Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12886 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-21
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 773 minutes

Synopsis

The Poirot - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Set 5 box set contains four discs and covers the entire fifth series of the hit TV show "Agatha Christie's Poirot". Set in the 1930s, the award-winning period drama stars David Suchet as a quirky Belgian detective named Hercule Poirot. The series is written by Clive Exton, but based on Agatha Christie's classic crime stories. Meticulous in his work as a private detective, Poirot exercises his 'little grey cells' to help the police solve crimes and murder mysteries, whether they request his services or not. Captain Hastings, Poirot's side-kick, is played by Hugh Fraser and Phillip Jackson takes the role of Inspector Japp.

Customer Reviews

Agatha Christies Poirot: Set 5
This set contains some of the best dramatisations of Poirot stories that have been made by Granada. The best, I feel, is Five Little Pigs. This, in my view, a little known masterpiece and is the most beautiful of Poirot dramatisations. This displays the stylish quality of these productions. The Hollow is also wonderfully produced and Death on the Nile is exceptional. These stunning 21st Cenmtury adaptations portray Agatha Christie's skill in keeping the viewer or reader guessing until the very end.

Good value for money - great entertainment too
This set contains eight feature-length adaptations of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, with David Suchet in the title role.

It contains:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (2000)
Lord Edgeware Dies (2000)
Murder in Mesopotamia (2002)
Evil Under the Sun (2002)
Five Little Pigs (2003)
Sad Cypress (2003)
Death on the Nile (2004)
The Hollow (2004)

The first four films are less good than the other four. These originate from the earlier phase of the TV show, when the production team still insisted on shoving Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon into stories. This had worked up until now, largely because previous adaptations had almost always been of novels originally containing these characters. If they hadn't (as in several of the shorter episodes) then they were welcome as additions to an otherwise rather thin plot. Here however, only Lord Edgeware Dies originally contains these characters - and it really sticks out as being the best of these initial four outings. Evil Under the Sun and Murder in Mesopotamia are enjoyable pieces of entertainment nevertheless, and are good for a quiet night in, but the changes in terms of atmosphere (most notably the introduction of unfunny comic subplots), or character/plot (most notably in Evil Under the Sun) really jars. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, on the other hand, is an appalling film. Quite how the production team managed to make such an embarrassment of an adaptation out of this pivotal moment in crime fiction is beyond me.

The second set of films, though, are a revelation. Five Little Pigs is a beautiful piece, improving on the book if anything. It's a wonderfully eligiac piece that introduces the themes that now permeate the wonerful new incarnation of the Poirot TV series - an older, more weary Poirot, and a real sense of something lost, of the genuine effects of these murders on people's lives. Poirot too has some wonderfully subtle emotional moments, reflecting on what he's missed out on in life in Death on the Nile, and on his place "among the dead" at the end of the Hollow. That said, there's always room for humour and the camp pleasures of the older shows - but more care is given to emphasising Christie as the serious, talented, human-centred author that she always was. With all due respect to fans of the old show) who cares if these new shows are suitable for a family audience when they're this good!

Poirot's 2 hour specials
This box collection contains;

The murder of Roger Ackroyd
Lord Edgeware dies
Murder in Mesopotamia
Evil under the sun
Five little pigs
The hollow
Sad Cypress
Death on the Nile

These were originally broadcast between 2000 and 2004.

Some are better than others, however they are all beautifully shot and well acted.

Suchet still shines as Poirot, and is a joy to watch.