List of Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes
The following is a list of episodes for the British crime drama Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet as Poirot, which aired on ITV from 8 January 1989-13 November 2013. Overall, 70 episodes were made over 13 series.
Episodes run for either approximately 50 minutes or 90–100 minutes, the latter of which is the format of all episodes from series 6 onwards. The shorter episodes are based on Christie's short stories featuring Poirot, many published in the 1920s, and are considerably embellished from their original form. The longer episodes are based on Christie's 33 Poirot novels and one short story collection (The Labours of Hercules). While Christie's novels are set contemporaneously with the time of writing (between the 1920s and 1970s), 1936 was chosen as the year in which to place the majority of Poirot episodes; references to events such as the Jarrow March were included to strengthen this chronology.[1] With some exceptions, the series as a whole is set in roughly chronological order between 1935 and 1939, just prior to the WWII.[fn 1]
Series overview
[edit]Series | Episodes | Originally aired | Ave. UK viewers (millions) | ||
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First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 10 | 8 January 1989 | 19 March 1989 | TBA | |
2 | 9 | 7 January 1990 | 4 March 1990 | TBA | |
3 | 11 | 16 September 1990 | 10 March 1991 | TBA | |
4 | 3 | 5 January 1992 | 19 January 1992 | TBA | |
5 | 8 | 17 January 1993 | 7 March 1993 | TBA | |
6 | 4 | 1 January 1995 | 16 March 1996 | TBA | |
7 | 2 | 2 January 2000 | 19 February 2000 | 9.12 | |
8 | 2 | 20 April 2001 | 8 July 2001 | 7.21 | |
9 | 4 | 14 December 2003 | 26 April 2004 | 7.27 | |
10 | 4 | 11 December 2005 | 2 April 2006 | 6.98 | |
11 | 4 | 1 September 2008 | 22 September 2008 | 5.18 | |
12 | 4 | 30 December 2009 | 11 July 2010 | 5.12 | |
13 | 5 | 9 June 2013 | 13 November 2013 | 5.53 |
Episodes
[edit]Series 1 (1989)
[edit]All episodes from series 1–5 are 50 minutes long, except where marked as "feature-length".
Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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The Adventure of the Clapham Cook | 8 January 1989 |
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Murder in the Mews | 15 January 1989 |
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The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly | 22 January 1989 |
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Four and Twenty Blackbirds | 29 January 1989 |
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The Third Floor Flat | 5 February 1989 |
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Triangle at Rhodes | 12 February 1989 |
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Problem at Sea | 19 February 1989 |
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The Incredible Theft | 26 February 1989 |
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The King of Clubs | 12 March 1989 |
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The Dream | 19 March 1989 |
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Series 2 (1990)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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Peril at End House (feature-length)[fn 2] | 7 January 1990 |
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The Veiled Lady | 14 January 1990 |
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The Lost Mine | 21 January 1990 |
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The Cornish Mystery | 28 January 1990 |
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The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim | 4 February 1990 |
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Double Sin | 11 February 1990 |
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The Adventure of the Cheap Flat | 18 February 1990 |
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The Kidnapped Prime Minister | 25 February 1990 |
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The Adventure of the Western Star | 4 March 1990 |
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Series 3 (1990–91)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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The Mysterious Affair at Styles (feature-length) | 16 September 1990 |
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How Does Your Garden Grow? | 6 January 1991 |
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The Million Dollar Bond Robbery | 13 January 1991 |
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The Plymouth Express | 20 January 1991 |
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Wasps' Nest | 27 January 1991 |
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The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor | 3 February 1991 |
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The Double Clue | 10 February 1991 |
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The Mystery of the Spanish Chest | 17 February 1991 |
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The Theft of the Royal Ruby | 24 February 1991 |
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The Affair at the Victory Ball | 3 March 1991 |
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The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge | 10 March 1991 |
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Series 4 (1992)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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The A.B.C. Murders (feature-length) | 5 January 1992 |
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Death in the Clouds (feature-length) | 12 January 1992 | Inspector Japp |
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One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (feature-length) | 19 January 1992 | Inspector Japp |
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Series 5 (1993)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb | 17 January 1993 |
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The Underdog | 24 January 1993 |
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The Yellow Iris | 31 January 1993 |
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The Case of the Missing Will | 7 February 1993 |
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The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman | 14 February 1993 |
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The Chocolate Box | 21 February 1993 |
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Dead Man's Mirror | 28 February 1993 |
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Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan | 7 March 1993 |
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Series 6 (1995–96)
[edit]All episodes are feature-length from this point onwards.
Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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Hercule Poirot's Christmas | 1 January 1995 | Inspector Japp |
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Hickory Dickory Dock | 12 February 1995 |
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Murder on the Links | 11 February 1996 | Captain Hastings |
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Dumb Witness | 16 March 1996 | Captain Hastings |
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Series 7 (2000)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd | 2 January 2000 | Inspector Japp |
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Lord Edgware Dies | 19 February 2000 |
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Series 8 (2001–02)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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Evil Under the Sun[fn 3] | 20 April 2001 |
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Murder in Mesopotamia | 2 June 2002[fn 4] | Captain Hastings |
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Series 9 (2003–04)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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Five Little Pigs | 14 December 2003 |
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Sad Cypress | 26 December 2003 |
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Death on the Nile | 12 April 2004 |
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The Hollow | 26 April 2004 |
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Series 10 (2006)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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The Mystery of the Blue Train | 1 January 2006[fn 5] |
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Cards on the Table[fn 6] | 19 March 2006[fn 7] | Ariadne Oliver |
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After the Funeral | 26 March 2006[fn 8] |
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Taken at the Flood | 2 April 2006 | George, Harold Spence |
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Series 11 (2008–09)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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Mrs McGinty's Dead | 14 September 2008[fn 9] |
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Cat Among the Pigeons | 21 September 2008[fn 10] |
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Third Girl | 28 September 2008[fn 11] |
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Appointment with Death | 25 December 2009[fn 12] |
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Series 12 (2010–11)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||
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Three Act Tragedy | 3 January 2010[fn 13] |
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Hallowe'en Party | 27 October 2010[fn 14] |
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Murder on the Orient Express [fn 15] | 25 December 2010[fn 16] |
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The Clocks[fn 17] | 26 December 2011[fn 18] |
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Series 13 (2013)
[edit]Title | UK airdate | Recurring cast | Guest cast | |||||
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Elephants Can Remember | 9 June 2013 | Ariadne Oliver |
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The Big Four | 23 October 2013[fn 19] | Captain Hastings, AC Japp, Miss Lemon, George |
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Dead Man's Folly | 30 October 2013 | Ariadne Oliver |
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The Labours of Hercules | 6 November 2013[fn 20] | Vera Rossakoff |
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Curtain: Poirot's Last Case | 13 November 2013 | Captain Hastings, George |
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Combined stories
[edit]A number of Hercule Poirot stories were not directly adapted, although most were re-worked by Christie into later stories and filmed in these iterations. These are:
Original Story Title | Adaptation Title | Notes |
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The Lemesurier Inheritance (1923) | None | The episode "The Labours of Hercules" uses the surname "Lemesurier" from the original story, but otherwise has nothing in common with the story. |
The Market Basing Mystery (1923) | "Murder in the Mews" | Re-worked by Christie |
The Submarine Plans (1923) | "The Incredible Theft" | Re-worked by Christie |
Christmas Adventure (1923) | "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" | Re-worked by Christie |
The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (1932) | "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" | Re-worked by Christie |
The Second Gong (1932) | "Dead Man's Mirror" | Re-worked by Christie |
The Incident of the Dog's Ball (written c.1933, posthumously published) | "Dumb Witness" | Re-worked by Christie |
The Capture of Cerberus (written c.1939, posthumously published) | None | Unrelated to the better known final case of the same title in The Labours of Hercules. Intended as the last of The Labours of Hercules, Christie re-wrote the entire story due to its political content, retaining only the title. |
The Nemean Lion (1947) | "The Labours of Hercules" | Not directly adapted as part of the episode's combined narrative. |
The Augean Stables (1947) | ||
Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly (written 1954, posthumously published) | "Dead Man's Folly" | Re-worked by Christie |
Black Coffee (play) | None | In 2012, Suchet performed a rehearsed reading of Black Coffee, produced and presented by The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, in aid of Chichester Festival Theatre's restoration fund. |
See also
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Numerous references in early episodes place the series primarily in 1935, progressing to 1936 by series four. Most references remain to 1936, moving slowly forward to 1937 by series eleven and 1938 by Murder on the Orient Express. The Big Four is set explicitly in early 1939. The most notable exceptions to this chronology are The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which narrates Poirot's first case in 1917, and Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, which is set primarily in 1949. The Chocolate Box shows Poirot in the early 1900s, though the framing narrative remains consistent with the series' usual timeframe.
- ^ Peril at End House was first broadcast as a two-part episode, both parts of which aired back-to-back. Subsequent showings and DVD releases present it as a single feature-length episode (with the exception of the Blu-Ray release which kept the original airing form).
- ^ DVD releases invert the order of series eight, placing Evil Under the Sun after Murder in Mesopotamia, and mislabeling the former episode's airdate as "15 December 2002" (which was the airdate for France), and the latter's airdate as "8 July 2001" (which was the U.S. airdate that aired first along with France's).
- ^ Aired on 8 July 2001 in France and US.
- ^ Aired on 11 December 2005 in France and US.
- ^ DVD releases invert the order of Cards on the Table and After the Funeral.
- ^ Aired on 11 December 2005 in France.
- ^ Aired on 11 December 2005 in France.
- ^ Aired on 1 September 2008 in Sweden.
- ^ Aired on 8 September 2008 in Sweden.
- ^ Aired on 15 September 2008 in Sweden.
- ^ Aired on 22 September 2008 in Sweden, and released on DVD in the UK on 6 October 2008.
- ^ Aired on 1 January 2010 in Norway.
- ^ Aired on 26 May 2010 in Sweden.
- ^ Murder on the Orient Express was intended as the first episode of series twelve, but was held back until Christmas 2010 as a consequence of Appointment with Death's broadcast the previous year. All DVD releases restore the intended episode order.
- ^ Aired on 11 July 2010 in US.
- ^ The Clocks was intended to be placed before Hallowe'en Party, but in the UK ITV did not initially schedule its broadcast in favour of the latter episode and Murder on the Orient Express. All DVD releases restore the intended episode order.
- ^ Aired on 30 December 2009 in Norway, and released on DVD in January 2011.
- ^ Aired on 4 October 2013 in Poland.
- ^ Aired on 1 November 2013 in Poland.
References
[edit]- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989–)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2009.