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Poirot Beats Axe!

GKCfan 23 Nov 10 at 5:54 a.m. GMT

Excellent news!  Poirot will return!

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/212740/Poirot-beats-axe-to-solve-more-murdershttp://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/212740/Poirot-beats-axe-to-solve-more-murders

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CatAmongthePigeons 24 Mar 11 at 12:22 p.m. GMT

InspectorGrant

I would like to see all of the stories filmed too, otherwise it will be like the brilliant Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett which remain tantalisingly incomplete, but this was only because of Brett's untimely death.

Anyway, it is very good news, and I would like to see Hugh Fraser back in 'Curtain' along with Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon - it would round the series off very nicely.

I wonder if David Suchet had been making the films when Dame Agatha was alive whether she would have killed off Poirot.  She may have hated him less because of Suchet's very human portrayal.

Lately I've been watching the Military Channel, and it gave me an idea for Curtain:  instead of a chintzy hotel, Styles Court could have been requisitioned by the government and become a Bletchly Park-type place.  Judith's fiancee could be one of the people working there on something that might/might not help win the war.  Or, if it's taking place just after the war's end, Styles could be in the process of being demobbed, and its equipment being destroyed (like the government ultimately did with the codebreaking equipment at Bletchly).

Tommy_A_Jones 15 Jan 11 at 5:01 p.m. GMT

Ooh, Good Choice Inspector Grant

InspectorGrant 15 Jan 11 at 2:23 p.m. GMT

Nick Dear's adaptation of Cards is weird - he did an excellent job with Mrs. mcGinty, The Hollow and Three Act Tragedy - nothing over the top with any of these latter three.  Perhaps you are right, Go Leafs with your Nick Dear in hospital conspiracy theories ;)  I think you will enjoy Three act Tragedy GKCfan.

Incidentally, in an earlier post the subject of casting the Countess Vera Rossakoff came up - I would like to see Dame Diana Rigg in this role, very dramatic and swooping with a gorgeous speaking voice.  She and Frances de la Tour are a bit similar.

go_leafs_nation 15 Jan 11 at 1:53 p.m. GMT

I think Nick Dear has been unjustly criticized over Cards. Looking over his other scripts, it's fairly uncharacteristic of him. He usually remains reasonably faithful to the source material and does a good job adapting it. The last third of Cards is a nightmare, but the first two are excellent. In fact, I have a theory that Nick Dear was working on Cards on the Table, until (for some reason or other) he became ill and had to go to hospital, whereupon ITV picked up some postmodernist detective story writer named Nick Dear off the street to finish the job.

Bunch_Marple 15 Jan 11 at 8:04 a.m. GMT

He ought to be ashamed of the way he butchered Cards!

Anyway, hopefully he outdoes himself here, should make for an interesting story

GKCfan 15 Jan 11 at 7:32 a.m. GMT

This article implies that they are going to try to film all the Poirot stories, and that Nick Dear is currently working on the screenplay for Dead Man's Folly: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/dec/24/poirot-murder-on-the-orient-express

Nick Dear has previously adapted four Poirot novels, The Hollow (very good), Cards on the Table (the first two-thirds superb, the last third frightful), Mrs. McGinty's Dead, (great), and Three Act Tragedy (I haven't seen it yet). 

Cyberbeagle 02 Jan 11 at 9:35 p.m. GMT

I wonder if ITV will commission a full six-part series?  Past series have been four parts, which leaves two stories out in the cold, which would be very frustrating, if this is indeed the final series.

Or would you like to see Curtain done on the big screen, and would this even be possible.

I also do hope they bring Hugh Frazer back for Big Four and Curtain, and Philip Jackson for Big Four, as well as being faithful to the book, it would nicely round off the series.  However, given Miss Lemon was left out of the adaptation of Third Girl, I'd be worried they won't appear.  Even if Hastings is crucial to them.

I would, like others, like to see appearances from Hastings, Japp and Lemon plus the new regulars at the end of Curtain to wrap everything up.

By the way, I disagree with the statements about hour-long episodes not cutting it.  Doctor Who, the new Upstairs Downstairs, have all used hour-long formats.

Tommy_A_Jones 14 Dec 10 at 3:56 p.m. GMT

If they hadn't padded out the Short stories there wouldn't have been enough to fill th time slot and it would have been like that ITV Series with Albert Finney playing an H. E. Bates Character, I have never read the those stories but it did make me wonder why bother, I liked some of the Padding I think sometimes it worked better than the real story like For instance The Tragedy At Marsdon Manor I lied the bit about the Manuscript and the fact the B&B Owner helped Poirot at the end where as in the proper story he was helped by a Man from the Local AM-Dram Society and to me that didn't work quite so well, but there again I didn't like Most of the Story, I agree that The Way ITV did The Dream it gave it away,

I agree that there isn't an appetite for Hour-long Episodes anymore, Shame as I enjoy that Format.

go_leafs_nation 12 Dec 10 at 1:28 p.m. GMT

I don't really think there's much of a market anymore for hour-long episodes. Even series that traditionally were such a length, like Jonathan Creek, have not made an hour long episode in years. And let's face it, the name of the game is money. If it won't make money, even if it's artistically wonderful, it just won't get made.

I think GKCfan is onto something. Compiling a bunch of episodes would be excellent. The stories themselves aren't particularly long, and I don't think we need pointless padding like in the early episodes (see The Dream-- one of my favourite AC short stories, which had far too much unnecessary stuff thrown in as filler).It also would help to show how quick-witted and intelligent Poirot is, solving the cases quickly and efficiently.

CatAmongthePigeons 12 Dec 10 at 1:37 a.m. GMT

All of you have good points about Labours. 

It should be a full hour at least.  I'd suggested long ago in another post that Labours should be set in 1938 -- England's last full year before the war -- beginning New Year's Day and ending New Year's Eve/Day 1939, with the upcoming war looming heavily in Poirot's mind.  The 12 cases could be part of Poirot's New Year's resolution.  Nemean Lion could involve Krufts contestants; Boar and Flock only need slight tweaks for the pre-WWII timeline; Herzoslovakia could border Czechoslavakia -- the episode could even begin with newsreel footage of the Nazi invasion -- and Poirot could be there to help spirit the "aristocratic ladies" out of the country before the Nazis get there; the Hyppolita episode could be tweaked to reunite Poirot with some of the Cat Among the Pigeons characters -- Meadowbank instead of Miss Pope's  --  and possibly Alexander Simpson could be more sinister:  maybe the painting's original owners were Jewish and the theft was their attempt to retrieve it; and, of course, Cerberus -- December 1938, Countess Rossakoff's son could be a scientist eventually destined for the Manhattan Project, there's now some question as to how close Germany was to getting the bomb -- could be interesting.  Amy Carnaby is in Nemean Lion and Flock of Geryon; maybe Judi Dench for the role?

Any opinions?

InspectorGrant 28 Nov 10 at 2:19 p.m. GMT

I would like to see all of the stories filmed too, otherwise it will be like the brilliant Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett which remain tantalisingly incomplete, but this was only because of Brett's untimely death.

Anyway, it is very good news, and I would like to see Hugh Fraser back in 'Curtain' along with Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon - it would round the series off very nicely.

I wonder if David Suchet had been making the films when Dame Agatha was alive whether she would have killed off Poirot.  She may have hated him less because of Suchet's very human portrayal.

agathaannemysterycat 28 Nov 10 at 3:47 a.m. GMT

I think they should put all of the stories on film.

AndThenThereWereToon 28 Nov 10 at 2:13 a.m. GMT

The article may not be 100% reliable, but it does suggest that "It will be the final outing for the show".  I wouldn't be surprised if they just film The Big Four, Dead Man's Folly, Elephants Can Remember and Curtain.  I wouldn't be disappointed with that either.

It'd be nice to think that, if the next series does well, Granada could then go back to ITV and say "You know, if there's a demand for it, we've got this set of 12 stories we could do..."

Tommy_A_Jones 25 Nov 10 at 3:28 p.m. GMT

As Kika Markham played Vera Rossakoff it would be wrong to re-cast her iif Kika is available but if they do Maggie Steed would be O.K.

I had jusat forgotten to add Miss Lemon, Yes she should play her respects, IM<HO she was one of the better things about Hickory Dickory Dock.

I will be sad when Poirot ends but better that than ITV do a Marple on us and do it badly.

I think the Labours should be 60 Minutes not 30 or else there would be no point. 

MissQuin 25 Nov 10 at 10:23 a.m. GMT

In an ideal world I'd love all the Poirot stories to be filmed. I adore Labours Of, but I'm curious to know how it would be adapted.

Frances De La Tour - If she hadn't already appeared in Death In The Nile. But she would have been great as the very flamboyant Countess Rossakoff. I agree, the series version of Vera wasn't really like the books character at all. I can't think of any other actresses atm.

The Big Four and Folly are among my least favourites, but they could be better on screen than in the books. I think I enjoyed Halloween Party even more than the book, so it's possible.

Poirot's funeral- I'll be sad when the Poirot series had finnished.

GKCfan 25 Nov 10 at 12:31 a.m. GMT

Since Black Coffee is an original mystery written by Christie as a play, it counts as part of the Poirot canon.  Suchet himself has mentioned that it is on the list for adaption.

Personally, I think that Big Four ought to be totally reworked to fit into WWII.  The series has been steadily moving to WWII time-wise, and I think that it might work if Poirot is recruited by the British government to help break up the Big Four, which in this version would be an arm of the Axis powers.  Also, I think that some elements of the newly released second version of "Capture of Cerberus" would work really well with this.

And I personally do care about Labors, and I really hope that it is filmed.  If necessary, each Labor could be condensed into a 30-minute segment, and compiled into four ninety-minute episodes, which is the standard length of a series these days.

I mentioned that I hoped that they'd reunite the entire recurring cast for one last closing scene in Curtain- I'm glad that other people like the idea.

If they do film Big Four and Labors, they will need an actress to play Countess Vera Rossakoff.  However, I never really bought Kika Markham's toned-down version of the Countess in "Double Clue."  Who would you cast in the role?  I'd like to see Helen Mirren play the part.

Lone_Wolf 24 Nov 10 at 4:46 p.m. GMT

And by "Cerberus" I meant "Hercules". I've been messing minor details up in my posts lately...

" I think Curtain should have a scene where Race, Japp and Ariadne come to pay their last respects aswell as Spence"

And Miss Lemon, don't forget her. I actually find her the most likeable of the "old TV gang".

Tommy_A_Jones 24 Nov 10 at 3:04 p.m. GMT

I don't care about The Labours of Hercules either or Black Coffee as It is really a play isn't it and if you do one play you would have to do them alll and Poirot isn't in those, I think Curtain should have a scene where Race, Japp and Ariadne come to pay their last respects aswell as Spence, I would say Battle too but ITV chose to leabe him out of Cards On The Table so it would look odd.

I am glad David Suchet likeds the idea of Poirot's Early years being shown.

Lone_Wolf 24 Nov 10 at 10:27 a.m. GMT

I wouldn't consider the series incolmplete if they don't adapt Coffee. It's not even a true novel - just a play adapted by some mediocre guy into a novel.

I really, really wonder how the hell they will adapt the mess that is Вig Fоur. Any ideas?

Еlерhants is one of the works that need to be totally reworked, but I'm pretty sure they'll manage it.

Don't care about the non-Cerberus short stories at all, and only marginally care about the Cerberus ones. Don't think that they'll film them - I would think that they consider the short format long gone.

Curtаin, IMO, is an interesting story idea rather penfunctorily done, and good acting and ambience could inprove on the story completely. They absolutely need to return Fraser for it, though, if only for establishing of some continuity between old days and current show.

Fоllу has some similarities with Hallоwееn, but it'll still be marginally interesting. 

GKCfan 24 Nov 10 at 6:21 a.m. GMT

The Poirot stories that have not yet been adapted are:

The Big Four

Black Coffee (originally a play)

Dead Man's Folly

Elephants Can Remember

Curtain (which must be filmed last)

The short stories that have not yet been adapted are:

The Labors of Hercules (Twelve stories)

"The Lemesurier Inheritance"

"The Capture of Ceberus, 2nd version" (Recently rediscovered)

"The Regatta Mystery" (Turned into a Parker Pyne story)

The following stories are essentially reworked version of already filmed stories:

"The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding"

"The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest"

"The Submarine Plans"

"The Second Gong"

"The Market Basing Mystery"

"The Incident of the Dog's Ball"

I have suggested for a while now that there really ought to be six full-length episodes and an extended miniseries to wrap up the show.  The first episodes should be Coffee, Elephants, Folly, and The Lemesurier Inheritance, an extended version of the short story with bits of the remaining unfilmed stories, so as to make for a complete episode.  Four and the miniseries Labors should follow (they lead to Poirot's retirement), and Curtain naturally ends the series.

go_leafs_nation 23 Nov 10 at 10:27 p.m. GMT

That's great news!

Carlyle 23 Nov 10 at 7:46 p.m. GMT

That´s wonderful news indeed - but to be honest I didn´t think the producers would axe the series, not at this moment with so few stories left to adapt.

The article mentions the remaining six stories, but six? A part from "The big four", "Dead man´s folly", "Elephants can remember" and "Curtain I suppose "The labour of Hercules" can be one, but the sixth? Black Coffee?