Kevin Elyot Or Nick Dear

StephenNorton

I have been watching both Poirot and Marple adaptations lately and I came to the conclusion that the two best writers on both series where Kevin Elyot and Nick Dear. I am intersted in your opinion on who of these two is THE best Poirot/Marple writer.

GKCfan

Are we only discussing the screenwriters who worked on both series?

StephenNorton

No, I meant in general, all the screenwriters who worked on either of them.

Tommy_A_Jones

It would be helpful to me at least if you reminded us which Adaptations each worked o that for me is the way I would choose

StephenNorton

All right. So, the most important writers are:
Kevin Elyot (Five Little Pigs, Death On The Nile, Curtain, The Body In The Libary, The Moving Finger, Towards Zero, A Pocketfull of Rye, A Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side, Endless Night)
Nick Dear (The Hollow, Cards On The Table, Mrs McGinty's Death, Three Acts Tragedy, Elephants Can Remember, Dead Man's Folly)
Stephen Cruchett (A Murder In The Vicarage, 4:50 From Paddington, Sleeping Murder, The Sittaford Mistery, Nemesis, Murder Is Easy)
Stewart Harcourt (The Clocks, Murder On The Orient Express, A Murder Is Announced, By The Pricking Of My Thumbs, Ordeal Of Innocence, The Blue Geranium)

GKCfan

What about Clive Exton (21 episodes: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0264088/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr9) and Anthony Horowitz (11 episodes: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0395275/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr14#writer).  They've both played major roles in the Agatha Christie's Poirot series.  

In many ways, Exton is the writer most responsible for the show's success– he wrote so many of the series' early episodes and helped to set the tone, balance, and characterization of the series.

StephenNorton

Well, I skipped both of them on purpose, because the style of the first eight series, and the last five, is really, really not comparable. Most of the Clive Exton episodes were short stories. Here is the list of the novels these two adapted:
Clive Exton (Peril At The End House, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, The ABC Murders, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, Murder In Mesopotamia)
Anthony Horowitz (Hickory Dickory Dock, Murder On The Links, Lord Edgware Dies, Evil Under The Sun)

Tommy_A_Jones

It all depends whose ide a it was to change the sex of a Murderer in Body In The Library, and change Cards On The Table so drastically, does the writer decide or is he told to ruin books? On balance I think Churchett and harcourt did better jobs than the other 2 but Exton and Horowitz were the best, ITvs treatment of Poirot was better than ITVs treatment of Miss Marple but some Poirot's are really not very good.

StephenNorton

I don't know, but Exton's and Horowitz's style didn't really sit well with me. And I don't really mind the changes, as long as they are done with some purpose. All in all, Elyot would probbably be my pick for the best writer.

Tommy_A_Jones

Most of the time the Changes aren't done with some purpse, It seems to me some people just read the synopsis and rhen write what they want

StephenNorton

Well, that's true when speaking of "Cards on the Table". In "The Body in the Libary", I actually prefered Elyot's solution to Christie's!

P_Lombard

This is a tricky question to answer because some of these writers have produced both some of my favorite and least favorite adaptations, making it hard to determine to what extent the good works compensate for the poorer works. I would say that Clive Exton and Kevin Elyot would be my favorite of the writers. While each has written some problematic adaptations, they are the most consistent in producing stronger quality adaptations and their flawed works have fewer flaws than some of the other writers.

StephenNorton

Thank you for your opinion!

Tommy_A_Jones

I think you are in the minority with preferring Elyot's solution of Body In The library, There are AC books that suggest Dlesbianism and so it is right that Adaptations reflect that but That doesn't apply with Body In The Library so it shouldn#t mention Lesbiamism

ChristieFanForLife

The newer Miss Marple adaptations are all a trainwreck to me! They veer away from the stories, trying too hard to be modern, introducing elements that are so un-Christie it makes you wonder if they even read the book. Either that or they are trying so hard to get away from the Joan Hickson adaptations, they think in order to do that they have to take so many liberties with the written story. You can film the same story in different ways and do it without being unfaithful to it. Just watch the 1978 version of Death on the Nile with Ustinov and the 2004 version with David Suchet; both different adaptations but they tell the same story being faithful to the story and not veering completely away from it. The 2004 version keeps some of the big cast of characters while the 1978 one pares them down.

GKCfan

I notice that some authors focus mainly on plot.  One thing I like about Elyot's work is that he puts a bit more stress on characterization, and gives actors a chance to show off their skills (especially in Five Little Pigs).

StephenNorton

Thank you for your thoughts! I actually like the newer Marple adaptations, and I don't mind the changes, if they are done with some purpose, as I said, for example, making a solution more interesting. GKCfan, is Exton yours favorite writer, too?

GKCfan

I think that every writer who has contributed more than two episodes to the Poirot series has ups and downs, and many of them have made questionable adaptation decisions, but due to his pivotal work in defining the series and characterization, I believe I will give the nod to Exton.

ChristieFanForLife

I have to give Clive Exton much credit to developing and defining the series. Previous Poirot adaptations were often feature-length films in the theatre and often on radio, but this series brought Poirot onto television and made him more known to the mainstream audience. Not only that but Exton was able to adapt Christie's short stories which weren't often adapted to film or television. The short stories did need some fleshing out for the screen and I don't mind that. As GKCFan said, some of the decisions of the screenwriters were questionable and Exton did some questionable things but those flaws pale in comparison to the successful decisions made. Every series has its flaws and there are always things that can be improved upon. Exton set the series off the ground and it became a hit with fans, bringing new ones each year. Along with the iconic theme music, this series is a treasure and I believe stands heads and shoulders above the majority of the later films, aside from a few gems such as Five Little Pigs, Sad Cypress, The Hollow, and After The Funeral. 

ChristieFanForLife

GKCfan said:

I notice that some authors focus mainly on plot.  One thing I like about Elyot's work is that he puts a bit more stress on characterization, and gives actors a chance to show off their skills (especially in Five Little Pigs).

I think the homosexual subplot Elyot added in Five Little Pigs was appropriate for the story and added more poignancy and tragedy but the one that he inserted in The Body In The Library is unforgivable in my opinion. And he changed the murderer as well! I didn't really care much for his adaptation of Death On The Nile. I felt for a popular story like this the film should have been longer than what it was having the time to develop the characters and the story. I think the casting could have been a bit better too. But in my opinion, his adaptation of Five Little Pigs was a masterpiece, not to mention the gorgeous music from Christopher Gunning. I wish he continued composing for the series but after season 9 he left. It would have been nice if he composed for a few more episodes, especially "Curtain" which I felt should have been longer as a film as well. 

StephenNorton

It's really great to hear all these opinions! Well, despite his flaws, Elyot remains by far my favorite screenwriter.