fun as Mrs Andrews (thanks to the good script), Teresa Banham manages to create a moving mini-portrait of Diana Paynter, and Nicholas Burns creates a humorous caricature with Inspector Meadows. Tom Brooke is acceptable as Tysoe, and Simon Lowe isn’t too bad as Whalley/Darrell/Four, but he seems to struggle to find the right balance between camp and moving (but he is exactly as bland as he should be in the rest of the episode). However, the star performer for me is Sarah Parish as Flossie Monro. The character is very minor in the novel, and it mainly serves to elucidate the plot. Here, Flossie is the reason for the entire crime, and her character is made more tragic (in a sense). The scene between her and Poirot at Whitehaven is perfection itself. She tries to impress him with her acting roles, while Poirot obviously realizes that she is an aging, failing actress. He hasn’t seen any of her performances, but he tries to save the situation by claiming that he has seen her in Share My Cab at the Duke of York (he would never be seen at a play with a name like that!). But she only played the accordion. It probably doesn’t sound like it from my description of it, but it’s a very moving scene. </span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-2089772328876903122013-10-21T21:38:00.001+02:002020-04-06T18:01:41.016+02:00Episode-by-episode: Elephants Can Remember<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNeURyWYe9jfS2NkijnzuZAHJuUwvICDDSyXCwyReVgR8yBSRpBkJdHnd-KYkOcgwzhWUqP3-jqP9uWTYd50IoFNws9FGNio68tWQM-bJ0s3gzq5DytLhjUyuebekOvvydqcu7eJzq9y4p/s1600/slide_299985_2507225_free.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNeURyWYe9jfS2NkijnzuZAHJuUwvICDDSyXCwyReVgR8yBSRpBkJdHnd-KYkOcgwzhWUqP3-jqP9uWTYd50IoFNws9FGNio68tWQM-bJ0s3gzq5DytLhjUyuebekOvvydqcu7eJzq9y4p/s400/slide_299985_2507225_free.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This episode was based on the novel <i>Elephants Can Remember</i>, first published in 1972. It was adapted for television by Nick Dear and directed by John Strickland.<br /><br /><b>Script versus novel</b><br />This was the last Poirot novel that Agatha Christie wrote (Curtain was written in the 1940s). It's not her most successful novel. It's been criticised as rambling, chatty and out of focus. Some even suggest that it shows early signs of Alzheimer's. With this in mind, Nick Dear faced a challenge. He needed to re-structure, trim and re-focus the plot and make it work as two hours (or 89 minutes, to be precise) of exciting television. I think he has been reasonably successful. Let's look at the obvious changes first. Obviously, the setting is moved from the 1970s to the 1930s. In fact, that makes hardly any difference. Yes, there are a few references to post-war objects and events in the novel, but the main plot could easily be set in the 30s.<br /><br />A much more significant change, however, is to introduce a new subplot. Dear decides to flesh out a backstory that involves Dr. Willoughby (who was in the novel for a chapter). His elderly psychiatrist father (who was dead years ago in the novel) is found murdered in the basement of the Willoughby Institute, and Dr. Willoughby appears to be the only viable suspect. Dear also makes him a longtime friend of Poirot's. Someone suggested online that Poirot had been brought out of retirement in this episode, but this fact proves that he is still just taking cases that (a) interest him or (b) concern friends of his (Mrs Oliver gets him involved with the 'elephants', Willoughby with the death of his father. I think that's why Dear decided to make him a friend of Poirot's in the first place. The same goes for Inspector Neale, who is investigating the case. (He seems to partly substitute Superintendent Spence here, which is a shame, but the reason could be availability issues I suppose). Poirot was never really retired anyway (apart from the Ackroyd case), he has just entered a state of semi-retirement (which is in keeping with the later novels). I think The Labours of Hercules, due to be broadcast soon, will probably see him entering retirement for good. But back to the subplot. Dear adds an 'American' secretary/lover for Dr. Willoughby (later revealed to be Canadian, thanks to some fairly obvious hints in the script), and even ties the Institute and Dr. Willoughby's practise to the backstory of Desmond Burton-Cox. Poirot is only too keen to investigate the Willoughby case - so keen, in fact, that Mrs Oliver has to manage the 'elephants' case more or less on her own for about half the episode (which is a good thing - I'll come back to that later). <br /><br />I think the subplot works well. It's a clever way to make the story more 'active' (a full-length episode solely concerned with Mrs Oliver's 'elephant' interviews could become a little tedious). I even suspect that is one of the reasons behind this change; Poirot gets a much more active role than the 'provider of information' he becomes in the novel. It also helps to distinguish the story from Five Little Pigs, a story it shares more than a passing resemblance with. Instead, the episode is tied more neatly to cases like <i>Mrs McGinty's Dead</i> and <i>Hallowe'en Party</i>, that deal with intertwined cases from the past and the present. (I must say, though, that I find all these retrospective, psychologically driven investigations some of the most fascinating of Poirot's cases. There are no fingerprints, (usually) no murder weapon and no bodies. We really get to see his main investigative method - the study of human behaviour - at its best). Still, it should be said that the last link between the subplot and the main plot seems a bit forced. The culprit SPOILER is revealed to be Marie, Dorothea Jarrow's long lost daughter (briefly mentioned in the novel), out on a personal vendetta to take revenge on the psychiatrist and Celia. For one, I thought Dorothea disliked children, so why would she still send her daughter letters, telling her the truth? And why didn't she speak up sooner? (She explains that she was 'a poor secretary' who had to earn money to get to the UK from Canada, which would be true in the 30s, but still). Also, she was present at Overcliffe and just happened to overhear the crucial conversation between Zelie and General Ravenscroft? Then again, the plot is in keeping with Christie storytelling (double identities, the secretary, mistakes made in the past), and the actors make it believable.<br /><br />As mentioned earlier, Mrs Oliver is left to investigate the Ravenscroft case (more or less) on her own for about half the episode. This main plot and the subplot are intertwined throughout the episode. Nick Dear has written wonderfully for Wanamaker and Suchet before (I particularly enjoy the interaction in Mrs McGinty's Dead). The 'cold case' isn't too interesting in itself, but Ariadne's approach is a complete joy to watch, and the conversations with the 'elephants' are fun ('In this part of the world, Ariadne, one either hunts or one has affairs'). Poirot (who is really only interested in the Willoughby case and has to be persuaded to give advice) helps her along, urging her to look for a motive in the past. In this sense, Mrs Oliver becomes his apprentice, since Poirot isn't too keen to investigate himself (reminiscent of quite a few cases with Hastings in the past, e.g. 'The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim' and 'Double Sin'). Ironically, Mrs Oliver describes Poirot as her 'assistant' (the look on Suchet's face is hilarious) to Mrs Burton-Cox.<br /><br />Dear has had to make several changes to the original plot. Most sections have been shortened down (the literary luncheon, conversations between Poirot and Ariadne, and between Ariadne and the elephants. Desmond has become a pianist (which allows for a lovely concert scene I'll come back to later). Mrs Buckle helps out at Mrs Matcham's place, and her daughter is deleted. Mr Goby has been removed (Beale takes over his tasks), which is in keeping with all the other adaptations of stories he appears in. Madame Rouselle and Mademoiselle Zelie Meauhourat have been merged into Zelie Rouselle (a very sensible decision). Most significantly, perhaps, is Desmond's new backstory. We are told that he 'formed an attachment to someone', who is later revealed to be Zelie. His adoptive mother Mrs Burton-Cox persuaded psychiatrist Dr Willoughby to take him on, and it is later revealed that he fell in love with her. He was 15, she was 25. Personally, I think this backstory can be deduced from the novel (he certainly viewed her as a friend, and they stayed in touch), so I'm not too surprised. Apart from these changes, the plot is kept more or less intact, and several scenes have been lifted almost word-by-word from the novel.<br /><br />Finally, I have to comment on a script error. A commenter on the IMdB board, 'brucekaren136' said: 'I was left wondering if the plot contained a major goof. I might be wrong but 1) it was clearly stated that the 'suicide/murder' had happened 13 years previously, 2) that Desmond Burton-Cox had had a crush on Zelie when he was 15 which presumably was before the suicide etc and that 3) Desmond's birth mother in leaving him a fortune had stated that he could not inherit the money until he was 25 years old or got married, whichever came sooner. Surely taking 1) and 2) together Desmond was already 28 and should already have inherited the money that his adoptive mother was trying to prevent him from getting by getting married.'. I'm sure the mistake wasn't intentional, but it's a bit careless all the same. <br /><br />All in all, I think Dear's script is fairly successful. He manages to bring a slightly pedestrian story to life by adding a subplot, changing a few backstories and focus the attention on the force of nature that is Ariadne Oliver. In the end, this makes for an enjoyable 89 minutes of television.<br /><br /><b>Directing, production design, locations, soundtrack</b><br />John Strickland's direction should be particularly commended. The way he introduces Poirot (with the clock, the radio and the cigarette in Whitehaven is a good example. So are the scenes in the Willoughby basement, in which the shadows are allowed to create a particularly chilling atmosphere. The transitions between scenes are particularly well done. For instance, a shot of Garroway adding sugar lumps to his coffee is intercut with the fall of 'Dorothea' from the cliff (white sugar versus woman in white). Similarly, a scene in front of Poirot's Whitehaven fireplace transforms into a scene with the Ravenscrofts by a fireplace at Overcliffe. A part of the denouement has a similar shift from the present to the past in the Ravenscroft office. (These directoral choices remind me of several of the recent Sherlock episodes). I'd also like to point out the train sequence in which Poirot travels to Paris (we even get a tiny glimpse of his passport!). The production team have done particularly well here. For the first time since 2005, they've been back at Florin Court (aka Whitehaven Mansions) to shoot exterior scenes, and I love these (Ariadne arriving in her car, the conversation between Beale and Ariadne, Desmond arriving etc). Some of the camera angles are inventive, too, and we get to see the building from slightly new perspectives. They've even added a decorative elephant sculpture in Poirot's window, which is good, too (thought slightly obvious symbolism). Also, Zelie's Parisian shop is beautifully continental and perfectly in period.<br /><br />I particularly noticed the colour grading in this episode, and I discovered <a href="http://www.technicolor.com/en/who-we-are/press-news-center/news/marple-and-poirot-post-production">this interview</a> with Dan Coles, the colour grader on the episode: </span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">“Poirot aims to give TV audiences a cinematic experience, so in the grading we made the images look rich and beautiful with filmic contrast levels,” says Coles. “In this episode we accentuated the art deco feel in Poirot's flat with vibrant red and orange tones, while maintaining cooler tones in the shadows. We decided to go for warmer colours of the spectrum for most scenes, for example using golden hues for interiors. We contrasted this overall look with a stark and steely blue shades for the first murder sequence.</span></i></span><span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">”</span></i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> “Much of the episode was shot using green screen, and composited later on so we had to take great care grading foregrounds and backgrounds using supplied mattes. An antique de-saturated look was applied to the flashback material, along with occasional defocused vignettes.”</span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, I have to comment on the use of green screens. I understand that this is a necessity to keep costs down, and I'm normally not too bothered. The glimpse of 1930s Paris was quite acceptable, for instance. However, when this episode was broadcast on ITV, there was a major green screen mistake! When Poirot visits Dr. Willoughby's episode for the first time, a massive green screen is visible in the window! I sincerely hope that this will be fixed for the DVD/Blu-ray releases. It's completely unacceptable and shouldn't happen on a show that prides itself on its production values!<br /><br />The locations used for the episode include The Park Lane Hotel (last seen in <i>The Mystery of the Blue Train</i>, here used for the literary luncheon scenes), Greys Court in Oxfordshire (Julia Carstair's house), Netherwhylde Equestrian (mostly used for Ariadne's driving scenes I think). Most of the other scenes are shot at Pinewood and Shepperton Film Studios. Christian Henson's soundtrack is absolutely perfect for the episode. It doesn't draw too much attention to itself, but it accompanies the scenes well. I also like the use of Bach's Goldberg Variations (for the concert scene) and Chopin's Nocturne #7 (for the end credits). <br /><br /><b>Characters and actors</b><br />Poirot (and Suchet) is back in investigative mode here. There are certain character continuities worth commenting on. I've already discussed his semi-retirement and his friendship with Willoughby. There's also an amusing incident with Poirot and a passing taxi (Sacre!). Most importantly, though, there's the scene between him and Zelie in Paris. The interaction between Suchet and Elsa Mollien is exceptionally well done. I particularly like two of Poirot's comments: 'Neither you nor I are married (*he touches her ring finger*). We may never be married. But they should be', and 'It is easier to hate when you have once loved than to remain indifferent'. Both lines touch upon the loneliness in Poirot's life, the longing for a life companion that can never be fulfilled.<br /><br />The actors are all (more or less) perfectly suited for their roles. Zoë Wanamaker is as brilliant as ever as Mrs Oliver. Greta Scacchi is great as the conniving adoptive mother. Caroline Blakiston is absolutely enjoyable as Julia Carstairs. So is Hazel Douglas as Nanny Matcham, and Maxine Evans as Mrs Buckle. Ruth Sheen is perfect in the cameo as Madame Rosentelle, and Iain Glen manages to come across as almost sympathetic as Willoughby. Ferdinand Kingsley (Desmond) and Vanessa Kirby (Celia) don't quite stand out, but they suit their characters. Alexandra Dowling (Marie) is faced with a challenging role with many layers, and she is reasonably successful. I have been told her Canadian/American accent isn't quite convincing, though. <br /><br />Finally, I'd just like to comment on what is a major quibble to me on the actor front. Why couldn't they have brought David Yelland back as George? I realise that the reason might be scheduling difficulties, but it's so obvious that they have filmed and scripted scenes so that the character is conveniently out of sight. Poirot asks him to pack his bags (and gets a 'Yes, sir' in reply that clearly isn't Yelland, and we catch a glimpse of a stand-in opening the door for Desmond (but he clearly has black hair and doesn't at all look like Yelland. Still, I'm glad they didn't just forget that Poirot has a manservant and actually made the effort to make it seem as if he was there.</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-70711401985774914802013-10-19T21:08:00.001+02:002020-04-06T18:06:30.639+02:00Episode-by-episode: The Clocks<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCLZn5xjZJe87ygbGMeGLpRkAHU7W9TrCP8tfYd9TMLp0LEe792LM2BekJ6cyylMlQr9xFd2hxVCuh96g_AFu7K4C3umTEokCWoM5mhIuqZEiJ86rWeeziK0jxSUq8opNCovYHDRXvET7/s1600/theclocks1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCLZn5xjZJe87ygbGMeGLpRkAHU7W9TrCP8tfYd9TMLp0LEe792LM2BekJ6cyylMlQr9xFd2hxVCuh96g_AFu7K4C3umTEokCWoM5mhIuqZEiJ86rWeeziK0jxSUq8opNCovYHDRXvET7/s400/theclocks1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This episode was based on the novel <i>The Clocks</i>, first published in 1963. It was adapted for television by Stewart Harcourt and directed by Charlie Palmer (son of Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Vice Admiral Hamling in the adaptation).<br /><br /><b>Script versus novel</b><br />Harcourt, who also scripted <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i>, is admirably faithful to the source material here. The most significant change, perhaps, is to set the adaptation in the late 1930s, directly preceding the Second World War. It's both a necessary and a wise move. It's necessary because of the production team's creative decision to keep Poirot in the Thirties, and it's wise, because the transition of an essentially 1960s spy novel into pre-war espionage is seamless. The setting is Dover, and Dover Castle is a perfect backdrop for this pre-war story (reminiscent of <i>Foyle's War</i>'s Hastings at times). Another change that's also dictated by the series itself is the decision to change Colin Lamb's name to Lt. Colin Race and make him the son of Colonel Race. In the novel, Christie implies that Colin might be Superintendent Battle's son ('Lamb' is a cover), but since Battle was never introduced to the television series; he was deleted from Cards on the Table and replaced by Superintendent Wheeler. Now, Colonel Race was introduced to the viewers in <i>Death on the Nile</i> as an old and cherished friend of Poirot's. He should also have been in <i>Cards on the Table</i>, but actor James Fox was unavailable to reprise the role. To delete the fake identity and make Colin his son makes absolute sense, and I'm glad the scriptwriters pay attention to continuity every now and then.<br /><br />As I've already implied, the adaptation is faithful to its source material. There are, however, several minor (and more significant) changes. Harcourt adds an opening scene in which we see Larkin (who has become Annabelle here) steal some documents from the navy base at Dover Castle. Race's girlfriend Fiona, who works there, follows Larkin and is eventually hit by a car (but she manages to write down the code, 'M 61' before she dies (like the secret agent in the novel). To give Race's investigation a personal touch is a clever move, as his professional judgement is at stake. Moreover, Harcourt adds a theatre performance attended by Poirot. It's one of Mrs Oliver's crime stories, starring Sven Hjerson. This scene is delightful for a number of reasons. We have a reference to Ariadne Oliver, who has really become Poirot's closest friend in these later years of his career. We get to see her detective, who in many ways is exactly as eccentric and 'foreign' as Poirot. Then there's the fact that Ariadne had been persuaded by Robin Upward to adapt one of her novels for the theatre in <i>Mrs. McGinty's Dead</i> (2008) - the actual production never began (for obvious reasons). But most importantly, the scene is a reference to the novel Dumb Witness and the short story adaptation 'Third Floor Flat', in which Hastings takes Poirot to the theatre to see a 'whodunnit'. Obviously, Poirot would be extremely bored (as indeed he is when he is interrupted by Colin Race in this adaptation).<br /><br />By this point I should probably mention that Harcourt introduces Poirot much earlier than in the novel, and he is in a much more active 'investigative' mood here (in the novel, his valet George (who is sadly lacking from this adaptation, but he gets a mention, explains to Colin that he thinks his master might be getting depressed). This change is in keeping with the more recent adaptations, which have all introduced Poirot earlier than the novels. Of course, part of the fun of the novel is to see Poirot solve a case from his armchair (which he is famous for), but this has been referenced in several of the short story adaptations (most prominently in 'The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim'.<br /><br />But let's list the main changes. Sheila Webb isn't Miss Pebmarsh's daughter (that was too unbelievable anyway). She does, however, have an affair with one of her clients, Professor Purdy. This wasn't in the novel, but it demonstrates her self-doubt and insecurity (that will eventually make Colin fall in love with her - they are both 'damaged goods'). Miss Pebmarsh works for the local photographer, Mr Wright (not as a teacher). We eventually discovered that she used the equipment available to her to photocopy the documents that were smuggled out of the Dover facility. Harcourt has added a scene in which Vice Admiral Hamling (a new character that sort of replaces Colonel Beck) discusses the coming of war with Poirot ('hellfire corner'). It's a lovely reference to Poirot's past in the Belgian police and as a war refugee. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay have been removed (but a Mr. Mabbutt replaces them). Mrs. Curtin (the cleaning lady), Sheila's aunt and the Naughtons are removed, and the boys Ted and Bill have become two girls, Jenny and May. The Waterhouse siblings have become Jews (previously named 'Tuchmann', they fled Germany in the early 1930s). The interviews are generally a lot sillier than in the novel, and so is most of the action (but many fans will welcome the return of some humour to these adaptations). The interaction between Inspector Hardcastle and Poirot is particularly well done, reminiscent of the days with Japp.<br /><br />There are essentially two threads to this story, with the murder in Miss Pebmarsh's house being one and the spy/war plot being the other. Apart from Pebmarsh's house, there's not much that links the two (which is partly the point of the novel). This has been expertly streamlined here, and the spy plot has been given a more sensible backstory here (all that 'secret offices in bookstores' from the novel is not very Christie). Here, Miss Pebmarsh wants to prevent a new war no matter what costs, because she lost her two sons in the First World War. Mr. Mabutt has a possibly more business-like approach to the treason, but both stories work well here. There's also a confrontation between these two and the Jewish siblings, in which Poirot delivers a powerful speech on the perils of occupation (once again, Harcourt manages to reference his Belgian past). The adaptation ends as Poirot brings the two lovers (Sheila and Colin) together, perfectly in keeping with his matchmaker hobby (<i>Sad Cypress</i>, <i>Mrs. McGinty's Dead</i> etc). All in all, Harcourt's script is a success. It manages to streamline a fairly second-rate Christie novel and make it a good adaptation.<br /><br /><b>Directing, production design, locations, soundtrack</b><br />Charlie Palmer's direction works well here. It doesn't draw too much attention to itself, but it's well executed. Jeff Tessler's production design is spotless as always (the Dover HQ and the different houses are decorative sets). The locations used include Dover Castle, Castle Hill Road, St. Margaret's Bay, Richmond Theatre dress circle bar, Thornhill Crescent in London (Wilbraham Crescent), St. Andrew's Church in Thornhill Square, Woburn Walk / 13 Duke's Rd in London (the shops and the secretarial bureau), The Sun Inn Bar in Richmond (the B&B Hardcastle recommends), The Churchill Hotel (Dover Seafront), Inner Temple in London (Rival's murder, also seen in Third Girl and possibly The Big Four), Fountain Court (Middle Temple) and Surrey County Council (the court scenes). See some photos <a href="http://www.tvlocations.net/theclocks.htm">here</a>, <a href="http://www.tvlocations.net/theclocks2.htm">here</a> and <a href="http://www.tvlocations.net/theclocks3.htm">here</a>. Christian Henson's soundtrack is delightful here, with several very obvious hints to Gunning's theme tune, particularly in the opening sequence.<br /><br /><b>Characters and actors</b><br />Poirot shines in this adaptation, with a lot of time to investigate. I like the 'thinking mode' Suchet lets him enter (see, for instance, the scene at the theatre with Colin or the scene in his Dover hotel room). It's also nice to have a reference to George and something reminiscent of Japp and Captain Hastings in Hardcastle and Lt. Race (I even thought the ice cream scene reminded me of the end scene with Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon in <i>Peril at End House</i>, but perhaps I'm just excited about their return for <i>The Big Four</i>). The references to Poirot's past (and his memories of war) are particularly delightful, too. Of the guest actors, Geoffrey Palmer provides the necessary gravitas as the Vice Admiral. Tom Burke (son of David 'Dr. Watson' Burke) and Jaime Winstone (daughter of Ray Winstone) are sufficiently 'damaged' as Colin and Sheila. But I particularly enjoyed the more joyful characters of Hardcastle (Phil Daniels), Merlina Rival (Frances Barber, who also played 'Lady Millicent' in 'The Veiled Lady') and Mrs. Hemmings (Beatie Edney, who also played Mary Cavendish in <i>The Mysterious Affair at Styles</i>). Oh, and John Thaw's daughter Abigail Thaw plays Rachel Waterhouse, so we have something of a collaboration between the Poirot, Holmes and Morse spheres here!</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-38160585067005003552013-10-17T18:28:00.003+02:002020-04-06T18:23:19.368+02:00First promotional photos from 'The Labours of Hercules'!<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b>(UPDATE 21/10/13: We have a <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep4week45/agatha-christies-poirot-labours-hercules#.UmVywBCSqRM">press release</a> and air date - 6 November, 8 pm!)</b></span><br /><br /><i>Here are the first promotional photos for The Labours of Hercules. Image source: <a href="https://twitter.com/ETomlinsonCom">ETomlinsonCom</a> on Twitter, <a href="http://www.eleanor-tomlinson.com/thumbnails.php?album=110">www.eleanor-tomlinson.com/thumbnails.php?album=110</a>. Photos linked to their source. Copyright ITV. This particular episode is still a mystery in every sense of the word; very little is known about how this collection of short stories will be adapted into one episode. Any thoughts after seeing these photos?</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.eleanor-tomlinson.com/thumbnails.php?album=110"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8lB8PLFIWQAw_1gohJzJXhKONf1qGD0XyIYKjp9rYbPePP6OXc6znQGihjkw2ljzGbFWpHcgS2s5b5W1sWFTcgF_O3ESdrf7rULUzdw-jywDPu4Sf29nxXLaj-vLugYRKZKGUR45e2sRo/s400/LABOURS+first+promo+photo+1.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.eleanor-tomlinson.com/thumbnails.php?album=110"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTIPcAEzYT3QIjnmPo9Rfl2RyapPxPdA8k7yu_yRua13858KYiHLqgXgJHPQRXbS1XyXmk6yzxYl6jPiUKQKeLnKoWNPuhDTcnXW1AwqLS5xht5HWyeLG7t2R3EMLUwFp-eakkjC-N2nb/s400/LABOURS+first+promo+photo+2.jpg" /></a></span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-53492589011401553412013-10-12T21:51:00.002+02:002020-04-06T18:30:31.458+02:00Episode-by-episode: Murder on the Orient Express<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> <br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsAxjM8ELTo6v-jkJ_ECJrhvPaRTiFYX-MA9tzT4D_q-dEwYz5zCQkirEj93VPHx0TJSWyKU6AG0fsizJeuEAcB34jdywANsk4Hz2ubaDiYY64hCw-3wElpVxKXckdED2KjCI36x8_ESFM/s1600/MYS_MOTOE.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsAxjM8ELTo6v-jkJ_ECJrhvPaRTiFYX-MA9tzT4D_q-dEwYz5zCQkirEj93VPHx0TJSWyKU6AG0fsizJeuEAcB34jdywANsk4Hz2ubaDiYY64hCw-3wElpVxKXckdED2KjCI36x8_ESFM/s400/MYS_MOTOE.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) ITV</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This episode was based on the novel <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i>, first published in 1934. It was adapted for television by Stewart Harcourt and directed by Philip Martin.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Script versus novel</b></span><br /><b>Context </b><br />Opinion is particularly divided on this episode. That is hardly surprising. We are, after all, talking about Christie’s most famous Poirot novel, which just happened to be adapted into an Oscar-winning big screen movie, directed by Sidney Lumet, in 1974. Not to mention the fact that this was one of the most intensely anticipated episodes of the ITV series. With this in mind, Stewart Harcourt faced a near impossible challenge when adapting this novel. How do you adapt one of the most famous crime novels in crime fiction history and avoid comparison with the successful 1974 film? And how do you make exciting television, when most people already know the solution?<br /><br />I’m not an expert on scriptwriting and the adaptation process. But it seems to me that anyone adapting a famous, universally acclaimed masterpiece is faced with two options for, or approaches to, the source material. They can (a) decide to write a plot-centred adaptation, focusing on Christie’s famous ‘puzzle’, or (b) explore the broader themes of the text and emphasise the characters in relation to those themes. Both approaches can be seen in adaptations of a number of famous novels and plays. Anything by Shakespeare is the prime example. In the case of Murder on the Orient Express, Harcourt was faced with some constraints – but also some considerable advantages – that probably had an impact on the choice between these two approaches. I’ll look into these before I come back to Harcourt’s script. <br /><br />Let’s look at the disadvantages first. A new version would inevitably be facing time constraints. Agatha Christie’s Poirot is, after all, a television series. It has to fit into the broadcaster’s strict schedules. ITV have scaled down the length of these adaptations over the years (presumably to make room for more ad breaks within the two-hour time slot). The first ‘feature length’ episodes lasted about 100 minutes. This was cut down to 93 minutes in the later years. The most recent series of episode (the one we are eagerly awaiting) has an average adaptation length of 89 minutes. Anyway, the point is that this version of the novel had about 90 minutes to play with. In comparison, the 1974 film had 128 minutes. Secondly, the small screen version could never match the ‘all-star cast’ of the big screen version. Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, John Gielgud (I could go on forever, really). Nor could it match its budget. Hollywood and British TV are two completely different things.<br /><br />So what advantages did this new version have? First, the team had the opportunity to make a more authentic version. By that I mean they could largely go for less known (but highly skilled) actors, some of whom actually shared the nationality of their characters. Second, they had some money (this version cost about £3 million), but more importantly, they also had the latest special effects technology, and a highly skilled production team who had been working on these period dramas for more than two decades. Third, and most importantly, they had David Suchet. The Definitive Poirot. An actor who, by this point in time, had had 64 episodes to research, explore, develop and portray every nuance of Christie’s character. That was always going to be the big selling point of this version. And I think that’s why they decided to explore themes and characters.<br /><br />The crime fiction plot – the ‘puzzle’ – had been wonderfully brought to life in the two-hour 1974 film. Most people know (or know of) the solution because of that. What this version could bring to the table was an exploration of characters, themes and motivations. Most importantly, it could explore the mind of Hercule Poirot, a character the viewers had become so familiar with over the last two decades that there really was no need just to explore his eccentricities (like the film, and the novel, to a certain extent, do). In the article <a href="http://books.google.no/books?id=EqTR0YJX8wkC&pg=PA86&dq=poirot+david+suchet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Jzs4Ut6hI8fLtAb16oDoBw&ved=0CE8Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=poirot%20david%20suchet&f=true">‘Love, Crime, and Agatha Christie’</a>, Mark Aldridge explains:<br /></span><blockquote>
<span style="color: #999999;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">The power of [this adaptation’s denouement] lies in its further context, specifically the fact that Suchet has played the part since the program began in 1989, portraying Poirot as a reserved character, precise and unemotional. The sudden fury therefore becomes a shock to the audience, indicating the extent to which this one case has affected him. [...] His emotional response can only have real resonance in the television series, where the audience has had over twenty years with the character and actor and are fully aware of the importance of the truth to him whatever the implications. </span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Scriptwriter Harcourt decided to emphasise the themes of justice and morality in the novel. In <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1339183/First-class-return-The-man-whodunnit-reveals-new-twist-Agatha-Christie-s-Murder-On-The-Orient-Express.html">an article he wrote for the Daily Mail</a>, Harcourt outlines the themes of the adaptation (and, in turn, the novel): </span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I was writing it, I found myself thinking about the McCanns. What would happen if they knew who had taken Madeleine and that person was cleared of the crime? What happens to people when they feel justice has been denied? How far is it legitimate to go? Here are 12 good people who have lived blameless lives until they find themselves in the middle of nowhere to take vengeance. A child's life has been taken away and these people, who have put their faith in justice, have been let down. </span></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">They are incapable of going on with their lives until they achieve closure. For the fastidious Poirot, this puts him in a quandary. Should he turn them over to the police, or has justice been done? </span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The changes</b><br />With this context in mind, it’s time to look at the changes Harcourt has made to the plot. He adds an opening scene, in which Poirot witnesses (or indeed causes) the suicide of a soldier. This is actually mentioned in the novel (‘A very distinguished officer had committed suicide’), but in a different context. As “therebelprince” over at <a href="http://agathachristiereader.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/poirot-review-12/">The Agatha Christie Reader</a> puts it, this scene ‘allows us to drop any pretence of Poirot simply being a ‘white knight’, as he is asked to question his own intractable belief that the truth, and a narrow view of justice, is all that matters’. Next, there’s a conversation between Poirot and another soldier, who escorts him to Istanbul (not at the train platform, like in the novel, but on a ferry). The soldier thinks the suicide was unjust, but Poirot objects that it was the dead man’s own choice to lie. This further emphasises Poirot’s sense of right and wrong, which will be challenged later on. He trusts his own sense and right and wrong. Moreover, Harcourt adds a stoning scene in the streets of Istanbul. This has been heavily criticised. I can agree with that criticism, to a certain extent. This isn’t typical Christie. It adds a serious aspect to the story that wasn't there in the first place. However, I’m inclined to support the addition. It highlights the dilemma that Poirot will later be facing, and it brings the questions of the law and the jury system to the fore. Who are the 'savages in the street' and who are 'twelve good men and true', and what differentiates the two senses of justice? <br /><br />As Poirot arrives at the hotel in Istanbul, he doesn’t immediately recognise M. Bouc. In the novel, they are old friends, but here he’s just another acquaintance who Poirot barely remembers. The following restaurant scene (and Poirot’s first encounter with MacQueen and Ratchett) is removed. Instead, we get some scenes that show the threatening letters discovered in Ratchett’s hotel room. The Taurus Express (that was removed from the opening scenes) is mentioned by Miss Ohlsson, who has just arrived by that train. As the passengers board the train, we learn that Mary Debenham has a limp arm (we later learn that this was caused by the important events in the past). Later, a conversation between Miss Debenham and Poirot on justice (in light of the stoning) is added. Once again, this highlights the central questions of justice and morality that Harcourt has decided to explore.<br /><br />Moreover, Dr. Constantine, the Greek doctor, has become a Greek obstetrician living in America. We later discover he has also been made a culprit to the crime; he replaces Mr. Hardman, who has been deleted. The change and deletion of the character is perfectly understandable. Harcourt reduces the number of characters because of the limited screen time. Also, it’s in keeping with other Christie plots to have one of Poirot’s ‘helpers’ become a culprit in the crime (see, for instance, <i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i> or <i>The ABC Murders</i>). <br /><br />The famous line, ‘Forgive me for being personal - I do not like your face’ has been removed. However, it’s very clear from the exchange of looks between Poirot and Ratchett that the essence has been kept. Moreover, Ratchett is seeking penance. He has turned to God for protection (“an extra gun”). This was certainly not in the novel, but I think it works here, because it increases the dilemma Poirot is eventually faced with; does it make a difference if the guilty party is repentant? Also, later in the film, we see Poirot with his rosary, praying. Even Ratchett prays. Again, opinion has been divided on these changes. Many viewers dislike the addition of religion to Poirot’s character, but that should hardly be news. He proclaims himself a bon catholique throughout the novels, and in the series there have been references to his faith in ‘Triangle at Rhodes’, <i>Taken at the Flood</i>, <i>Appointment With Death</i> and <i>Third Girl</i>. This is the same man who proclaims to Hastings in Peril at End House, ‘I will not sit back and say ‘le bon Dieu has arranged everything, I will not interfere.’ Because I am convinced that le bon Dieu created Hercule Poirot for the express purpose of interfering’. It is my métier’. As mentioned, I also think the change to Ratchett’s character, making him a repentant criminal, adds an important aspect to Poirot’s subsequent dilemma.<br /><br />Once the murder has occurred, Poirot is somewhat reluctant to take the case on. Some viewers might find this surprising. In the past, Poirot has always jumped at the opportunity of solving an interesting case, and this can certainly be said to be interesting. Again, I think this change makes sense in light of the experiences he has had before he gets on the train; the suicide and the stoning. Also, we are watching a more world-weary Poirot. This is, after all, set in the later years of his career. Both these aspects explain why Poirot is more reluctant than usual. He is disturbed by the recent events and disillusioned by the persistence of crime and murder despite his efforts to ‘rid the world of crime’. His overall irritated state should also be attributed to the environment he finds himself in. As <a href="http://uk.agathachristie.com/insight/papers/2011/02/10/one-train-two-very-different-journeys/">Chris Chan points out</a>, Poirot strongly dislikes cold, damp environments, and he can get very grumpy if he is forced to endure them. See, for instance, the adaptation of ‘The Mystery at Hunter’s Lodge’ or Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. Suchet’s acting is perfectly in keeping with the earlier episodes on that point. <br /><br />Generally speaking, all the interviews are shortened down. Significantly. As earlier mentioned, this is mainly because the length of this adaptation was restricted (like most of the feature length adaptations) to about 90 minutes. It’s understandable, but it would have been nice to see some more of the actual investigation. Still, the 1974 film is fairly faithful to that part of the story, so fans could always watch that one if this is a particularly crucial loss. Some viewers, especially Americans, have complained that the adaptation as a whole feels particularly rushed. I can share some of that frustration, but I think the main reason behind it is that PBS, the channel that airs Poirot in the US, cut several important scenes from the adaptation, including the red kimono clue, Poirot’s arrival on the train and bits and pieces of all the interviews. No wonder it felt rushed. But of course the time constraints I have already mentioned contributed, too. <br /><br />There are several minor changes as well, e.g. combining some of the interviews, the lack of water/heating/electricity I mentioned earlier, and Helena Goldenberg becomes Wasserstein (Waterstone in English – the 1974 film chose Grünwald, Greenwood). Also, Miss Ohlsson is more religious than in the novel (she has strong opinions about Catholic penance and forgiveness as opposed to Protestantism), but then she did have a faith in the novel, too (‘That there are in the world such evil men. It tries one’s faith’). But let’s turn our attention to the denouement.<br /><br />If the interview sections were shortened down, the denouement and its aftermath is given more prominence than both the previous film and the novel. Poirot and the culprits enter into a lengthy discussion on justice and the rule of law, linked in part with religion. While this was never present in the original story, I think it’s a natural extension of the themes of the novel. This is a story about justice, about doing ‘the right thing’, and about the grey areas of right and wrong. Is Ratchett any worse than the others? If he is, then what is it that makes us so sure of that fact? What is the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ kind of justice?<br /><br />Harcourt adds a crucial scene in which Colonel Arbuthnot is about to kill Poirot and Bouc, but he is stopped by Mary Debenham and the others. Some say this is completely out of character. In a way, I suppose it is. But the scene is added, I think, to prove a point. This might be what tips the scale for Poirot. Miss Debenham says that if he kills them, ‘he’s no better than Casetti’, and she urges him to remember that ‘we don’t do what is wrong’. The difference between Ratchett/Casetti and the 'jurors' is that they accept the course of justice once Poirot has revealed the truth. They wanted justice for Daisy, but they are unlikely to repeat the act, because that would make them as bad as Ratchett.<br /><br />Of course, this is a difficult decision to make, and Poirot doesn’t let them go light-heartedly. Some fans have objected that he is too troubled by the decision in light of other cases in which he has let the guilty party get away with the crime (e.g. The Double Clue, The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly, The Chocolate Box). There are two important points to be made here. In the two first cases, we are not dealing with murder, and the culprits return what they have taken/stolen. In the third case, the culprit is deadly ill, and Poirot is merely postponing the truth. Second, in all three cases, there’s only one culprit. Here, Poirot is faced with more culprits than in any other story. And it’s murder. So there’s a noticeable difference between the situation he is faced with in <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> and the ones he faced in these short stories. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, I think it’s important to bear in mind that Poirot is a more world-weary man here. He returned to the ‘ghosts’ he tried to escape in <i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i>, and recent events prove that the world hasn’t become a better place, even with him present to ‘interfere’. By this point in his career, he might very possibly be facing serious doubts about his raison d’etre, especially when faced with a case unlike any other. <br /><br />In summary, scriptwriter Stewart Harcourt has remained true to the essentials of the story (all the characters bar one are there, the interviews are there, the solution is the same etc), but he has also added several scenes to emphasise and further explore the themes of the novel (justice, morality, and by extension religion). He has emphasised character complexity over plot, which is an option that was open to him because of the two decades of adaptations. The team, Harcourt, and David Suchet, had the confidence that the audience would know the character inside out. All in all, I think this is a successful attempt at reinterpreting a classic. It’s not perfect, but it’s as close at it can get.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtAGRMMjKCsieqDYChnd4o37HlxHbmJ9FCyoi4kUBwssG81-wbu_l5PCoFh7594fe9N0vg-sicI8m9__NM6D6gH3kig8q2raBUTloHxCEQ8a9tgXKER6qrSr_D62zaM_VgWBYvIP7QFzZO/s1600/motoe1.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtAGRMMjKCsieqDYChnd4o37HlxHbmJ9FCyoi4kUBwssG81-wbu_l5PCoFh7594fe9N0vg-sicI8m9__NM6D6gH3kig8q2raBUTloHxCEQ8a9tgXKER6qrSr_D62zaM_VgWBYvIP7QFzZO/s320/motoe1.png" /></a><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Directing, production design, locations, soundtrack </span></b><br />Philip Martin was a good choice as director for this adaptation. In collaboration with cinematographer Alan Almond (who should be given credit here!), he manages to convey the sense of confinement the train has to offer. Camera angles, lighting and colours all create a specific atmosphere. The use of close-ups increases the tension, and I particularly enjoy the way certain shots convey the exchange of looks between the culprits throughout. Production designer Jeff Tessler and his team should be given due credit as well. The recreation of the Orient Express is absolutely perfect and completely believable. Some of the CGI shots feel slightly artificial, but that can hardly be blamed on anyone in the crew (that’s a money issue, more than anything else). The actual locations used, apart from the train set at Pinewood Studios, include Black Park Country Park (the scene in the woods), Nene Valley Railway (?, the train exterior), St. Ursula Street in Valetta, Malta (the streets of Istanbul), and the Freemason Hall (Tokatlian Hotel reception). Christian Henson’s soundtrack for this film is absolutely outstanding, echoing the rhythm of the train and story and culminating in a particularly poignant end scene (“<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLHGrQiWB78">Redemption</a>).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Characters and actors</span></b><br />Many fans have argued that Suchet’s portrayal is inconsistent in this adaptation. They refer to his anger, his mood, his religious attitudes and the lack of his eccentricities. As I have tried to outline in the script section, I’m not of that opinion. His anger and irritation is perfectly natural given the situation he is put in (the moral dilemma, the challenge to his raison d’etre, the unwelcoming, cold and uncomfortable environment). The religious element is in keeping with Christie’s character, but it has been played up in recent years as a way for Suchet to explore new territories with the character. His eccentricities are still there (the eggs of the same size, the moustache wax, his vanity etc), but they are naturally overshadowed by other themes. [See my analysis of David Suchet’s achievement for more details]. <br /><br />As to the guest cast, there’s not much to say. Most are perfectly suited to their characters (e.g. Eileen Atkins, Toby Jones, Jessica Chastain, Barbara Hershey). I particularly like the fact that they have tried to use actors who are actually German and French for actual German and French roles – with important exceptions (even though both actors are good and work well for the adaptation, Briton Joseph Mawle doesn’t really come across as Italian, and Canadian Marie-Josée Croze isn’t entirely convincing as Swedish). It’s difficult to pick a favourite here, but I think Chastain proves why she has gone on to achieve greater fame since this adaptation was made.</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-48687550418887499102013-10-10T15:18:00.000+02:002020-04-06T18:32:15.255+02:00The End is Near<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhGL5RDMTOVFGmwJLslbLRNrdn6T_0uqkebvk_7Bm_9GiywQl_YgZdSyyeZkxx_g7i0VQMPkAfjY_7yjfrcSJ0cQV9rDZxRKWR16qFd6BRGMml3FfiDVgBHtY1CofrC_p0EqwK7orxBUP/s1600/The+End+is+Near.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhGL5RDMTOVFGmwJLslbLRNrdn6T_0uqkebvk_7Bm_9GiywQl_YgZdSyyeZkxx_g7i0VQMPkAfjY_7yjfrcSJ0cQV9rDZxRKWR16qFd6BRGMml3FfiDVgBHtY1CofrC_p0EqwK7orxBUP/s640/The+End+is+Near.jpg" /></a>A new Poirot trailer has just been released by ITV, to mark the beginning of the end.<br /><br />It's an incredibly moving trailer, with the voice-over from the final part of <i>Curtain</i> (anyone who has read the book will recognise it), accompanied by clips from several of the episodes, all the way from The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (1989) to what I assume must be <i>Dead Man's Folly</i> (2013) (he's walking between some hedges in a garden, and I don't recognise it from any of the earlier episodes - correct me if I'm wrong). <br /><br />I particularly enjoy the collage of portrait close-ups of Poirot/Suchet towards the end. It's a beautiful to show the evolution, the aging and the development of the character. Top marks to whoever put this thing together.<br /><br />See the trailer here: <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/poirot-end-near-trailer#.UlafuXNWtcR.blogger">Poirot: The End is Near (trailer) | presscentre</a><br /><br />Now, let's speculate. First, we know that The Big Four will air <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week43/agatha-christies-poirot-big-four#.UlVL9hCyMTI">23rd of October</a>. Here's the <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week43/agatha-christies-poirot-big-four#.UlVL9hCyMTI">press pack</a>, which also includes interviews with David Suchet, Philip Jackson and Sarah Parish (Flossie Monro), and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCq1giTg00">the episode trailer</a>. Second, we are told in the trailer that 'the final four cases of Poirot start with The Big Four'. Third, we know that there will be a preview of Dead Man's Folly at the BFI on the 29th of October. The conclusion to be drawn from this (and from certain rumours I've heard the last couple of days) is that we can probably look forward to Dead Man's Folly on the 30th of October, and possibly even The Labours of Hercules on the 6th of November and Curtain on the 13th. If so, we are only a couple of weeks away from The End. In the words of the trailer: <br /><br />UPDATE 15/10: ITV have just <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week44/agatha-christies-poirot-dead-mans-folly#.Ul1c8BCSqRM">announced that 'Dead Man's Folly will be broadcast on Wednesday 30th October 2013</a>! Here's <a href="http://presscentre.itvstatic.com/presscentre/sites/presscentre/files/Agatha%20Christie%20Poirot%20Dead%20Man%27s%20Folly%20Production%20Notes%20PCW%202013.pdf">the press pack</a>. Thanks to the anonymous commenter who alerted me.<br /><br />After an incredible journey, the end is near.</span>Eirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-36576552714935193842013-10-07T19:36:00.001+02:002020-04-06T18:34:24.528+02:00'The Big Four': Behind-the-scenes photos and episode screencaps<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br />While we wait for <a href="http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week43/agatha-christies-poirot-big-four">the forthcoming UK broadcast of The Big Four</a>, here are some some set photos and screencaps!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Diana from Germany very kindly gave me permission to post these photos she took on the set of The Big Four earlier this year:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2amMsLJds62XROEysBAW7LKT_lSSgZJx6AkNxLrrqPlUZAH8yAB8HVNdig39TOO_OmIP8bWdmRQTjSLfCab80erxHfdpM8hcpqy-TdaG4zTlBPQw3y6l1fc-xkcJ1-2bUQcDWzJftxn8-/s1600/BigFourfilming2.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2amMsLJds62XROEysBAW7LKT_lSSgZJx6AkNxLrrqPlUZAH8yAB8HVNdig39TOO_OmIP8bWdmRQTjSLfCab80erxHfdpM8hcpqy-TdaG4zTlBPQw3y6l1fc-xkcJ1-2bUQcDWzJftxn8-/s320/BigFourfilming2.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUpLT2652sjNdw8gwUF5_8Vc2yfWP-8kK_pkh4H6sFaOizwGDQIt7LWdN359oBh-ZbbNiucMZT0gwNwD-QiqRF0fdbxdCaDncncDkc1hxMm7gmZuFYrVBnvtmUsHer1ydp2lTvVxiKtKB/s1600/BigFourfilming3.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUpLT2652sjNdw8gwUF5_8Vc2yfWP-8kK_pkh4H6sFaOizwGDQIt7LWdN359oBh-ZbbNiucMZT0gwNwD-QiqRF0fdbxdCaDncncDkc1hxMm7gmZuFYrVBnvtmUsHer1ydp2lTvVxiKtKB/s320/BigFourfilming3.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZtYStoR5Qw__3RGRe4GTbATz_CgWUlJB_WhG4jBRY_bAFYMeTLQ6cMeLejXbiLzyjkuFWF6JVuDYPDHyS8y9kHgK-dNyfRDeZUnTu6J-3uP2QXjqnzFSXKpRjTISNIy0F-6fOoeenVqx_/s1600/BigFourfilming5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZtYStoR5Qw__3RGRe4GTbATz_CgWUlJB_WhG4jBRY_bAFYMeTLQ6cMeLejXbiLzyjkuFWF6JVuDYPDHyS8y9kHgK-dNyfRDeZUnTu6J-3uP2QXjqnzFSXKpRjTISNIy0F-6fOoeenVqx_/s400/BigFourfilming5.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0E5oA33SYV_M0z8i0FVPZDl1y95bo7zb98_2UzFSyI8Ys8FdzzWo8_hmJOldw3W44JSx2tHSoqNu_VT4pmZk-uBxd6ZVLtXIl3o9hfTP4CKEojq8jj6k-HHr6UZ6PHLalpBNQE1z6nRj/s1600/BigFourfilming.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0E5oA33SYV_M0z8i0FVPZDl1y95bo7zb98_2UzFSyI8Ys8FdzzWo8_hmJOldw3W44JSx2tHSoqNu_VT4pmZk-uBxd6ZVLtXIl3o9hfTP4CKEojq8jj6k-HHr6UZ6PHLalpBNQE1z6nRj/s400/BigFourfilming.jpg" /></a><br />"ueetba", a fan from Poland, did these high quality screencaps from the Polish broadcast. They should be fairly spoiler-free:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPELiYyL58syB15F600pSx4NPTlnoPlHB594N6gy_3J6a_KF3x-rfKimZvzueY7chdLIfvGEO5iPzz9DCXjXY9apHyCvZXFkv1sbtoBGBTrNxD0WFUQHalk4RiQm0BFn79WCMlvoBwfqJi/s1600/Big4-1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPELiYyL58syB15F600pSx4NPTlnoPlHB594N6gy_3J6a_KF3x-rfKimZvzueY7chdLIfvGEO5iPzz9DCXjXY9apHyCvZXFkv1sbtoBGBTrNxD0WFUQHalk4RiQm0BFn79WCMlvoBwfqJi/s400/Big4-1.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih-b3BSHZZywsyPblpwEHwaOCnlyXO4UpXcsYNnSRWwGFLzRph3fCpGGDQ4yM7av8rDiqyw4D-MSu_nBxdFfRFmZaZUxNItEFjy6J_p1Q4uZVC-WrsOB9Bb1s3ZiTtwVuLcAgIe27OwxHN/s1600/4+Hastings+-+letter.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih-b3BSHZZywsyPblpwEHwaOCnlyXO4UpXcsYNnSRWwGFLzRph3fCpGGDQ4yM7av8rDiqyw4D-MSu_nBxdFfRFmZaZUxNItEFjy6J_p1Q4uZVC-WrsOB9Bb1s3ZiTtwVuLcAgIe27OwxHN/s400/4+Hastings+-+letter.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOAjBaFXGpehmO-xlUaQgVL-QawY6Vq4KxHIuESyh3GeQNNlJZCaAH5lBmCqPw0Ei7hNdndrD0WhMbCgvcqRvRMXvwMHlHFd67YFNC_hKTNn53BloNG2ytwjo0YEIod3fPwvvY1sI64b_/s1600/5+Lemon+-letter.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOAjBaFXGpehmO-xlUaQgVL-QawY6Vq4KxHIuESyh3GeQNNlJZCaAH5lBmCqPw0Ei7hNdndrD0WhMbCgvcqRvRMXvwMHlHFd67YFNC_hKTNn53BloNG2ytwjo0YEIod3fPwvvY1sI64b_/s400/5+Lemon+-letter.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAF0JXWpd81u7vAS9VDiWjL6gZW_AzWC0YC3AkiiIq9WMW0S90tmSL9ahxlRlcenFp1AFyLsM7tbjXsF-o9uW-np_bxpTuyC9VxnE9HHgfS4oI8oQV0SjuO0erfQXefvVDYYG8bxH1k98u/s1600/6+Flossie.jpg"><img border="0" 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