Mrs McGinty's Dead (14 Sep. 2008)
"Agatha Christie's Poirot" Mrs McGinty's Dead (original title)

A pair of photographs are the only clues that Poirot has to solve the murder of a village charwoman, and to prove the innocence of the victim's lodger.

Director:

Ashley Pearce

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel), Nick Dear (screenplay)

Stars:

David Suchet, Joe Absolom, Simon Molloy

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

James Bentley is tried for the murder of Abigail McGinty, the charwoman of Broadhinny who also took in Bentley as her lodger. The evidence is overwhelming, and soon after he is sentenced to hang. Superintendent Spence is not convinced of the man's guilt, and so he visits Poirot, asking him to look into the case. Poirot then heads off to the village, where he becomes the paying guest of Maureen and Major Johnnie Summerhayes. Ariadne Oliver, Poirot's novelist friend, has also come to Broadhinny to collaborate on a stage adaptation of one of her novels with dramatist Robin Upward. With the clue of a bottle of ink purchased by the dead woman shortly before her death, Poirot searches Mrs. McGinty's belongings and finds an edition of The Sunday Comet newspaper, where an article concerning two women connected with famous murders has been cut out. With the story are two photographs of the women. Poirot discovers that Mrs. McGinty had seen one of the photographs before, and knew to whom it ...

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Plot Keywords:

murder mystery | newspaper photo

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 2008 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ITV Productions, WGBH, Agatha Christie

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 93 min (11 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

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, heavy implement, probably some time the night before. You, Bentley, were suspected from the very beginning. You knew where she kept her money; you had recently lost your employment, and...

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Connections

Version of Murder Most Foul (1964)

User Reviews

Superb!!!

The most recent POIROT films have a bad habit of behaving like MARPLE: rewriting novels until they are completely unrecognizable. Happily, MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD does NOT follow that trend. I Only noticed two changes from the original novel, and one of them is not really that major! The plot, like the original novel, started out as a simple murder, but what seemed like an open-and-shut case evolves into a complex mystery. I appreciated seeing the same Superintedant Spence from TAKEN AT THE FLOOD reprise his role here. And of course, Zoe Wanamaker is even better in McGINTY than she was in CARDS ON THE TABLE! She has so many humorous lines now, many of them coming during arguments with Robin Upward, a young playwright who is adapting a book of hers for the stage. And of course, as always, David Suchet simply shines as Poirot.