The ABC Murders

[Carlyrichards]

Anyone watching? I like Rupert Grint in this.

Ventriloquist dummy as sinister as clowns! Wonder how
They filmed the underground station

This is just awful.

And, please - will someone turn the lights on?!

Whoever adapted this has entirely missed the point of Christie. This is absurd and the casting awry.

Why do people keep thinking they have to make Agatha Christie dark and edgy? It doesn't need it. And talk about the arrogance of thinking you know better than Agatha Christie.

I'm enjoying this very much. But I have not read any AC books or watched any previous incarnations.

Malkovitch as Poirot is just wrong

I'm surprised and disappointed that a woman has decided that writing in an s & M scene was the thing that would improve on the books . Watched 1 and 2 back to back (visiting family) so feel I'll have to watch 3 but haven't really enjoyed them!

Phelps is off on a wild frolic of her own. It would be easier to list what was in the book than what wasn't. The only point of similarity was the police and Poirot went on a wild goose chase to the St.Ledger.

Phelps is quite misogynistic. All the female characters have been made more nasty/scheming/stupid/selfish/amoral than they are in the book.

I'm guessing we are heading for an Ordeal of Innocence re-write of who the murderer is given all that guff about Poirot having some connection with all the victims/places isn't in the book. Given what happened in tonight's episode I can't see how they can stick with the original murderer.

Interesting. I hated it but DH is loving it.

I am a lifelong reader of AC books. DH has never read any and has only ever watched two - last year’s And Then There Were None and the Branagh Murder on the Orient Express ( which he has watched at least four times).
Maybe it’s because he has no preconceived notions of how Poirot should be (not like this imho).

I think it's good, suchet misses some of the darker sides of Poirot's character, even though I love him as Poirot.

Rupert Grint is a good actor, I'm pleased he's getting decent roles again. To me, the best of the three major HP actors.

Wondering where they'll take it, and whether they'll stick to the original murdered too.

It's far more cinematically shot than the shorter ones: lingering shots etc.

I am really enjoying it, I'd go as far as to say it's excellent.

The Tube station is Aldwych, abandoned as a main station in the 1960's but preserved and used as a film set in lots of things.

The amount of blood and gore tonight was ridiculous, and that revolting boil on the fat man's neck! It's the most unpleasant viewing in ages, and sadly, the pleasure of trying to work out the motive of the murders is completely sidelined , when that was such a fascinating and essential part of the Christie novels.

As to what Agatha Christie would have thought - well, in 'Mrs McGinty's Dead' her alter ego, Ariadne Oliver is having a book adapted into a play by Robin Upward, and I think we can assume that her complaints are based on Agatha's own experiences....

"But you’ve no idea of the agony of having your characters taken and made to say things that they never would have said, and do things that they never would have done. And if you protest, all they say is that it’s “good theatre”.

"‘The whole thing’s a nightmare! How would you like to see a big black moustache stuck on to Superintendent Battle and be told it was you.’

Poirot blinked a little.

‘But it is a nightmare, that suggestion!’

‘Now you know what I suffer.’"

And the adaptor's take on it:

"‘But darling Ariadne, the whole point of the play is Sven Hjerson. You’ve got an enormous public who simply adore Sven Hjerson, and who’ll flock to see Sven Hjerson. He’s box office, darling!’

‘But people who read my books know what he’s like! You can’t invent an entirely new young man in the Norwegian Resistance Movement and just call him Sven Hjerson.’"

Sarah Phelps, like Robin Upward, obviously thinks you can...

I’m liking it, very different take. I’ve never read the book though.

The flashbacks are reminding me of a trip to Oradour in France. Truely disturbing place.

I am liking the delve into Poirots dark side. I’m just treating this as very different from David Suchets Poirot.

I’ve read the book a number of times and I’m enjoying it; it definitely picked up in episode 2 - 1 was a bit slow.

RustyBear that's great! Sums it all up perfectly.

RustyBear that's exactly it! Perfect.

I'm a Suchet fan myself.

Would be interested to hear what people think of the killer - I think he's very 'voldemort' in his appearance. Properly sinister but also a bit irritating sometimes, with the vomiting and shaking. I prefer it when he's underplayed and in the shadows.

I found the sets so dark I could hardly see what was going on. I even tried to adjust my TV before realizing it was working perfectly fine.

Agree, Rusty.

My gripe is that people (the internet 😂) would say I don’t like it purely because it’s not Suchet. No! I don’t like it because it’s not remotely Christie!

Well, according to the Radio Times, the next Christie adaptation (Death Comes As The End) won’t be by Sarah Phelps, but Vanity Fair screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes, so I’m hoping for something better.

I wonder if the BBC have got someone else in because of the criticism of Sarah Phelps?

I think it’s great - gripping and emotionally charged. Love JM as Poirot.

Murders are bloody and evil and gory and people are complex, not one dimensional. A grown up adaptation.

Would be interested to hear what people think of the killer - I think he's very 'voldemort' in his appearance. Properly sinister but also a bit irritating sometimes, with the vomiting and shaking. I prefer it when he's underplayed and in the shadows

Do you think Cust is being set up as the killer? Thar is a huge re-write if it turns out to be him.

We're enjoying it; including daughter who doesn't usually like Agatha. Why add yet another stuffy remake when you can do something interesting. Almost makes me forget how it all plays out even though I've read and watched this story a million times...Well done BBC for leading the way. Malkovitch's delivery is always odd, which is what we like about him.