David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. (Photo: ITV/Acorn Media)
Agatha Christie’s Poirot
Beloved by mystery fans for decades, Agatha Christie’s Poirot ran from 1989-2013. It is based on the stories of Hercule Poirot, a fictional Belgian detective that is one of Christie’s most famous and long-lived characters. He appears in 33 novels, a play and over 50 short stories.
Poirot is a fussy, theatrical figure, with a carefully waxed moustache and dapper style of dress. He constantly refers to himself in the third person, and uses his “little grey cells” (as he calls his brain) to solve the thorniest of cases. Perhaps it is a product of age, but there is a distinct lightness to the Poirot mysteries – despite almost all being about murders – that many modern day detective series lack. There is no meditation on the crumbling human condition, just Poirot, patiently holding court before a confused group of onlookers, and patiently explaining both the facts of the case, and his own genius in figuring it out.
David Suchet plays Christie’s master sleuth and it is still the role for which he is best known. Fun fact: Christie’s family recommended him for the role of Poirot, because they saw him in a TV adaptation of Blott on the Landscape. With the completion of Poirot’s run in 2013, the actor fulfilled his stated “life’s ambition” of filming every Hercule Poirot story that Christie ever wrote. He is the only person to ever do so.
Number of Seasons: 13