'Elephants Can Remember' UK broadcast date confirmed - 9 June 8pm!

(c) ITV

...and we're off! Agatha Christie's Poirot Series Thirteen is on! The press release was issued about a week ago, with a strange embargo on publishing details. Anyway, now we have the official confirmation of the broadcast date (see this article, and this article for some lovely press photos)! Really excited to see some pictures from the episode, I love the house they seem to have used. And of course the fact that Poirot's flat is back on screen. It could just be the time of year they shot it, or even the way the photos were taken, but they do seem to have a rather bleak look about them - reflective of the adaptation as a whole, perhaps?

Also, just a few tidbits of information from the press release (everything has been on IMdB for months, actually). The series now has a new producer (David Boulter), who I think is the fifth producer on the show. The screenplay is by Nick Dear, who has written absolutely wonderful scripts before, particularly for the Ariadne/Poirot coupling, so this should be good. The best news, in my mind, however, is that Christian Henson is back to do the score, presumably for the entire series. After Gunning, he is definitely a good choice. Expect to hear references to the famous theme tune in future episodes.

Finally, just a few interesting bits from the interview with Suchet:

"Viewers should be able to see from 25 years ago to now that the character himself is still there and hopefully hasn’t changed and is the Agatha Christie character from day one."

"As well as watching ten hours of footage and perfecting his mannerisms, I also conduct a detailed script study to make sure everything I say is valid, especially when I come to Poirot’s summing up. I work very, very closely with the script editor to make sure there are no assumptions and it is all fact.In addition to the character preparation I like to rewrite my script in the vernacular of Poirot." (This is actually very reassuring news, it means he has a significant say in what happens in each episode, see below as well)

"Quite a lot now (of influence as associate producer), more so on the scripts before we start shooting and everyday I’m on the set I can always have an input if I see things that are not going quite right. Cast and crew can also come to me with a problem if our producer is not available. I like it very much because I’m the only one really that’s been there from the beginning so I can be very useful and helpful hopefully!"

"One is always in a situation with the adaptation of books and I get letters from Poirot diehards saying ‘oh its moved too far away from the book.’ Very often the books themselves are not that filmable from a commercial point of view. For instance, they maybe set in one setting and the audience loves us going out to other locations. Sometimes the stories do get changed but they are always pretty close to the book."

(Perhaps less reassuring, but I personally don't mind changes as long as they work - and it's good to hear that they are aware of that).

P.S. I'm not in the U.K., so I won't get to see the episode yet (unless someone puts it up on YouTube or something, but I'm not sure I want to see it there first). As a result, I'm not going to write anything on it until I've seen it. BUT: If anyone who sees the episode want to e-mail me or post a comment over at poirotchronology.blogspot.com on the chronology matters of the episode (i.e. any references to year, date or historical event), that would be much appreciated!