When Good Adaptations Happen to Good Books by Chris_Chan

In a previous column, I complained about the disasters that can result when screen adaptations of Christie novels play fast and loose with the original source material.  I stand by my whining.  However, I feel that I need to follow up my previous, largely negative article with a companion piece describing what I like about Christie film adaptations. 

Although there have been a few hiccups along the way, the Poirot series starring David Suchet has been one of the finest programs on television for two decades and counting.  The Joan Hickson Miss Marple series is another gold standard for quality ...

• Posted 16 November 2009 at 9:13a.m. GMT
• 1 comment

Adapting Christie, or, How I Learned to Start Complaining and Hate the Changes by Chris_Chan

Fandom is a strange yet wonderful phenomenon.  Some professed “fans” of Agatha Christie are content to read the occasional Christie novel once in a while, when they have the time.  Other fans feel compelled to read every book that Christie ever wrote.  Still other fans seek out every movie and television adaptation of Christie novels ever filmed.  Some fans with the time and money to travel actually visits locations from Christie’s life and novels.  Then, there are fans like me, who want to help preserve, perpetuate, and polish Christie’s legacy.

Ever since the first film adaptations of Christie ...

• Posted 2 September 2009 at 1:45p.m. GMT
• 12 comments

How did Nadine Boynton know about the Orient Express Case in Appointment with Death by Chris_Chan

How did Nadine Boynton know about the Orient Express case in Appointment With Death?

By Chris Chan

(SPOILER WARNING!  THIS ESSAY CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, CARDS ON THE TABLE, AND THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD.  READ WITH CAUTION.)

In Appointment with Death, the suspect Nadine Boynton asks Poirot to cease his investigation of her mother-in-law’s death, claiming that bringing the killer to justice would further destroy the lives of those who had suffered under the twisted matriarch’s mental sadism.  In order to justify her pleas for Poirot to abandon this case, she cites ...

• Posted 6 July 2009 at 6:58a.m. GMT
• 6 comments

Marple and Poirot - Into 2009 by Phil_Clymer

Those of you who have been alert to news reports in various places, including this site, will be aware that the UK’s ITV Network have asked for another eight Christie films – four Marple films and four Poirot films.  Great news, of course.  And, yes, of course, you’ll all be wanting to know which titles we’re going to be making. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but the answer is that, as yet, we just don’t know which stories will be in next year’s package – so anyone posting a definitive list on this site or anywhere else ...

• Posted 14 November 2008 at 11:57a.m. GMT
• 43 comments