Hercule Poirot and I have a long and complicated history. I read some of the classic novels at a relatively young age and distinctly remember the introduction to the first David Suchet Poirot episode on Mystery! way back when. I had such a great affection for Agatha Christie's Belgian detective that in school I chose him for a class assignment that required us to portray a literary character.
Through absolutely no fault of my own, that project ended with me in a week's detention (seriously, two decades later I insist that I was in no way at fault for anything that may have occurred during the interview portion of my portrayal). It also caused me to take a break from the detective for a while. However, to this day, I still come back to him from time to time, and every time I do, I find David Suchet's portrayal of the fastidious little man wonderful.
Now available, for the first time in their original British broadcast order, is series five of Agatha Christie's Poirot. The two-disc set features eight mysteries at roughly 50 minutes a piece, and all the episodes have been remastered.
What does this mean for you, the viewer? Well, it means you can see an incredible amount of wax on Poirot's mustache but no stray bits of hair (or dirt or scratches) in the transfer. It looks great, and it's made better by the caliber of Suchet's performance.
David Suchet is by no means the first actor to play Poirot. Before Suchet made the character his own (and make no mistake, it is his now), Peter Ustinov was probably best known in the role, having played the character six times (three times on the big screen and three times for television movies). While Suchet's career as the detective is, apparently, coming to the end with the filming of the final episodes of Poirot, series five features him in his prime.
Hercule Poirot is, unquestionably, a maddening character to some. He can be obnoxious and he can be overbearing and he can be relatively immature. In the wrong hands, he can also be unwatchable. Suchet has a way of humanizing the detective which makes him not only watchable, but wonderful. Poirot's ridiculously tiny breakfast, a breakfast which is belied by Poirot's sizable stomach, becomes funny instead of exasperating. The smile then that Poirot allows himself—only in the dark mind you—with an order of fish and chips is wonderful. Suchet succeeds as the character because he takes these small moments and makes them big ones for the character.
Article comments
1 - Igor
I took me years to accept the charms of Poirot, but now I welcome them. The plots are, of course, preposterous, and the clues meager, but the interesting relations between the characters embody the best themes of episodic TV. After all, we are not really interested in the identity of the murderer, but the path Poirot takes to find him. The pleasure truly is in the journey and not the destination.
2 - Charles Tranberg
Actually I beg to differ with you. Suchet is much more identified with the role of Perot than Peter Ustinov is. You mention he is ending playing the role next year, but didn't mention that in doing so he will have filmed virtually all the novels and short stories, while Ustinov appeared in a handful. Suchet for many is Hercule Poirot. After all he has been playing the role since the 1980's.
3 - Josh Lasser
Charles,
What I wrote was "Before Suchet made the character his own (and make no mistake, it is his now), Peter Ustinov was probably best known in the role."
You and I agree - The character IS Suchet's, it WAS Ustinov's.