Yvonne
It has been announced that the final new five films, based on the remaining novels and short stories, featuring Agatha Christie’s character of ‘Poirot‘, are to be adapted for television and will begin production in 2012.
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The five films will be ‘The Labours of Hercules’, ‘Dead Man’s Folly’, ‘The Big Four’ and ‘Elephants Can Remember’, with the final film being ‘Curtain‘, which is the detective’s last tale and sees him return to the scene of his first case in a bid to prevent another murder.
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The great news is, that David Suchet, who has played the character of the dapper Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, for the last 22 years, starring in some 65 films, has already been commissioned to star in the sleuth’s final five adventures, thus bringing to a fitting completion this canon of works.
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DAVID SUCHET comments
“I’m more than delighted to be reprising my role as Poirot. It’s been my life’s ambition to bring this amazing canon of works to completion.
“Poirot is a brilliant, yet profoundly complicated character and I’ve always loved playing him.
“He’s considerate, with a love of elegance and precision, but he is also so maddeningly frustrating to play as he’s so vain and pedantic! For all his faults he is one of the greatest listeners in literature. I’ve been so fortunate to play him.”
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The final episodes will continue to be made under the executive direction of Michele Buck, who was Controller of Drama at ITV Productions for six years, before jointly setting up new company, ‘Mammoth Screen’, with Damien Timmer, which makes drama for British and International broadcasters.
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MICHELE BUCK comments
“We can promise the final five Poirot films will be a fitting tribute to a much-loved literary character.
When the ending comes it’ll be very dramatic and incredibly emotional.
We’ve been on a remarkable journey with Poirot.”
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Check back often for more filming and scheduling updates
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I love Agatha Christie! The books and the movies!!
Hi Vicki,
I love most detective series and films, but Poirot remains one of my favourites, together with Agatha Christie’s other great character, Miss Marple.
I will always associate the role of this pedantic and fussy character, with the great David Suchet, which I suppose does rather typecast the poor man, although he has enjoyed a very successful acting career in a plethera of alternative guises, all just as enjoyable as his erudite portrayal of Poirot.
I missed the latest film, which was screened here in the UK on December 26th 2011, however I shall certainly be checking it out over the next couple of days on ‘catch-up’ TV, when I have enough time to sit and enjoy it uninterrupted.
Thanks for stopping by and I would like to wish you a healthy and happy New Year
Excellent news, thanks for passing it on. I see you didn’t catch last night’s. Well worth catching up on when you can as it was *excellent*. I liked the Dover setting… just before the start of WW2. It almost felt Foyle’s War-ish. Very, very good and so lovely to see Anna Massey for the last time too. And as for David Suchet, well he just *is* Poirot for me. I’m sorry that this will be the final five.
Hi Cath,
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you had a good Christmas and that your daughter is making a steady recovery from her surgery.
I shall be sure to try and catch last night’s ‘Poirot’, but it will have to be when Dave isn’t about. He doesn’t mind watching some of the detective dramas, the likes of ‘Morse’ and ‘Frost’, but ‘Poirot’ just doesn’t do it for him. I think it is both the period it is set in and the fact that the character himself just somehow annoys him, not that he has anything against David Suchet as an actor.
Linking to all those Agatha Christie books, when I was writing the post, actually made me feel like starting at the beginning and reading all of her books over again, something which I seldom, if ever, contemplate. I was an avid Christie reader as a teenager and I still think that the stories have something about them which modern so called ‘cozy’ mystery writers don’t seem to be able to capture.
I am sure that despite the fact that the final five adaptations will appear on our screens this year, there will be no shortage of repeated episodes available for us to watch, for many years to come, at least I very much hope so!!
I hope that yourself and your family enjoy the rest of the holiday season and that you have a happy and healthy New Year.
It’s funny your post should be about Agatha Christie. Earlier today I was thinking I should read some of her books. It’s been many years since I read any of them and I always loved them. Thanks for posting this!
Hope you had a great holiday and have a very Happy New Year!
Hi Yvonne,
It’s funny how after all these years, Agatha Christie is still held in such high regard and is read on such a regular basis, by so many people. I think she has safely made her way into the halls of British classical writers, and I am definitely thinking of downloading her books onto the ‘kindle’ and re-reading them.
Are any of the television adaptations available to you in the States? The stories adapt so well for the screen IMHO, without losing anything of their true character in the re-making and are always a true joy to watch.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you enjoy some great New Years celebrations.
I hope that’ll make it to this side of the pond eventually – my mother would love it.
Hi Kathy,
Many of my US visitors, do pass comment from time to time, about the UK detective series which reach your shores, and I am sure that ‘Poirot’ is one of those often mentioned. I am assuming that, as with US programmes which head over this way, there is something of a time lapse between screenings, which is something of a shame in this technological age.
Agatha Christie is one of my favourite authors, mostly remembered from my teenage years, but both the books, films and television adaptations, stand the test of time and continue to attract a huge following.
I hope that your mother doesn’t have to wait too long for the latest editions of ‘Poirot’ to hit the US screens.
Thanks for stopping by and may I wish you and yours all best wishes for the New Year.
I watched the Clocks one the other night.
I do enjoy Poirot and, despite these being the last ones, it’s so timeless that they can be watched and watched (or enjoyed and enjoyed) time and time again.
David Suchet was born to play Poirot! 🙂
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Hi Nikki,
Everyone I have spoken to who watched ‘Clocks’ over Christmas enjoyed it, so I shall definitely have to catch up with this one …. now where can I pack Dave off to for a couple of hours??….
I am sure that ‘Poirot’ will be repeated time and time again, for many years to come, as will ‘Miss Marple’.
As with ‘Miss Marple’, there have in fact been a number of different actors who have played the role of ‘Poirot’, but to me David Suchet has always and will always be synonymous with the role. He so fits the description of the character that Agatha Christie envisaged when she wrote the stories:
“Why not make my detective a Belgian?…I could see him as a tidy little man, always arranging things, liking things in pairs, liking things square instead of round. And he should be brainy – he should have little grey cells of the mind.” Agatha Christie – An Autobiography
“Perhaps, however, the actor most synonymous with Poirot is David Suchet, who first appeared in the role in 1989. Agatha Christie never saw David Suchet in the role but her grandson Mathew has commented: “Personally, I regret very much that she never saw David Suchet. I think that visually he is much the most convincing and perhaps he manages to convey to the viewer just enough of the irritation that we always associate with the perfectionist, to be convincing!””
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you have a very happy and healthy 2012
We do get these films here in the States. Our PBS (Public Broadcast Station) always shows them. I am looking forward to these! Happy New Year Yvonne!
Hi Peggy,
When we have holidayed in Florida, we have noticed that there are quite a few re-runs of English programmes on your PBS, however they all seem to be quite a bit out of date, so I just hope that you do not have to wait too long for these last few programmes in the Poirot series to air.
It will certainly be the end of an era, when they finally kill Poirot off and from all reports there are only a couple more new episodes of Miss Marple to be filmed, before she too is consigned to repeat status on our screens.
Thanks for visiting today and I would like to wish you a Very Happy New Year