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Favourite adaptation

MissQuin 10 May 11 at 5:01 p.m. GMT

I was looking at the ITV vote for your "favourite Christie adapt".  I have to say, I'm not crazy about any of those episodes! Sorry ITV, but as there's so many to choose from, why did they pick those?

So I thought I'd ask you all what your all time favourite adaption is? and the least favourites?

My personal favourite is Peril At End House, Suchet Poirot. I just love the costumes, which are so chic. So many excellent scenes in it.

My own least favourite is The Sitaford Mystery, I can't even express in words how bad it is!

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Tommy_A_Jones 12 Dec 11 at 11:05 a.m. GMT

I ind it easier to put the ones I don't like with Poirot it is Cards On The Table, Appointment With Death and Halloween Party which stand out as my least favourites, with Miss Marple the only Joan Hickson I am not keen on are; They Do It With Mirrors, Pocketfull of Rye and Caribbean Mystery although Mirrors  is my least favourite, I don't like that version with Helen Hayes either and with Geraldine McKewan and Julia McKenzie where do I stop? Body In The Library, Nemesis, Sleeping Murder, Why Didn't They Ask Evans, The Secret of Chimneys, Murder Is Easy some of the ITV Marple series has been good though, A Murder Is Announced, 4.50 From Paddington, Murder At The Vicarage have been O.K.

LadyMary 12 Dec 11 at 12:04 a.m. GMT

I agree that the costumes in Peril at End House are very chic!  I love the outfit Maggie Buckley wears when she gets off the yacht...madrif/sailor style!  I also love the dress her friend, wears when she meets Poirot in a restaurant.  She is going to the elevator and you get a glimpse of her from behind in a beautiful black & white dress with tons of detail!  Very 1930's designer chic!  Beautiful scenery, too!

I also love The Hollow!  Great casting all around!  Very clever dialogue throughout!

murder_is_easy123 29 Oct 11 at 10:52 a.m. GMT

My fave Christie film is Ten Little Indians (1965).  Most people do not like it, but I personally think its awesome!  The change of scene is done well, moving it to a snowy mountain, and the second death is given ALOT more pizzazz!

Tommy_A_Jones 12 May 11 at 3:54 p.m. GMT

I liked Nemesis too, such great Casting, I didn't like A Caribbean Mystery as Much I found that Dragged as did Body In The Library I think the shouting Detective you mean is Inspector Slack who doesn't appear in the books as much as the Joan Hickson series my Magazine which accopannied the books said in one that Research found that Readers liked the Continuity of Detectives who were really there to Represent Police and I suppose add realism to the Proceedings aswell as to make the Sleuth in this case Miss Marple look good but the Explanation of wanting a Regular Policeman is odd as Slack wasn't in the Adaptations of The Moving Finger, Pocketfull of Rye and Nemesis and he takes a more superrior role in at least one other.

MissQuin 11 May 11 at 4:25 p.m. GMT

Loves Mysteries, good choices for Poirot episodes! Although Sad Cypress I didn't enjoy personally. Out of the ITV poll I liked Death In The Nile best, but I still find it flawed in places. The best aren't listed, I think.

With JH being BBC I didn't include those for the ITV vote. Joan Hickson is my favourite Miss Marple. I think I liked Nemesis and Caribbean Mystery best.

 But I don't like all the episodes. I find some of them, like Body In The Library, really boring. That just dragged and it wasn't even true to the book in places. The pace was slowed down to a crawl. The casting was so poor.  I hate the detective who shouts all the time. Can't remember his name??

Plus The Moving Finger, Megan seemed, dare I say it, too old! Mr Pye was  tranformed from a witty, entertaining character, into a doddery old bore!

LovesMysteries 11 May 11 at 4:01 p.m. GMT

Tommy_A_Jones

I think the Hickson version of Murder At The Vicarage is better than the Book I am afraid although I like the book, I think the plot about the bogus man which was not in the Hickson version made it unnecessary complicated and I was glad the Adapt didn't have it.

One of the things that Agatha Christie did when she adapted her books into plays was she tried to make the mystery more simplified and not as complicated and that is how I think it should be when it is adapted on the screen. Book and TV are 2 different mediums and whereas a complicated plot is fine for a book it's not going to work out too well on television. The new Murder At the Vicarage with Geraldine McEwan had this subplot and to tell you the truth, I don't think it was really needed in the film. The Hickson version did the right thing for removing it and sticking to the essential plot.

Tommy_A_Jones 11 May 11 at 3:52 p.m. GMT

I think the Hickson version of Murder At The Vicarage is better than the Book I am afraid although I like the book, I think the plot about the bogus man which was not in the Hickson version made it unnecessary complicated and I was glad the Adapt didn't have it, My Favourite Hickson Adapt is either A Murder is Announced or Sleeping Murder the only ones I didn't get on with are Caribbean Mystery and They Do It With Mirrors but that is my least favourite MM book, I loved the Adaptation of After The Funeral aswell as ABC Murders but I actuaaly think Evil Under The Sun is better in some ways, I like the four together but I suppose for accuracy After The Funeral is the best Poirot my least favourites are Cards On The Table (Big surprise), Appointment With Death (Big surprise!) and Halloween Party I disliked the fact Spence and lspeth are absent, Ariadne is in bed so much and the Policeman's Attitude to Poirot's Assistance, I am not that keen on Murder On The Orient Express I love all the ones with James Warwick (Even though Why Didn't They Ask Evans could do without the scene with Lady Derwent and Bassington ffrench at the end) and I actually like the up-dated version of Sparkling Cyanide of the others I either don't remember them or don't feel too strongly either way but I would like to say I love Megan Dodds accent in The Hollow and there is a sought of quaintness to the AL version of The Mirror Crack'd I didn't think much of the JM version, it was O.K. but so much I din't like like Miss Knight not in it and that scene with that singer was unnecessary. I forgot I love the Film The Man In The Brown Suit 

LovesMysteries 11 May 11 at 3:51 p.m. GMT

I wish these newer Poirot episodes were listed on the ITV Favourite Christie Adapt poll:

1. Five Little Pigs
2. Sad Cypress
3. The Hollow
4. After The Funeral
5. Halloween Party
6. Mrs. McGinty's Dead

As for the new Miss Marple films I don't care for either of them. I MUCH prefer the Joan Hickson films and they are ALL good in my book!

MissQuin 11 May 11 at 3:36 p.m. GMT

I agree McG, let them eat fudge!

Nemesis and Sitaford had mainly, very good casting choices. So why were they so completely awful? The acting in Sitaford seemed stilted and unreal. Yet I know the people in are good actors. Puzzling. Maybe because the characters added are so two dimenstional?

Nemesis was the same. Take Anne Reid, who might be Britans hardest working actress, because she is in everything! I know she's a good actress, but her part made no impression on me. Maybe it's because I was too busy puzzling over why they added nuns and Nazis. Bertam's Hotel and Nemesis had Nazis. The person who rewrote it must have some Nazi fixation! 

If I had to vote for a favourite Marple adapt, I think I liked Murder Is Announced. It had a great cast, the story was quite true to the book. It was exciting, looked great and has many scenes I love in it.

also might add, ITV asking fans to pick fave out of four episodes is too hard! I would have to choose: favourite Poirot adapt before 2001, fave Poirot adapt after 2001, as the styles are so different, it's like two different series. Plus favourite McEwan adapt and favourite Mckenzie adapt, because again, quite different portrayls of Miss Marple. Of course ITV won't listen, but I thought I add that

McGinty 11 May 11 at 7:33 a.m. GMT

I'd like to add the McEwan Nemesis to the list of worst adapts. It was AWFUL !! The sad part about both Nemesis and Sittaford is that there were some really good actors in them and they were completely wasted. I'd like to see the people responsible eat the poisoned fudge !

MissQuin 10 May 11 at 9:20 p.m. GMT

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Five Little Pigs was really filmed so beautifully. Such good acting, mostly true to the orginal story. The added bonus of Toby Stepens, what more could we want?!

worst adapt The Sitaford Mystery - I confess I couldn't even get to the end of it. When they handed round the poison fudge? I think it was, I just wanted everyone to take piece and put everyone out of their misery!  It would have been better if everyone had been murdered. Like Then There Were None, but with added fudge. ; )  It was just painful to watch. But I dare say someone out there must like it....?!

MissQuin 10 May 11 at 9:19 p.m. GMT

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Excellent choices as always McGinty! spoilers below:

 I love the Bertram's Hotel JH adapt, I actually prefer it in some ways, over the book. It cut out any bits that seemed over long. The hotel looked like the type of place you'd want to stay in. Nice food, very elegant surroundings. I wouldn't want to stay in the Bertrams in the McEwan version. Nazis, thieves, murderers and con artists galore! A pile up of dead bodies too, rather unsightly! Plus water gushing from the ceiling. It wouldn't get a 5 star rating in a hotel guide.

McEwan Moving Finger is excellent.  Good casting choices for a change. Particually Megan, as her transformation was so sweet.

I thought the JH version was really dull and poorly cast, except JH who was superb as Miss Marple.

Mrs McGinty's Dead- I like that one too. It's one of my favourites out of the recent Poirot adapts. They did actually try for a bit of humour. Mrs Oliver and Poirot gel so well together. I think Zoe W makes a fine Mrs O and her complaints about Sven provide light relief.   Little let down by the toned down end though, SPOILERS!! the tears and "feel sorry for the killer" style . I prefered the book's theatrical end as it suited the murderer better. Which did you prefer, the books end or the adapt?

McGinty 10 May 11 at 7:48 p.m. GMT

Actually Miss Q, I'm not even sure we should count The Sittaford Mystery as a 'adaptation' - I think they made it up as they went along !

I think possibly my top faves are Five Little Pigs, Bertram's Hotel (the Hickson one- obviously !), and The Moving Finger (McEwan), oh and of course, Mrs McGinty's Dead !