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

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Clive Exton (dramatized by)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie's Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

2 January 2000 (Season 8, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

Poirot comes out of retirement when his industrialist friend is brutally murdered a short while after a local widow who was suspected of killing her husband commits suicide.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Hercule Poirot | Murder | Private Detective | Factory

Cast

David Suchet	...	Poirot
Philip Jackson	...	Chief Inspector 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
Charles Early	...	Constable Jones
Graham Chinn	...	Landlord
Clive Brunt	...	Naval Officer
Alice Hart	...	Mary
Philip Wrigley	...	Postman
Phil Atkinson	...	Ted
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Red Richards	...	Villager (uncredited)

Directed by
Andrew Grieve

Writing credits
Agatha Christie		(novel)
Clive Exton		(dramatized by)

Produced by
Brian Eastman	....	producer
Delia Fine	....	executive producer: for A&E Television Networks
Peter Hider	....	associate producer
Kris Slava	....	supervising producer: for A&E Television Networks

Original Music by
Christopher Gunning

Cinematography by
Chris O'Dell		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Frank Webb

Casting by
Anne Henderson

Production Design by
Rob Harris

Art Direction by
Katie Buckley

Costume Design by
Charlotte Holdich

Makeup Department
Sarah Grundy	....	makeup artist
Kate Hodgson	....	makeup artist
Pam Meager	....	make-up

Production Management
Nick Girvan	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David MacDonald	....	first assistant (as David Macdonald)
Marios Hamboulides	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Chris Hider	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Nathaniel McCullagh	....	daily assistant director (uncredited)
Nathaniel McCullagh	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Daniel Toland	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Dave Channon	....	construction
Tina Jones	....	set dresser
Katie Lee	....	buyer
Mickey Lennon	....	property master (as Micky Lennon)
Garry Dawson	....	stand by props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Sandy MacRae	....	sound recordist
Sarah Morton	....	sound editing
Mike Reardon	....	boom operator
Ian Tapp	....	dubbing mixer
Oliver Tarney	....	sound editing
Ian Tapp	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Stunts
Joss Gower	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Richard Hammatt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jason White	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Vince Goddard	....	gaffer
Ricky Hall	....	grip
Jamie Harcourt	....	camera operator
David Hedges	....	focus puller (as Dave Hedges)
Martin Cox	....	electrician (uncredited)
Martin Gooch	....	camera trainee (uncredited)
Lorraine Luke	....	camera loader (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lezli Everitt	....	wardrobe
Steven Kirkby	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Bruce Everett	....	post-production
Tony Tromp	....	assistant editor
Cherry Brewer	....	post-production coordinator (uncredited)
Justin Eely	....	on-line editor (uncredited)

Other crew
Jeffrey Broom	....	accounts
Joel Holmes	....	locations
Suzanne McGeachan	....	script supervisor (as Suzanne Clegg)
Dawn Mortimer	....	co-ordinator
Michael Morton	....	with the co-operation of the estate of
Jeffrey Bruce	....	accountant (uncredited)
Pauline Hume	....	title designer (uncredited)
Jen Lambert	....	unit nurse (uncredited)
Tracey Nicholls	....	secretary (uncredited)

Sound Department
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer

Other crew
Mark Albela	....	location manager
Daren Thomas	....	location runner

Production Companies

• Carnival Films
• A&E Television Networks (in association with)
• Agatha Christie (in association with) (as Agatha Christie Ltd)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Distributors

• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Malavasi Editore

Runtime:

103 min | UK:100 min (14 episodes)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:12 (video rating) (2000)

Filming Locations:

Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England, UK

Company:

Carnival Films

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

Hercule Poirot:When one retires, one hurls oneself into new pursuits.

Movie Connections:

Version of Alibi (1931)

A Great Disappointment

For those of you who have NOT read the novel by the same name by Agatha Christie, you may indeed think my criticism of this adaptation somewhat harsh. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is easily one of the greatest mystery novels and particularly one of Christie's best ever written. It is a great novel and is definitely a hard one to truly bring to the screen(small screen in this case)entirely faithful. Allowances must be made, but the script from this adaptation meanders a good deal from much of the source material. I did not like the framing device used. Why not have the narrator in the novel narrate? How bout that hokey ending with its proverbial "shootout" to get the audience's attention? And what about Poirot cracking the case in question? These major departures from the book greatly diminished my favor with this film. It is done very stylishly. The acting is as always very good. David Suchet makes the best Poirot and certainly the most faithful to the books. But this mystery has been twisted and contorted too much so that I can only faintly see Christie. What a shame! I would have really liked to see how Suchet and company could tackle this innovative novel. I came, I saw, I sighed!