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

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:

Continuity: In the scene where Ackroyd's butler, Parker, is drunk and staggering down the road, the car behind him stops. Visible for a brief instant is the car's license plate, COU 313. In the very next scene as the car begins its run, the license plate has changed to JHX 473.

Quotes:

Hercule Poirot: A man may labor and toil to attain a certain kind of leisure in retirement. And then find that, after all, he yearns for the old busy days, and the old occupations he had thought himself so glad to leave. I had already begun to miss the daily toil of my previous employment when...

Movie Connections:

Version of Alibi (1931/I)

This movie is AWFUL!

Read the book! It is so much better. The movie does not even begin to reflect the complexities that Christie contained in her novel. Not to mention, HUGE plot twists are treated in a mundane way and many events are altered, discarded, or invented. Also, the character development in the movie lacks what the novel can provide. In a word, it SUCKS! While I realize that this is a movie website, if you are going to make a movie based on a mystery novel, you should probably at least attempt to maintain the integrity of the original work. Otherwise, just rob the general theme, give the people new names, and pass it off as your own. This movie is the reason why my professors always told me "always read the book, never watch the movie!"