"Agatha Christie: Poirot" Mrs McGinty's Dead (2008)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Ashley Pearce

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Nick Dear (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

1 September 2008 (Season 11, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

James Bentley is tried for the murder of Abigail McGinty, the charwoman of Broadhinny who also took in Bentley as her lodger...

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper Photo | Detective | Belgian | Hercule Poirot | Sleuth

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Joe Absolom	...	James Bentley
Simon Molloy	...	District Judge
Richard Hope	...	Spence
David Yelland	...	George
Sarah Smart	...	Maude
Raquel Cassidy	...	Maureen Summerhayes
Richard Dillane	...	Major Summerhayes
Simon Shepherd	...	Dr Rendell
Emma Amos	...	Bessie Burch
Billy Geraghty	...	Joe Burch
Ruth Gemmell	...	Miss Sweetiman
Mary Stockley	...	Eve Carpenter
Zoë Wanamaker	...	Ariadne Oliver
Paul Rhys	...	Robin Upward

Certification:

Australia:PG

Company:

Agatha Christie

Quotes:

[first lines]
District Judge: James Gordon Bentley, you have been tried for murder. Abigail McGinty was found by the baker on the floor of the sitting-room with extensive wounds to the head. The house in Broadhinny evinced no sign of forced entry. All the police surgeon was able to ascertain was that she'd been hit with a sharp...

Movie Connections:

Version of Murder Most Foul (1964)

Unexpectedly good ...

I always look forward to a new Poirot. It's Sunday evening entertainment that you can genuinely get absorbed by.

I think it's always worked because it's so comfortable. Agatha Christie's plots may be distinct to a certain extent and yet they all have some very common motifs. Poirot reliably totters around the same country houses with incompetent but solid police inspectors, gruff majors, femme fatale actresses, little old ladies and untrustworthy artist types.

What made this latest episode so cool was that the director had worked very, very hard to unsettle you. The usual stereotypes were all there, but at the same time there was an air of menace that I haven't seen in a Poirot before. The village of Broadhinny became like a kind of 1950's version of Royston Vasey, shot in sinister angles and film noir lighting.

It might not work if every episode was filmed like this, but this was a very welcome addition to Sunday night. Even if it freaked me out.