All of you Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie’s Belgian private detective) fans are more than likely already aware of David Suchet’s wonderful portrayal of the rather prim, always correct detective. For those of you very few people who have not yet experienced any of the Agatha Christie’s Poirot delightful shows, you will be glad to know that you have many hours of entertainment to look forward to.
The setting is London in the 1930s. The scenery is perfect. I love the outside shots of the London streets: the architectural detailing is exactly how I imagine it must have been back then. As a lover of art deco, I love seeing the “modern” furniture, the clothes, and cars.
The long running British series starred four regulars: David Suchet as Poirot, Hugh Fraser as Capt. Hastings (his not-so-astute side kick), Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp, and Poirot’s very capable, always correct secretary Miss Lemon was played by Pauline Moran. All of them “became” the characters they portrayed for this series. (I have since seen two of the actors in other projects, and was surprised to see one of them playing the evil villain!)
What a treat it is to watch these shows… from Poirot’s penguin-like walk to Poirot trimming his waxed moustache. The attention to detail really pays off for the viewer. Miss Lemon’s bobby pin curls, Capt. Hastings’ car fetish, and even Inspector Japp’s overcoat… the detailing is perfect. It’s all a treat to watch! And, the friendship between Inspector Japp and Poirot goes so much farther than the predictable rivalry that “modern day” shows depict.
This Poirot series is as cozy as you can find. I truly believe that Agatha Christie would have been very happy with this series… no gore, plenty of humor, great ambiance, quirky characters (Poirot being the quirkiest! – a model for today’s “Monk” character) and no need for “adult” situations. Poirot is able to solve all of the cases with the use of his “little gray cells” so that Inspector Japp is able to close the cases, and retain his dignity.
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Edie Dykeman says
I love David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. I think for most fans, he will be the ultimate model for Poirot. I recently read that he was continuing to make new shows. That’s definitely good news for us fans. I also like Hugh Frasier. Whoever cast the show did a great job in choosing these actors.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Yes, Edie, the casting is superb. Something I noticed in the last few Poirot shows, though…. Inspector Japp, Captain Hastings, and Miss Lemon are missing!
Harry says
Where have Captain Hastings-Miss Lemon- Inspector Japp gone from the Poirot series? Are they paying David Suchet that much money they cannot put them in? I do not watch the new series now. It is rubbish without them.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Harry,
I haven’t watched the latest Poirot shows in a while, but I remember when I watched them the last time, I was very disappointed that those three characters were no longer with the show. I really don’t know why they decided not to include the three of them… I think that they added so much character to the show. What a shame!
Pat says
The books that they have been adapting for the latest movies do not include Inspector Japp, Captain Hastings or Miss Lemon. I am very fond of all three of them myself but I am glad that they are not changing the stories in order to fit them in anyway. They make enough changes as it is.
Susan says
This is one of my favourite shows as were the books, I watch all repeats and never get tired of them
Does anyone know of a website that tells where the shows were filmed? I would love to find out the location of some of the buildings especially the one episode with the “Art Deco” style hotel.
I look forward to future shows.
Robin says
Can you imagine a tour of those locations?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
That would be great to know, Susan. I love those Art Deco buildings!
Paul says
You can usually get a good idea by Googling the episode name, it’s quite amusing, so often the locations are in a totally different part of the country from where the story is set.
Mike says
Since the other 3 characters have been left out, I have found a change in the sense that it just is no longer the same, its almost boring without them. Who’s great idea was that? Well it doesn’t much matter as I no longer watch Poirot, since those have been taken out. I think a lot of other people feel the same as I do. Still I suppose someone must not give a d–n about those who watch the series, as long as they get their way with the production.
Jill says
I also very much miss the characters of Captain Hastings, Miss Lemon, and Chief Inspector Japp–and think it would be a mistake not to bring them back in the new series. David Suchet is a masterful Poirot, no question about it. However, without his trusted friends he is a rather odd, isolated figure–rather than a lovable eccentric. The secondary characters provide a social niche for Poirot (and for them) that renders the great detective more human and more endearing–much in the same way that Sherlock Holmes is more humanized by his relationships with Dr. Watson, Mrs. Hudson, and Inspector Lestrade. Please bring Poirot’s “family” back to the series–along with their London digs! That setting has become almost as recognizable as 221b Baker Street!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Jill,
I have been a little “under the weather” the past two weeks, so haven’t done much more than post comments… I’m sorry that I didn’t respond to any of your VERY insightful comments about some of the TV and Movies entries that are posted on the site.
My husband actually pointed out to me that your comments covered a lot of things that I had talked about with him (actually, “to him” would probably be more accurate!) when we watched the shows together. He said that he would have thought I had written your comments, if he didn’t know better! (Great minds… and all that!!!)
You have a great point saying that Poirot appears more like a “lovable eccentric” with Hastings, Lemon, and Japp around… instead of a “rather odd, isolated figure.”
Denys says
I so dearly miss Captn. Hastings and Miss Lemon from recent episodes but looking around the website has produced no explanation.
However it is refreshing to find your site which has many comments with a similar affinity.
Lets hope we finally receive an explanation rather than be left only with our imagination.
Earlofthercs says
Pat already answered the question as to why Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon are missing from the latest episodes:
The New Episodes are adapted from Poirot stories that didn’t feature those characters originally. (Although some of the earlier episodes were also adapted from stories where Hastings didn’t appear and he was added into the shows. He actually is in fewer than half of the Poirot stories/books. If I remember correctly!)
As to why Christie decided to change her Poirot formula as she went, (she actually changed settings and supporting characters often, though not as often as she did in her Miss Marple stories, where Marple was forever travelling) I can’t tell you.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I read somewhere that Christie got tired of her character (Poirot) but she had the similar public reaction that Sir Conan Doyle had when he tired of Sherlock Holmes. The public loved those characters, so the authors continued to write them into their mysteries.
edw L says
What kind of auto does Hastings drive?
Robin says
At one point, a Lagonda.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Edw L,
I think Hastings drove a Lagonda…
Chris says
Does anyone know the episode where Poirot after many years meets up with his long lost love who is now married to someone else and has a son? What is the name of the episode?
Betty says
Chris, so sorry no one replied to your question. If you didn’t find your answer, Poirot meets the love of his life again in the story “The Chocolate Box” We also learn of Poirot’s early career and why he always has tiny flowers in his lapel.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks so much, Betty.
Rob says
I still watch Poirot but it is very inconsistent to just leave out 3 characters that have been in his life so long with no explanation-regardless of whether the latest filmed stories contained them or not!! Very bad idea on behalf of ITV.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Rob, Donna has the reason Hastings, Japp, and Lemon are left out of the television episodes of Poirot just below my comment… (Thanks, Donna!)
Donna says
Hastings and Miss Lemon were dropped by Agatha Christie at some point, in the original stories and novels. If I remember correctly, Hastings got married and stopped assisting Poirot. He reappeared in the final Poirot novel, “Curtain”. Christie, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Holmes, got tired of her little Belgian detective, wrote Poirot’s last mystery, put it in a safe for years that turned into decades while she continued to write Poirot stories due to popular demand, and I believe “Curtain” was published just before Christie’s death. So the character she wanted to bump off lived nearly as long as she did! 🙂 The Miss Lemon character in the stories is very different from the TV character – she’s a very efficient secretarial machine with no emotion and no imagination. I suppose that didn’t translate well to the screen so the series writers reimagined her!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Donna, for the explanation.
Robin says
At one point, Ariadne Oliver (believed by many to be a pastiche of Agatha Christie herself) says she can’t imagine why she made her detective a Finn and a vegetarian to boot.
JoAnne says
It still doesn’t explain why they can’t be added in. Many books are adapted to the screen and sometimes they have characters that weren’t even in the book, or they change the plot or the endings. The movies were so much better with the four characters; they ‘played off each other’ as it were. Now it’s like Poirot is a loner and doesn’t have any real friends. For those referencing Holmes, remember that he always had a friend in Watson. How good would those movies be without him?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I totally agree with you, JoAnne. Now that they are making Miss Marple episodes featuring her in Tommy and Tuppence mysteries, ETC, you would think we could get an Inspector Japp or Capt. Hastings thrown into Poirot’s episodes. You make a fantastic point about Hercule appearing to be a real loner in the new television episodes.
Joppy says
Just to update you, the LAST FOUR EVER Poirot films are on UK commercial TV at the moment, with ‘Curtain’ being shown last, this coming Wednesday. An era comes to an end. It seems to me that TV needs to seek out some new cozy detectives as the newer generation all seem too bleak. My vote would be for Mrs. Pargeter or the Fethering mysteries.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Joppy, I heard that David Suchet was retiring his Poirot after this last season. I’m looking forward to watching them when they finally arrive here. (Lucky you!)
Joppy says
Suchet has also written a book on his career as Poirot and gives insights on the making of the films, I intend to treat myself for Christmas.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Please let us know if it’s a good read, Joppy.
Linda says
I, too, have loved both the books and David Suchet’s Poirot. If he had green eyes he would be absolutely perfect! Without reading any of the books, my husband commented on the feline quality in Suchet’s portrayal, and how many times did Christie compare Poirot to a cat with shining green eyes! The later works are much darker, and I have to admit I prefer the earlier works with his delightful sidekicks.
I totally agree that new characters for cozy mysteries are needed, and second the suggestion for Mrs. Pargeter. Another strong contender is another Simon Brett creation, the Feathering mysteries with Carole and Jude. Plus, how about Francis Pettigrew the very English lawyer by Cyril Hare?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, you have some great ideas for Poirot replacements. (Cyril Haree’s Francis Pettigrew is one of my daughter’s very favorite sleuths.)
Donna says
David Suchet is on twitter, too! I follow him and he posts some lovely comments. He seems like a very kind person, a true gentleman. I have mixed feelings about Curtain – having read the book and knowing how it ends (no spoilers), and also knowing that it’s the last of the Suchet episodes, I really want to see it but then again, I don’t!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I hear you, Donna!
Joppy says
I’ve just finished reading David Suchet’s book, “Poirot and Me”, and here are my thoughts. Suchet covers the approaches made to him initially, and his thoughts on taking the character on, how he ‘evolved’ the little man, with his list of 93 points of character, and how and why the series grew as it did, with the earlier inclusion of Hastings, Lemon and Japp in stories they didn’t originally appear, as well as explaining why they didn’t appear so regularly in later series.
He covers the films chronologically as they were made, always wondering if there would be a next series, giving little insights into the actors and writers involved as well as sometimes explaining why certain stories had changes made to plot or motive. We occassionally get comments on the various actors in previous Poirot incarnations.
Well worth the read, and I hope I have whetted your appetite without giving away spoilers.
The last series is over now, here in the UK, but I will warn fans that The Labours of Hercules has been drastically changed from the set of stories.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Joppy, thanks for the Poirot and Me endorsement, as well as the warning about The Labours of Hercules television episode.
Apulia says
Greetings!
I just discovered the Poirot series with David Suchet. I am loving it! I also wanted to know why Hastings and Miss Lemon were absent in the later episodes. Now, I have my answer. Thank you. Still, I miss them. They were great companions to M. Poirot.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Apulia, I think it’s too bad, since so many liberties are now being taken with Agatha Christie’s mysteries by the production team, that they don’t pretend that Hastings and Miss Lemon are in the novels they are now producing.
Rho says
I just read all of the Phryne Fisher mysteries and am watching the Australian TV productions on Acorn TV on my computer. They are very stylish–love the clothes and cars–and the TV shows are less racy than the content of the books, although the books aren’t too bad. Don’t know if they are “cosies” but I didn’t get bored reading all of them.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Rho, I have Kerry Greenwood’s Phrynne Fisher on the Cozy-Mystery site, but I think they are (as you say) a little “racy” to be considered strictly Cozy…
Linda says
Just a reminder—The “last” season of Poirot starts tonight (7/27/14) on our local (Houston, TX) PBS channel on Masterpiece Mystery. I do not know in what other areas it may air tonight.
joan from maryland says
Thursday night had a special program on WETA (DC) “Being Poirot” celebrating 25 years of David Suchet as this famous detective. Last night MPT (Maryland Public Television ) had it on. I found it interesting and if you are interested check your stations. This season will have the last of the 70 productions of novels and short stories.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Joan from Maryland, thank you for telling us about this show. I just looked it up, and found the following show times on my local PBS. Hopefully they will be the same everywhere:
7:00 PM (Central) Being Poirot (PBS) Sunday – August 10, 2014
12:30 AM (Central) Being Poirot (PBS) Tuesday – August 12, 2014
9:30 PM (Central) Being Poirot (PBS) Thursday – August 14, 2014
(The show was produced in 2013, and I sort of have that déjà vu feeling that some of us might have watched it last year.)
Thanks, again, Joan from Maryland!
Marblex says
Out of 70 films there were only 4 stinkers. That’s a great record. Stories that did not stray afar from the original material were exceptional. Sumptuous and lush settings, beautiful wardrobe, good casting for the most part. The rewrite of Cards on the Table is imho the absolute dregs. Skip it. Other forgettable entries: Appointment With Death (horrid rewrite); Taken at the Flood (rewritten so as to miss the point of the title completely; terrible overacting). Standout excellence: Five Little Pigs (despite some liberties taken; still don’t understand Carla’s renaming); Death on the Nile (would be perfect but for the perversion of the Allertons –not in the original, to say the least); After the Funeral (liberal condensation, but well done; amazing performance by Monica Dolan); Sad Cypress (condensed and silly denouement but great acting by Elizabeth Walsh and Diana Quick; Evil Under the Sun (Lionel not Linda?); Mrs. McGinty’s Dead; Cat Among the Pigeons (liberal rewrite but story essence well preserved); Curtain (just about perfect). I still favor Finney’s Poirot but Suchet’s is almost as good.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Marblex, I guess all of us have different favorites …
Stash Empress says
I’m with everyone else — Suchet just *is* Poirot — and I LOVED Miss Lemon & hate that she’s gone from the later episodes. Love Hastings too, for that matter, but any character can be a straight man — only Miss Lemon can be Miss Lemon though!
Jane says
In which episode is Hercule overcome with joy at coming face-to-face with Chief Inspector Japp, that he goes to kiss him on the cheek. I love that scene, and can’t remember the name of the episode. Thank you.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Jane, I’m not sure either unfortunately, though I do recall the scene you’re describing! Hopefully someone else will be able to answer your question.
Linda says
You may be thinking of Lord Edgeware Dies or The Big Four. In both, Poirot and Japp meet again after a period apart.
Linda says
I am sorry—I meant The Murder of Roger Ackroyd rather than Lord Edgeware Dies.
Patrick says
One thing I love is watching an hour Poirot and then the movie.
Triangle at Rhodes became Evil Under the Sun and The Plymouth Express became The Mystery on the Blue Train.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Patrick, it certainly is interesting to see how slightly different formats and different casts/producers handle the same material differently!
Katherine Burrell says
I loved all the Poirot movies with David Suchet. I wish a channel would bring them all back to tv. They used to air on E every Sunday afternoon and I saw every one of them but I’d love to see them again. Please bring them back.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Katherine, I’d love to see them get back on cable as well! I could definitely keep watching them over and over again.