Agatha Christie Ordeal by Innocence

[buddhasbelly]

Is it just me or is anyone else really excited to watch this tonight?

So glad they reshot this so we can enjoy it

Actually enjoyed that episode. How lucky they had a bunker to incarcerate him in.

And now they will all live happily together in that lovely house, and Kirsten will be bought some decent clothes. I love a happy ending!!!! But I don't think Agatha Christie would ever have allowed it. She liked bad people to get their proper desserts in court, or at least take the decent way out and jump off the nearest cross channel ferry.

Well I don't know what to make of that but we now have a new way of pissing of our dc.

Would you like a cup of sugared milk?

Hmm, I was really puzzling as to who they were going to pick to be the murderer. It's funny, because even with all the new backstory they added, it would still make sense for the original killer to have done it. It's a shame, Leo was a decent chap in the book

AC would be turning in her grave if she knew that Leo was the murderer

I've just downloaded And Then There Were None. I never saw it when it was on before.

I'm glad that some viewers were as mystified as I was. I watch these things and get really worried that senility is setting in when I can't follow what is happening. Sometimes writers and adaptors try to be too clever. They should watch Morse and Lewis to see what a well-written murder mystery should look like.

But why would anyone think he committed suicide?
Presumably they will say he confessed?

Also where was Gwenda while this was all going on? I have too many questions!

She wasn't in the house because it was the night before / morning of her wedding.

They don't have a bunker in the book !

Well I liked it (said in Louis Walsh's voice).

Admittedly I haven't read the book so got nothing to compare it to but I loved the set, the costumes and the casting, and I did enjoy the story. I'm interested in reading the book now, if only to see how it originally ended.

Or some Agatha Christie books eddie

She was the master. Never bettered.

The red car at the beginning of this episode was fabulous.

That's the only good thing I can say. What total dross. Kirsten was Jack's mother? I don't think so!

I thought And The There Were None was great but I'm seriously wondering if its success went to Phelps' head. Witness For The Prosecution was awful and this is even worse.

I see The Women In White is on next week, I hope to God she hasn't adapted that.

I thought the whole thing was just unpleasant. Couldn't feel a jot of empathy or sympathy for any of them (except Jack). It was all so staged and ridiculous.... No explanation at all of why the mother was so unpleasant or why she adopted these children.... it was just a waste of time.

Series recorded this so have just watched the first episode. Thought it was slow & dull. Poorly scripted. All the characters horrible. Waste of some good actors. So far it is less than the sum of its parts. Is it worth persevering with or shall I delete it & save myself 2 hours.

I got the impression the mother was so obnoxious due to sadness/depression, she couldn't have children naturally and said to Tina she thought they'd bring her happiness- which they seemingly didn't. She couldn't really bond. And of course her dh was fucking anything that moved the whole time.

Was the book like that?

Was the book like that?

No. It isn't really an adaptation of the book. It is inspired by the book but veers widely from the book.

• [Message from MNHQ: Please note, this post contains spoilers - please scroll on down if that's a problem]

Despite the murders, some people do watch Agatha Christie for a little escapism and not constant references to the Cold War and possible nuclear annihilation. I suppose making the murderer an adulterous man rather than the under stress housekeeper could have been an attack on the patriarchy for the sake of feminism, but it didn't really work for me. It was well acted, but I hope the BBC stops doing Agatha Christie like this.

I liked that Kirsten was Jack’s mother - much better and less sexist IMO than the agatha christie idea of his sexual manipulation of her.

The motives for Leo being the murderer of his wife, and complicit in the murder of his son, were also good. But Bill Nighy not menacing enough to be the murderer.

Ending silly.

Poor acting by the actor playing kirsten - wooden.

Why didn’t Hester return to her DH after the forced abortion?

I thought mother paid off Hester's DH with £500. How do you persuade a doc to carry out an abortion on an unwilling patient?

mumdebump it's not worth 2 hours of your time. Delete it.

Lass.. can you include me too please? Am desperate to know who dunnit.

dogsdinnerlady if you read Liazzar's comment further back I think she lets it slip.

I haven't read the book so didn't reference it back to Agatha Christie at all. As a Sunday evening escapist drama I thought it was good despite serious lack of any character development but I can see why you would be extremely frustrated by it if you had read the book.

Not sure on the idea of using big names like Agatha Christie to inspire your drama you are really just using it to get people to watch it. It's a hook and a pretty pointless one. If you were a good enough writer you wouldn't need to use the name of someone like Christie to get people to watch your stuff

What an absolute travesty . I thought witness for the prosecution was bad but this leaves it standing . With a cast like that , that was a totally wasted opportunity. Shame . I won't watch another .

I really enjoyed it, I have read the original (think I've read just about every A.C.), but this was a different twist but just as interesting and well thought out.
She was miserable because of depression and stress / anxiety I suppose, we kept seeing her pop pills all the time. She adopted them all to fill the hole in her life from her miserable marriage but she couldn't escape the depression.

Dogsdinner. I have pm'd you.

I don't think those of us who have read the book should post spoilers as the book is so different if anyone wants to read it.