Murder in Mesopotamia 

While Poirot is on holiday in Iraq, the wife of the head scientist at an archaeological dig confides to him that she is the target of threatening letters.

Director:

Tom Clegg

Writers:

Agatha Christie (based on the novel by), Clive Exton (dramatized by)

Stars:

David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, Ron Berglas

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Hugh Fraser	...	Hastings
Ron Berglas	...	Dr. Leidner
Barbara Barnes	...	Mrs. Leidner
Dinah Stabb	...	Anne Johnson
Georgina Sowerby	...	Amy Leatheran
Jeremy Turner-Welch	...	Bill Coleman
Pandora Clifford	...	Sheila Maitland
Christopher Hunter	...	Father Lavigny
Christopher Bowen	...	Richard Carey
Iain Mitchell	...	Superintendent Maitland
Alexi Kaye Campbell	...	Joseph Mercado
Deborah Poplett	...	Mrs. Mercado
Kamel Touati	...	Squat Man
Hichem Rostom	...	Hotel Receptionist (as Hichem Rostrom)

Storyline

While accompanying his friend Hastings to a dig in Iraq, Hercule Poirot becomes involved in the murder of an archaeologist's wife. The victim, Mrs. Leidner, had been receiving threatening letters signed by her first husband, who was known to have been killed in a train wreck. Did he survive? Was it his younger brother who was avenging his memory? Did Miss Johnson get rid of her rival for her employer's affections? Did Richard Carey kill the woman he publically announces that he hates? Is the French priest really who he pretends to be? And how many deaths will occur before Poirot unmasks the murderer?

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Plot Keywords:

letter | threatening letter | iraq | hercule poirot | suspect | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

8 July 2001 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Bray Film Studios, Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carnival Film & Television,A&E Television Networks,Chorion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min 100 min (14 episodes)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The vehicle in which Poirot arrives at the start of the show is a 1926 Citroën 10 HP "Conduite Intérieure"

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Goofs

When in the Bagdad hotel Superintendent Maitland and Poirot enter the room with the "dead" body of Joseph Mercado, you can see the actor of Mercado just open his left eye preparing the subsequent close shot of his face.

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Quotes

Bill Coleman: [after going over a bump while driving his jeep at high speed through the desert] Whoops!
Hercule Poirot: [groaning with discomfort] Unh!
Bill Coleman: That was a good one!
Hastings: [with annoyance] We don't have to get there in five minutes, you know!
Bill Coleman: That's half the fun. You're growing old, Ucle Arthur.
Hercule Poirot: Mr. Coleman, I myself have aged ten years since entering this auto mobile.

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Crazy Credits

Thanks to the Archeological Site of Oudhna.

User Reviews

You want art? - Don't watch TV

After 12 years of playing Poirot, David Suchet has the part off pat, and it is hard to imagine anyone doing it better. This 2000 TV film is an adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1936 novel of the same name and the location – an archaeological dig in Mesopotamia – and is made the more authentic by Christie's first hand experience with her husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. Despite the exotic locale however the story is the familiar country house murder mystery in which by observation and deduction the great detective finds the culprit without a lot of help from his sidekick, the jolly Hastings (Hugh Fraser) or anybody else.

What is quite striking about this story as filmed is the utter flatness of all the other characters. To some extent this is a product of the fact that none of the actors is well known, but the script doesn't help either. They are simply boring (the Arabs are non-starters). Their function is to listen to Poriot, provide him with information or disinformation and to die when necessary. Actually one of the victims (Ms Leidner) has an interesting past but she is too pathetic to hold our sympathy. Perhaps the producers were trying to save money on salaries but the cast are not a prepossessing lot.

On the other hand the production values (for a TV movie) aren't bad and much of the film was shot in Tunisia around a real `dig'. (Iraq, alas, was not available). Hercule Poirot, always immaculately dressed and amusingly fussy, can always hold our attention even if he is to a large extent the puppetmaster. Although he makes mistakes along the way we can be assured the characters will fit his theories in the end.

Lousy art but good television.