Worst and Best of ITV's Poirot

Nigel (Moonraker)

The worst, in my opinion, is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I felt this was a travesty of her book, considered by many to be her masterpiece. I realise that it is a difficult one to adapt as much would be given away if we were really to see everything through the murderer's eyes. However, that shoot-out at the end was more like a scene from a Batman movie.

Another poor adaptation was Dumb Witness. To introduce motor racing seems irrelevant, and why was Emily Arundell alive? One of the clever plot lines was that Emily's letter was delayed, and by the time Poirot received it, she was already dead. 

Moonraker

I am the author of the above comment, I signed in via Facebook and couldn't change my username! Sorry for any confusion.

MissQuin

I've watched every single episode except Curtian so here's my own views:

my least favourite Poirot adaptation was Taken At The Flood. It was too over the top and melodramatic to the point of hammy. The actor playing David Hunter didn't sound Irish and was miscast. There was no chemistry in the love triangle with  Roly, Lynn and David. The idea someone would blow up a house (with themselves inside) to kill 2 people was pretty absurd. The incest theme wasn't in the book either.

SPOILERS!!! Murder Of Ackryod was a crushing disappointment. I didn't think the actor playing Dr Shephard had enough  charisma. The shoot out at the end was awful! The death at the end of the book was chillingly calm and calculated. Why didn't they have that instead?  There was a fair few continuity errors too. 

Dumb Witness- although not my least favourite it made many mistakes. Charles wasn't at all  the sexy, roguish charmer of the book! His sister was too dull and not the sharp bright young thing of the book. Some of it was just too silly.

I also hated Labours of Hercules. I knew that they had to change it. Some of the best characters like Amy Carnaby were removed.  But why was Countess Rossakoff branded a bad mother? I think she'd be a highly unconventional mother yes, but bad, no. The end was absurd. 

Favourite episodes- quite a few Style is very good, The ABC Murders, Halloween Party,  Murder In The Mews, The King Of Clubs, 

Affair At The Victory Ball- It came across as fun, bright, interesting but also warm and good pacing. It was beautifully done. I loved the costumes and the statuettes that matched.

 

Hickory Dickory Dock is wonderful. They took the confusing parts of the book out and made it more concise. The book feels rather disjointed to me, but the episode pulled it together.

Peril At End house- to me faultless. I also liked that when I watched it, it was in two parts. So the person I watched it with, was left guessing who the killer was! I love the setting, costumes.  The actress who played Nick was just right.

P_Lombard

I have not seen all of the Suchet Poirot adaptations, but of the ones I have seen, I really like:

•  Death on the Nile: One of my favorite Poirot books and so I appreciate the adaptation's relative fidelity to the book; I love all the characters, the fact that they filmed the adaptation in Egypt, and that it included of the Cornelia Robson- Dr. Besner- Mr. Ferguson love triangle which is sadly missing from the Ustinov version
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Also one of my favorite Poirot books; it is nice to meet Poirot and see the differences between how Christie initially depicted him and how she would depict him later in the series; I love the characters - especially Nurse Cynthia, all the Inglethorpes, and Miss Howard; I am glad it also kept the spirit of fun and humor that makes the book such a joy to read
  
• The Murder on the Link: I love the romance between Hasting and his wife [even if it is significantly different from how that romance is portrayed in the book] and the competition between Poirot and Giraud
• Hallowe'en Party: Fun to watch during October [really gets one in the Halloween spirit], a very moving episode
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas: Fun to watch at Christmas time [I love listening to the singers performing Christmas hymns and carols]; though I wish it had kept more of the characters from the novel [since the novel contains one of Christie's best bunch of characters], I think the characters they kept were relatively well portrayed [Pilar was especially well portrayed]; this episode also has plenty of humor
• Three Act Tragedy: They worked a wonder with this episode - they turned one of my least favorite Poirot novels into one of my favorite Poirot adaptations; while the book is overly long, the episode is just the right length and perfectly paced; the characters in the novel are woefully underdeveloped, but the movie makes this fault less apparent through quick flashes of the characters that keep them within our memories and associate them with certain activities and personality traits we associate with those activities; while I found Egg tiresome in the novel and the novel's Anthony Astor left no impression on me whatsoever, they both add a great deal of fun and pathos to the episode; the novel's weak ending was also handled exceptionally well and is both deeply moving and extremely funny

Of the Suchet Poirot adaptations I have seen, the only ones that stood out as exceptionally bad were:

• Murder on the Orient Express: Complete and utter train wreck of an episode! The plot was mutilated, the characters were left extremely underdeveloped [in the novel there are some characters I like, but in the movie I either disliked or was indifferent to all the characters], too many unnecessary additions were made, and Poirot seemed out of character the entire episode
• Appointment with Death: One of my favorite Poirot novels completely ruined! The plot was nothing like the novel's plot - the novel's atmosphere of rising tension and suspense was replaced by the gruesomeness and the ridiculous melodrama of the adaptation [Spoiler: A slave trafficking nun? Really? Who on Earth thought that that was a good addition?]. While I feel great sympathy for the characters in the novel, the characters in the movie were either unlikeable or too underdeveloped for them to leave any impact on me. If I had known in advance how overly dark and unfaithful this episode was, I never would have watched it.
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: Miss Quin and Moonraker are absolutely right: this episode is a travesty of a masterpiece. The solution has been bungled, the pacing is too slow, the plot deviates too much from the novel, and the characters are poorly handled [Caroline Sheppard is one of Christie's best characters and yet, the adaptation's Caroline leaves no impression whatsoever on the viewer]

I agree with Miss Quin and Moonraker that Dumb Witness is not one of the best adaptations, but, in my opinion, Bob and the delightful Tripp sisters make it nowhere near as bad as the atrotious adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express, Appointment with Death, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Thanks Miss Quin for the heads up on Taken at the Flood and the Labors of Hercules - if I do watch these adaptations, I will know not to get my hopes up. I also agree with Miss Quin that Peril at End House is extremely well done: it is full of humor and, as Miss Quin noted, the actress playing Nick is perfectly cast.

MissQuin

I really enjoyed reading your post P_lombard. I forgot to say that I think Bob the dog is adorable!  He was the best thing about Dumb Witness for me. 

I hated the adapt of Orient Express, I was so bored. I actually know someone who fell asleep during it. I read David Suchet's Poirot and me. I know he's strong in his convictions about why Poirot behaves how he does. But for me it was so grim. It was made worse by the fact it was shown on Christmas day here in England.  

Appointment With Death is pretty harrowing. There's a constant theme of physical child abuse which is pretty distressing. If that's not bad enough there's the fake Nun turned human trafficker  trying to kidnap Ginny to turn her to sexual slavery. I thought, hasn't the poor girl suffered enough? Layering misery upon misery is one of the worse things about some of the later Poirot. Did they get the idea for wicked Nuns/fake Nuns from the Marple episode Nemesis? Yes, I hate the episode. But I was conscious that my post would run as a long list of negative complaints. Taken At The Flood and Labours Of Hercules were written by the same producer, they are very similar. If you dislike one, you'd most certainly dislike the other. 

I hated Third girl - how many times can you show someone with cut wrists in the bath? Once is enough, no need to hammer it home! The denouncement  never seemed to end. 

  

MissQuin

On the good episdoes:

I will add The Third Floor Flat, I think it's a  fun episode mixed with a grave situation.  Wasps Nest is also very good despite having a scene where a clown kisses someone, which on a purely personal note, is among my worse nightmares!!! The Egyptain Tomb excellent. 

On the mixed ones: 

Death In The clouds- Enjoyable to watch. It hits home on a emotional note too.

I have very mixed feelings towards Death On The Nile. Part of me must like it, I've seen  it 3 times! Yet I felt Jackie, who for me is one of the very best characters in any Poirot book  lacked conviction. But on the other hand Frances De La Tour and J J Feild were very good. Scenery, costumes all good. Dialogue some problems, don't think insult "cow" was in use then? As for Poirot's tormented unrequited "love speech" to Jackie. I have to fast forward it. It pains me! 

Three Act Tragedy- mixed,  The episode is good. But like Mrs McGinty's Dead, the episodes are strong but have self indulgent endings. The murderers in both are very "I've had a bad time, feel sorry for me" which wasn't present in either book. I actually prefer the more theatrical end of McGinty rather than floods of tears from a  supposedly ruthless killer. 

 Lord Edgware Dies- good but not perfect. I didn't like the  "gather all the suspects in one room"  wasn't in the book.

Tommy_A_Jones

My Favourite Adaptations of Poirot Novels are Evil Under The Sun, ABC Murders and Mrs McGinty's Dead, I haven't got a favourite amongst the short story Adaptations, My least favourite of Poirot Novel daptations is Cards On The Table and with the short stories The Missing Will, Cards Is one of my Favourite Poirot Novels and The Missing will my Favourite of the Short stories

lachy.a.w

I really disliked the ITV adaptation of The Big Four - I felt the solution was extremely anti-climactic. I understand that the novel was hard to adapt but I would have like it if the solution had a more legitimate criminal tone to it. 

As for the adaptation of Death on the Nile, the novel is one of my favourites and the adaptation didn't disappoint. Not flawless but I found it thoroughly enjoyable. 

I couldn't finish watching the adaptation of Appointment with Death because it was so different from the novel. It's always very disappointing when they change the plot without the need to and there was definitely no need to make any changes for this adaptation. 

MissQuin

I liked that The Big Four adaptation  had warmth, a slight touch of humour, emotion, mystery and good suspense. Especially during the chess game.  But I agree that end was a huge let down. It was absurd and farcical. Until that point it was quite faithful. 

But it wasn't all bad. I liked the fact Poirot appeared on stage behind a screen, a little nod towards the early episodes opening with Poirot's silhouette shown.Maybe  the changes were financial ones?   "can we afford to show a elaborate underground base...?" hmm no! But it's a shame the Achilles Poirot story wasn't used. 

I'm beginning to think that Appointment With Death is one of the least liked Poirot episodes. But I do know someone who watched it, but who hadn't read the book and they liked it. It was so overwrought I don't know how any one could. 

I think I like most of all the episodes screened before 2001 with the exception of Ackroyd. There were some good ones I liked fater 2001, I already mentioned, plus Murder In Mesopotamia wasn't bad but Nurse Leatheran's character became deadwood as Hastings replaced her. 

Also liked After The Funeral, Cat Among The Pigeons Dead Man's Folly 

I thought that Five Little Pigs was incredibly good. I know they did add a plot that Phillip was tormented homosexual, but Toby Stevens acted out it out so beautifully. I think that some of the characters are hard to like, so it did give the viewer feelings of empathy, not for the victim, but for the daughter and loved ones left behind. 

Now before I watched Cards On The Table- I read reviews. It had been absolutely trashed and panned by fans. So I sat down to watch it, thinking "this will be so bad I will end up doing the ironing whilst it's on". I was surprised to find that I liked the first hour alot. It did slide towards the end. They altered the motive which was wrong, but it would have been bearable if Anne and Meredith hadn't been switched.  But the acting was very good. 

I watched The Hollow, and found it quite good but it turned out a saw the mid day "censored version" which makes me bewildered as how it could have been censored?! 

 

I thought Sad Cypress was an utter mess. How an earth was one of my favourite stories made so utterly charmless and dull? Mary was portrayed as such a sly little sneak! Even people who are good actors made the characters came across as flat and one dimensional.  It must have been the screen writers fault.

Mystery Of The Blue Train- added to the bad list, everyone was obnoxious or a complete bore.  

I love Halloween Party, much more than the actual book.  Are there some adaptation that fans like better than the book itself?

Tommy_A_Jones

I have probably said it before and If so I am very sorry but I thought Murder In Mesopotamia  was much better than The Book, which I thought was boring and Dull and the Adaption was made Good as Hastings kept it from being as Dull ass The Book, I thought The Big Four was better than the book but the book isn't as bad as Murder In Mesopotamia, Sad Cypress was no better o worse than The Book IMHO and nor was Mystery of The Blue Train

Tommy_A_Jones

Oh Yes, Three Act Tragedy was better than the book too but I would have had Cartwright played by Tim Curry

MissQuin

I think that Three Act Tragedy is an excellent book. The adaption: but I found it a shame that Muriel Wills was made else perverse and more normal! Also Angela Sutcliffe was cut out, which was a shame. I didn't mind Mr Satterswaite being excluded, as I'd rather than didn't have him, than if he was played badly. The end of the story is slightly dull and needed more drama. but I didn't like the end of the adapt either. 

As much as I liked Captain Hastings, i didn't thnik he added anything to Murder In Mesopotamia. In fact more time was given to explian why he was there without his wife. That time colud have been used to built up Louise's complex and tempestuous character. 

Evil Under The Sun- the setting was great. But the love triangle was badly played out and Patrick was dull. I found the Ustinov film is much better. At least Arlena and Patrick had chemistry between them. 

glalonzo0408

P_Lombard said:

I have not seen all of the Suchet Poirot adaptations, but of the ones I have seen, I really like:

•  Death on the Nile: One of my favorite Poirot books and so I appreciate the adaptation's relative fidelity to the book; I love all the characters, the fact that they filmed the adaptation in Egypt, and that it included of the Cornelia Robson- Dr. Besner- Mr. Ferguson love triangle which is sadly missing from the Ustinov version
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Also one of my favorite Poirot books; it is nice to meet Poirot and see the differences between how Christie initially depicted him and how she would depict him later in the series; I love the characters - especially Nurse Cynthia, all the Inglethorpes, and Miss Howard; I am glad it also kept the spirit of fun and humor that makes the book such a joy to read
  
• The Murder on the Link: I love the romance between Hasting and his wife [even if it is significantly different from how that romance is portrayed in the book] and the competition between Poirot and Giraud
• Hallowe'en Party: Fun to watch during October [really gets one in the Halloween spirit], a very moving episode
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas: Fun to watch at Christmas time [I love listening to the singers performing Christmas hymns and carols]; though I wish it had kept more of the characters from the novel [since the novel contains one of Christie's best bunch of characters], I think the characters they kept were relatively well portrayed [Pilar was especially well portrayed]; this episode also has plenty of humor
• Three Act Tragedy: They worked a wonder with this episode - they turned one of my least favorite Poirot novels into one of my favorite Poirot adaptations; while the book is overly long, the episode is just the right length and perfectly paced; the characters in the novel are woefully underdeveloped, but the movie makes this fault less apparent through quick flashes of the characters that keep them within our memories and associate them with certain activities and personality traits we associate with those activities; while I found Egg tiresome in the novel and the novel's Anthony Astor left no impression on me whatsoever, they both add a great deal of fun and pathos to the episode; the novel's weak ending was also handled exceptionally well and is both deeply moving and extremely funny

Of the Suchet Poirot adaptations I have seen, the only ones that stood out as exceptionally bad were:

• Murder on the Orient Express: Complete and utter train wreck of an episode! The plot was mutilated, the characters were left extremely underdeveloped [in the novel there are some characters I like, but in the movie I either disliked or was indifferent to all the characters], too many unnecessary additions were made, and Poirot seemed out of character the entire episode
• Appointment with Death: One of my favorite Poirot novels completely ruined! The plot was nothing like the novel's plot - the novel's atmosphere of rising tension and suspense was replaced by the gruesomeness and the ridiculous melodrama of the adaptation [Spoiler: A slave trafficking nun? Really? Who on Earth thought that that was a good addition?]. While I feel great sympathy for the characters in the novel, the characters in the movie were either unlikeable or too underdeveloped for them to leave any impact on me. If I had known in advance how overly dark and unfaithful this episode was, I never would have watched it.
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: Miss Quin and Moonraker are absolutely right: this episode is a travesty of a masterpiece. The solution has been bungled, the pacing is too slow, the plot deviates too much from the novel, and the characters are poorly handled [Caroline Sheppard is one of Christie's best characters and yet, the adaptation's Caroline leaves no impression whatsoever on the viewer]

I agree with Miss Quin and Moonraker that Dumb Witness is not one of the best adaptations, but, in my opinion, Bob and the delightful Tripp sisters make it nowhere near as bad as the atrotious adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express, Appointment with Death, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Thanks Miss Quin for the heads up on Taken at the Flood and the Labors of Hercules - if I do watch these adaptations, I will know not to get my hopes up. I also agree with Miss Quin that Peril at End House is extremely well done: it is full of humor and, as Miss Quin noted, the actress playing Nick is perfectly cast.

P LOMBARD...I must respectfully disagree with you regarding Murder on the Orient Express.....it is number one on my list of all time favorites.......

MissQuin

I forgot to mention Elephants Can Remember. I know it hasn't been shown world wide yet, so the following post has spoilers!!!! I thought the episode got off to a really slow start, but I blame the copious amount of adverts that broke up the story. Yes I fast forwarded them, but it still took too much time.  But after an hour, the pace picked up and I began to care about the characters. Admittedly the book was a slow burner too. I was really enjoying it until the end. I couldn't believe that a slight girl was responsible for attempting to strangle a full grown, healthy young man. Surely she wasn't strong enough? 

Dean

I haven't read the book but I thought Elephants can remember wasn't that good. I found it a bit boring.

shifra.shomron

Elephants can Remember was, I felt, a showcase for Ariadne Oliver. She did quite a bit of detective work in it. Also, it allowed Poirot to prove that a murder can be solved years after - it's really all up to the little grey cells; you don't need the footprints, the cigarette ash, etc. It's all about the human psychology, and what people remember about people, which, with a certain amount of necessary facts, can be enough to solve a case. Very different from Holmes, and perhaps rather like the UK series New Tricks.

StathisZavitsanos

In my opinion the best ITV's poirot is Appointment With Death. Despite the fact that it was not faithful to the book's plot I liked it. 

The worst is Five little Pigs. I cannot say that I liked it. I had to watch it three or four times to understand it. 

Tommy_A_Jones

I quite liked Five Little Pigs, It wasn't the best but It wasn't terrible no like Cards On The Table was, I have only seen it once and will make a point of never watching it again and Appointment With Death Isn't much better. 

Christopher_Wren

My favourites are "The Hollow", "The ABC Murders", "Five little pigs" and especially "After the funeral", which I think is better than the novel. (Even though I like the novel.) I also have a soft spot for "Dumb Witness" because of it's light humour.

I have seen every film except the ones in the last season, and the only ones that I really disliked were "Taken at the Flood" and "Appointment with Death".

Tommy_A_Jones

I didn't like the changes in "After The Funeral" but I loved the Adaptation and the book.

mstrsims2

I recently watched BIG FOUR.   Disliked it because the whole plot (although a bit far fetched in the original) was made trite.   Granted times have changed and we are so politically correct these days we can't sneeze without offending someone, but they could have incorporated more of the political thread (taking out some of the more racist elements) of the original plot than simply turning it into a very poor substitute for the murders.

I am probably in the minority over APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH.  I see many people enjoyed it.   It is one of my lesser favorite Christie books because the solution is given in the last 20 pages but it come out of nowhere. The clues are very sparse.  The Ustinov film adaptation (for some reason not available on dvd in the USA) adds more to it and at least it makes a bit more sense guessing the murderer, with the added murder of the young Arab boy.  

Oh well.     Even a not so good Christie isn't a really bad book !

Christopher_Wren

I liked the novel because of Mrs Bonyton as a character, but I do agree, that the solution is a bit weak, even though there were hints. I much prefer the solution from Christie's stage play, which is a real logical and fitting conclusion. I won't spoil in this thread, who did it (you can read it on Wikipedia anyway, if you want), but she changed the culprit. The killer in the novel is completely innocent in the play.

If they had to change the ending in the ITV-version, I wish they had used the one from the play. Not only is it a really good one, it was also created by Christie herself. After all, they used the changed ending from "And then there were none" in all the movies as well.

Tommy_A_Jones

I disliked Appointment With Death too, on p[age 33 it clearly says the Abuse is Psychological but in the Poirot Episode it was Physical, and having the Victims husband confused things for me and I thought he was wrongly cast.

vazin

i think that the worst was episode based on "the hollow" , i dont know but i feel that was so simple solution and there were no complications or surprises in this episode

the best for me(i didnt see all episodes) was hercule poirot christmas maybe i will change my mind when i see the other episodes

there were many changes in some episodes comparing with novels, in events or pesonalities, globaly some episodes of series were so faithful to the novel

GLENDACOSENZA

I have not read Dame Christie's books.  So forgive my ignorance.  But I own every DVD of every Poirot and Marple episode that has been filmed since the Joan Hickson Marple series and I've watched them many times.  I've also read these fora in which people detail what has been omitted or added for the TV adaptations so I know they are not, in many cases, original or faithful to the novels.  I'm only therefore critiquing them as TV productions -- irrespective of the original stories.  

I first learned of Agatha Christie's stories through Masterpiece! and Mystery! and the A&E TV drama series here in the U.S.  I love David Suchet's portrayal of Poirot.  I especially appreciate how the TV series spanning 25 years shows a man who is aging and honing his talents as a brilliant detective -- somehow, it seems natural that the later episodes are darker, more psychological and dramatic because -- as a 71 year old woman -- I've lived my life that way in some respects.  My favorite episodes are Hickory Dickory Dock, Evil Under the Sun, Death in the Clouds, The Hollow, Five Little Pigs, Cat Among the Pigeons, and Hallowe'en Party.  I also liked Elephants Can Remember, How Does Your Garden Grow?, Peril at End House, and the Mysterious Affair at Styles.  I did NOT like Murder on the Orient Express, the Labors of Hercules, One Two Buckle My Shoe, The Big 4, or The Mystery at Hunter's Lodge.  

Belle-Haliday

I feel like I might be in the minority of really liking The Labors of Hercules. I read the book a few years ago and (as a mythology nerd) absolutely loved it. The ITV adaptation, I found, was a really clever way to bring those stories together into something absolutely brilliant to watch. Not to mention that entire episode was visually stunning. 

Other than that I loved Five Little Pigs, and I was surprisingly impressed by The Big Four (especially when I learnt it has been adapted by Mark Gatiss) given what a mess that novel was to begin with. 

Of the episodes I haven't liked, I have to say The Mystery of the Blue Train, Third Girl, and The Hollow all struck me as boring.

Tommy_A_Jones

I Have said Tme and Time again I HATED Cards On The Table which is one of my Favourite Books so I am dissapointed and still bitter at ALL the changes, In comtrast I lOVE Evi Under The Sun and LOVE all the Changes and I LOVE   the fact ITV put Hastings in Murder In Mesopotamia because it is a Book I HATE I didn't like or understand The Labour Of Hercules and wasn't that fond of The Big Four either.

tudes

I think the worst was definitely Cards on the Table. I still shocked how such amazing, marvelous, outstanding book became a completely disappoint, a desastrous, an awful film. It puzzles me. They did what seemed impossible!
One of my favorites is Peril at End House and The Mysterious Affair of Styles, they're very well done and faithful as possible. The changes didn't spoil the story.

TuppenceBeresford

I really loved Five Little Pigs. Perhaps it's unsatisfactory as a murder mystery as it's too late to save Caroline and there is little real evidence against Elsa but as a tragedy I find it completely heartbreaking in a way that most crime novels aren't. I thought the performances in the TV adaption and the music really added to this.

I also really liked The ABC Murders, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun. I love the books anyway and I thought the stories were brilliantly acted.

I thought The Big Four and The Labours of Hercules weren't that good but the first is an improvement on the original novel and it can't be easy to turn a group of short stories into one film.

The Clocks was disappointing because of the unnecessary additions. I can see why there wasn't room in the film for all the many fascinating characters but I didn't see the need to change the characters that were in the film.

Tommy_A_Jones

I think ITV became complacent and assumed The Fans would just be so happy that the series was continuing and they wanted to please the Gay Viewers which is silly because you can't Cater for every minority can you because it would look daft and weaken the Concept.

I thought the Changes in The Clocks were obsurd, some changes in somne Adaptations were Good especially in Evil Under The Sun but not those in The Clocks but I still am able to watch it.

I would have been happy if the had changed the ending of Dead Man's Folly and after finding theb Murderer told Ariadne he was giving up Detection and not had the The Big Four, The Labours of Hercule or Curtain, I personally found those of the Final series less than enjoyable.

tudes

I didn't like Curtain either. It was too dramatic. There are unnecessaries secundaries plots. The book is very good,the plot is solid, so the changings were not necessary.
I think The Labours very difficult to adapt.
And The Big Four, although the book is not considered as one of the best (nevertheless, I like it), the movie was too theatrical, the characters were histrionics.