I've been hooked on Agatha Christie and Poirot ever since I saw a TV dramatisation for the first time when I nine years old. There seemed to be a never ending cascade of them ever since. Christie wrote 39 Hercule Poirot novels and I'm ashamed to say I haven't read most of them, but every time different channels aired new adaptations I was eager to see them. There is an odd closure then, when such a prolific writer seems to have no more to say. There are no more books to dramatise. The series is finished. Poirot, like Miss Marple and all other good classic fictional characters, belongs in its own timeless milieu.
So with that David Suchet said goodbye to the character role that had been his for over twenty years. On Wednesday 13th November 2013 the last David Suchet Poirot episode was shown, Curtain. Having read the book I was disappointed. I have never liked the 2 hour ITV dramatisations. They feel too long and drawn out. With a characteristic star cast, Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings, Alice Orr-Ewing as Judith Hastings and Philip Glenister as Sir William Boyd Carrington, the show revealed the age of its long-standing cast.
There is none of the closely-knitted plots of many of the Miss Marple adaptations and the ending is lacking. There is barely any heed given to the brewing second World War or Hasting's daughter's association with the Nazi party. But maybe it is an integral part of something that has given so much to the cult of Christie that it will ultimately leave you wanting more. It's goodbye and curtains to Poirot.
Carpe Diem xx
No comments:
Post a Comment