Poirot Season 13 - Curtain: Poirot's Last Case Preview (US)

©ITV - David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and Gregory Cox as the Coroner

After twenty five years and sixty nine episodes, the end is here. 

For fans of the hugely successful and long-running series in the US, Hercule Poirot's Last Case is here. David Suchet has now completed all of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels (and most of the short stories). Curtain reunites Poirot with Hastings and Style's Court, the scene of their first murder investigation together. But there is a marked difference in both friends: Hastings is widowed and Poirot is ill. Curtain was adapted by the late Kevin Elyot, produced by David Boulter and directed by Hettie Macdonald.

Poirot Season 13 - The Labours of Hercules Preview

©ITV/Patrick Redmond - Eleanor Tomlinson as Alice Cunningham

David Suchet's penultimate episode as Poirot comes to the US on Monday 18th August 
On Monday 18th August, Poirot: The Labours of Hercules will be available to watch in America on AcornTV. The penultimate episode of the long-running series sees Hercule Poirot in a different light: the great detective is depressed. After failing to save a young woman's life, he goes to the Swiss Alps to cure himself, but finds the killer amongst the hotel guests. Orla Brady stars as Countess Vera Rossakoff, Poirot's old flame, who was previously played by Kika Markham in The Double Clue. The films was adapted from a collection of short stories by Guy Andrews, produced by David Boulter and directed by Andy Wilson.

Murder at the Bloxham Hotel

It has been revealed that a 1920s hotel due to re-open in September is central to the new Poirot mystery. 

All that we know so far is that The Bloxham Hotel, a 1920s hotel due to re-open in September, will appear in Sophie Hannah's new Poirot novel The Monogram Murders. The date for the re-opening is 9th September, the same date the new Poirot novel is released worldwide. So far, the location and history of the hotel is a mystery.
 

Poirot Series 13 - Elephants Can Remember Preview

©ITV/Patrick Redmond - From left: Zoe Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver, David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and Greta Scacchi as Mrs Burton-Cox

For one of his final cases, Poirot must delve into the past with his friend Ariadne Oliver

America fans of the little Belgian detective will be pleased to hear that episode three of the thirteenth and final series of the long-running show will be available to watch on AcornTV from August 11th. Elephants Can Remember features the recurring character of Ariadne Oliver, perfectly played by Zoe Wanamaker, and features Greta Scacchi, Danny Webb and Caroline Blakiston amongst the guest cast.  It was first broadcast in the UK on June 9th 2013, and was adapted by Nick Dear, produced by David Boulter and directed by John Strickland.

Poirot Season 13 - The Big Four Preview

©ITV - from left: Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon, Philip Jackson as Assistant Commissioner Japp, David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings

The first episode of the final season of Poirot will be broadcast in the US on Monday 28th July. 

Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson and Pauline Moran are reunited with David Suchet for the final season of Poirot. The Big Four was broadcast in the UK on 23rd October 2013, but fans of Poirot in the US have had to wait a little longer to say "Adieu" to the famous Belgian detective. The wait is finally over, as on Monday, they can watch the season premiere. 
The thirteenth and final season starts with a bang, as Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) and Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) are reunited after many years apart for the funeral of their much loved friend Hercule Poirot. It has been twelve years Poirot has seen his old friends, as they last appeared alongside him in the 2002 episode Evil Under the Sun. 
The episode was adapted by Mark Gatiss and Ian Hallard, produced by David Boulter and directed by Peter Lyndon. 

Book of the Month July 2014: Dead Man's Folly - Plot & Characters

(c) Harpercollins - the new cover for the book

For July, the chosen Book of the Month for the Agatha Christie Book club at the website is one of my favourite novels. Dead Man's Folly was first published in October 1956 and features the recurring characters of Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. The setting is Nasse House, in the fictional Devonshire town of Nasscombe. Nasse House and its surroundings were inspired by Agatha Christie's own holiday home Greenway House. Recently, for the final series of Agatha Christie's Poirot, David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker filmed an adaption of Dead Man's Folly at Greenway. It was the last Poirot story to be filmed, but not the last to be broadcast.

Plot 

The great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is called upon by his old friend, the crime novelist Ariandne Oliver, to investigate the goings on at Nasse House. Mrs Oliver is helping the owner of the house Sir George Stubbs to run a murder hunt as part of the annual summer fete's festivities. However, Mrs Oliver believes there is something wrong at Nasse, and she feels sure someone will die. Hercule Poirot is called in to hand out the prizes for the murder hunt, much to his dislike, and so he can get to know the potential suspects. There he meets Sir George and his subnormal wife Hattie and Amy Foliatt, the previous owner of Nasse House. But as the celebrations begin, Hattie disappears and the fake body in the murder hunt, played by a young girl guide, turns in to a real body and is found in the boathouse. Hercule Poirot must solve the mystery of Nasse and help the police as they struggle to find the missing Hattie Stubbs.

Greenway House - September 2013

Greenway House was the much loved holiday home of Agatha Christie, and a location that inspired her novel Dead Man's Folly. 

(c) Agatha Christie Web - Greenway House 

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