"Agatha Christie: Poirot" The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (2000)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

Clive Exton (dramatisation) and
Agatha Christie (novel)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

2 January 2000 (Season 7, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

Living quietly in the small village of King's Abbot, sleuth Hercule Poirot becomes involved in the murder of successful industrialist Roger Ackroyd...

Plot Keywords:

Village | Hercule Poirot | Murder | Detective | Agatha Christie

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Philip Jackson	...	Chief Inspector James Japp
Oliver Ford Davies	...	Dr. Sheppard
Malcolm Terris	...	Roger Ackroyd
Selina Cadell	...	Caroline Sheppard
Daisy Beaumont	...	Ursula Bourne
Flora Montgomery	...	Flora Ackroyd
Nigel Cooke	...	Geoffrey Raymond
Jamie Bamber	...	Ralph Paton
Roger Frost	...	Parker
Vivien Heilbron	...	Mrs. Ackroyd
Gregor Truter	...	Inspector Davis
Rosalind Bailey	...	Mrs. Ferrars
Liz Kettle	...	Mrs. Folliott
Charles Simon	...	Hammond

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the airport a modern day Cessna can be seen taking off.

Quotes:

Roger Ackroyd: There is evil in this village, Poirot. Downright evil.

Movie Connections:

Version of Alibi (1931/I)

The Murder of "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"

I shan't talk about the plot, because that would ruin it.

Agatha Christie readers could not have possibly have imagined that the adaptation would be this poor. It takes one of Agatha Christie's best novels, and butchers the story, removes half the suspects. It then inserts periods of boring introspection by the detective as he visits his old flat in Whitehaven Mansions.

Moreover, in the novel, most of the characters had some redeeming qualities. All humanity seems to have been stripped out of them in this adaptation. As a result, viewers who have not read the book would probably care even less who the murderer turns out to be.

Fans always knew that this novel would be one of the hardest to adapt, because there is relatively more narrative, and there is less banter than in the Poirot-Hastings stories such as the ABC murders. However, the recent excellent adaptation of Sad Cypress showed that it is possible to convert the moodier, less conversational mysteries to the screen.

A film that is inadequate for first-time viewers and bookreaders alike.