SUNDAY 19 MARCH
Drama
Poirot
9:00pm - 11:00pm
ITV1 London
VIDEO Plus+: 1426
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Dramatised by Nick Dear
Cards on the Table
An enigmatic man with an unhealthy interest in murder invites Poirot to join a dinner party at his sumptuous home. The man, Mr Shaitana, observes his eight guests as they divide into two groups of four to play bridge. Minutes later, he is found dead. Murdered with a stiletto through the heart. The culprit must be one of the bridge players.... It couldn't be anything other than an Agatha Christie mystery, and though this excellent dramatisation features significant departures from the original novel that might scandalise die-hards, this is still a corking whodunnit. The cast is stellar - Alex Jennings as a rakish doctor, Lesley Manville as a nervous woman with a big secret and Zoë Wanamaker as redoubtable crime novelist Ariadne Oliver - and it looks wonderful: great clothes, jewellery and interiors. And, of course, David Suchet gives a peerless performance as Poirot.
RT reviewer: Alison Graham
Hercule Poirot - David Suchet
Mr Luxmore - Philip Bowen
Mrs Luxmore - Cordelia Bugeja
Mrs Craddock - Zigi Ellison
Major Despard - Tristan Gemmill
Dr Roberts - Alex Jennings
Miss Burgess - Lucy Liemann
Mrs Lorrimer - Lesley Manville
Miss Meredith - Lyndsey Marshal
Millie - Jenny Ogilvie
Colonel Hughes - Robert Pugh
Serge Maurice - Douglas Reith
Shaitana - Alexander Siddig
Mrs Oliver - Zoë Wanamaker
Miss Dawes - Honeysuckle Weeks
Supt Jim Wheeler - David Westhead
Sgt O'Connor - Philip Wright
Shaitana's butler - James Alper
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