Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Definitive Collection (Series 1-13) [DVD]
Category: DVD, TV series
Product description
![Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Definitive Collection (Series 1-13) [DVD]](/img/poirot-tv-dvd-box-set.jpg)
The episodes (which include all of the shorter and feature-length adventures in the series' incredible 24 year run) are arranged over 35 Region 2 disks and housed in two sturdy plastic containers within a stylish cardboard box. The entire runtime of the collection is just over 84 hours. In addition, there are three noteworthy bonus features:
a) David Suchet on the Orient Express - a documentary in which the series' lead actor takes a trip on the world's most famous train to discover how it ended up in an Agatha Christie crime novel.
b) A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Murder on the Orient Express episode, featuring interviews with the cast and crew.
c) Being Poirot - a documentary in which David Suchet talks candidly about the role that made him a television icon and how he developed the detective's distinctive persona.
Product review
Many other great actors have made a stab at playing Agatha Christie's egg-headed
Belgian detective, but none has come closer to the author's original creation
nor had as great an impact as David Suchet, whose portrayal is justly considered
the definitive Poirot. (Suchet's only serious rival
was Albert Finney in the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.)
In seventy episodes made over a quarter
of a century (from 1989 to 2013), Suchet's brilliant but tetchy private detective
coolly unravelled a whole host of fiendishly cunning crimes, assisted by
his three most loyal confidantes - Captain Hastings, Chief Inspector Japp
and Miss Lemon - a quartet that is probably the weirdest crime-fighting syndicate
you can imagine outside an Enid Blyton novel.
Dame Agatha's literary output was as variable as it was prolific, but this seductively plush television series gives each of her stories a consistent high quality cinematic look - something it miraculously sustained throughout the series' long run. From the show's stylish Art Deco-themed opening titles to its glossy production design, Poirot not only captures perfectly the distinctive character of Christie's fictional world, but it also evoked its period setting (Europe in the 1930s) more powerfully than probably any other television series. The scripts were polished, the acting was impeccable and the production values were always of the highest standard.
The series reached its peak in Season 4 (1992) with a number of feature-length episodes that are arguably the strongest - The ABC Murders, Death in the Clouds and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. From 2003 onwards, the series became more self-conscious, more prosaic, and far more prone to directorial self-indulgence as the 'house style' went out of the window (Five Little Pigs exemplifies this and is the least watchable episode in the entire series).
The humour of the early episodes was also less noticeable in later series and increasingly we came to lament the absence of the redoubtable trio of Hastings, Japp and Lemon. Zoë Wanamaker's prickly Ariadne Oliver was no substitute for this plausible threesome and became irritating beyond belief after her second encounter with Poirot. With the best stories already in the can, the series showed signs of fatigue in its last few years, although it finally ended in style with Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, a more than satisfactory conclusion to a great series with Suchet bowing out with distinction.
ITV Studios' 35-disk box set does justice to the series, not only gathering together in one tidy and durable package all seventy episodes, but also including three bonus features, the best being David Suchet's revealing exposé of how he 'found Poirot' and the impact this had on his life. Admirable as this set is, it does have one irritating feature - when you load some of the DVDs an incredibly loud and patronising anti-piracy warning flashes up on the screen. (As you cannot turn off or skip this asinine thirty second lecture, the best thing to do is to load the disk and go off to make yourself a cup of tea.) This flaw aside, the Poirot box set is hard to fault - it is an absolute treat for any fan of Agatha Christie or crime mysteries in general. Not only is it far superior to the big screen adaptations, it is often an improvement on the original novels. Dame Agatha would have approved.
Dame Agatha's literary output was as variable as it was prolific, but this seductively plush television series gives each of her stories a consistent high quality cinematic look - something it miraculously sustained throughout the series' long run. From the show's stylish Art Deco-themed opening titles to its glossy production design, Poirot not only captures perfectly the distinctive character of Christie's fictional world, but it also evoked its period setting (Europe in the 1930s) more powerfully than probably any other television series. The scripts were polished, the acting was impeccable and the production values were always of the highest standard.
The series reached its peak in Season 4 (1992) with a number of feature-length episodes that are arguably the strongest - The ABC Murders, Death in the Clouds and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. From 2003 onwards, the series became more self-conscious, more prosaic, and far more prone to directorial self-indulgence as the 'house style' went out of the window (Five Little Pigs exemplifies this and is the least watchable episode in the entire series).
The humour of the early episodes was also less noticeable in later series and increasingly we came to lament the absence of the redoubtable trio of Hastings, Japp and Lemon. Zoë Wanamaker's prickly Ariadne Oliver was no substitute for this plausible threesome and became irritating beyond belief after her second encounter with Poirot. With the best stories already in the can, the series showed signs of fatigue in its last few years, although it finally ended in style with Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, a more than satisfactory conclusion to a great series with Suchet bowing out with distinction.
ITV Studios' 35-disk box set does justice to the series, not only gathering together in one tidy and durable package all seventy episodes, but also including three bonus features, the best being David Suchet's revealing exposé of how he 'found Poirot' and the impact this had on his life. Admirable as this set is, it does have one irritating feature - when you load some of the DVDs an incredibly loud and patronising anti-piracy warning flashes up on the screen. (As you cannot turn off or skip this asinine thirty second lecture, the best thing to do is to load the disk and go off to make yourself a cup of tea.) This flaw aside, the Poirot box set is hard to fault - it is an absolute treat for any fan of Agatha Christie or crime mysteries in general. Not only is it far superior to the big screen adaptations, it is often an improvement on the original novels. Dame Agatha would have approved.
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