(TELEPHONE RINGS)
Hercule Poirot?
Hercule Poirot is, for me,
much more than the character on the written page.
Hercule Poirot, for me, almost is a real person.
You're a detective.
I am THE detective, Colonel Curtis.
He is the person who was responsible
for my life for 25 years.
The truth... It has the habit of revealing itself.
I've got to know him, I've lived him...
No-one can always be right.
But I am. Always, I am right.
It is so invariable, it startles me!
He's my invisible...closest and best friend.
POIROT: 'They have been good days.'
DAVID SUCHET: 'Agatha Christie's Poirot
premiered on television in 1989.'
Voila. Is there nothing to which Hercule Poirot
can not turn his finger?
'A quarter of a century and 13 series later,
it's a global phenomenon,
watched by 700 million viewers in 100 countries worldwide.
It's 6:00 in the morning...'
Thank you very much, thank you.
'..and Sean, my driver, is taking me to work.
I'm heading to Pinewood Studios to film the last series of Poirot.
This will be one of the hardest days of my acting life
because today...
Poirot will die.'
(AS HASTINGS) I say, old chap, you're looking pretty awful.
Don't you think I should call a doctor?
(AS POIROT) Oh, what good would that do?
No, mon ami. What will be, will be.
DAVID: Getting into character is a very detailed process for me,
beginning from the moment I'm dressed
and I get into the car, with Sean driving me.
Because at that point, I'm learning lines.
But then I got to make-up
and then the serious business of the day begins for me.
MICHELE BUCK: David is a method actor.
He dieted for probably about nine months
to lose, I think, about two stone.
I'm all right.
Whereas in all the other films, he looks like a robust little man,
in Curtain, he looks like a little sack of bones in a suit.
It'll be good if it helps him look really, really ill. Mmm.
'Agatha Christie does the most extraordinary thing.
It's the only story in which you see Poirot as a little old man.
And it's told through the eyes of Captain Hastings.'
Hastings?
'The key to it, for me,
is that moustache.
Once that moustache goes on that lip,
I think it's true to say you would be speaking to Hercule Poirot.'
(AS POIROT) Make sure it does not droop a little bit. Yes.
Yes, that is better.
'Curtain, Poirot's last case, was written by Agatha Christie in 1942.
Intended for publication after her death,
it was hidden in a bank vault for 30 years before publication in 1975.'
He knows he has to die. Yes.
He could never take the ignominy
of being accused of a murder and then hung.
We all knew that the final scenes were coming up
and we'd, in a sense, prepared.
But it was nevertheless a most remarkable atmosphere.
Huge sound stage at Pinewood,
with a set built in the centre of it.
The room itself, which contained a bed and walls,
in which he was gonna die, was not crowded;
it was deliberately kept quiet.
Serving.
And now...I need to think. But Poirot -
Go down to breakfast, mon ami.
The case, it is ended.
And outside, the set itself, the rest of the crew,
was exceptionally quiet.
Sheila, David's wife, was sitting beside the sound man.
(WHEEZES)
'To film it was one of the most extraordinary experiences,
to have - or to play -
a man who...dies.'
Forgive me.
Forgive... (GRUNTS WEAKLY)
End camera. (BELL RINGS)
It's a difficult day. It's difficult.
Cos he feels and he feels the character very deeply.
I think every time he shoots it, it's going to take more out of him.
Yes.
For a character actor of his intensity,
to lose someone he's been completely involved and absorbed in
for 25 years...
is a personal tragedy.
Terrible. It was awful. I'll never forget it.
The hardest, hardest moment of filming.
(APPLAUSE)
(AS POIROT) What a day. What a moment.
'When Curtain was published,
such was the sensation at the news of Poirot's death,
that it made the front page of the New York Times.
It showed the extraordinary impact of a strange little character,
who, for many, had seemed like a real person.
Hercule Poirot has been the most important role in my acting career.
You might think you know Poirot but I'd like to show you what goes on
inside those (AS POIROT) little grey cells.
Along the way, we'll find out why this remarkable little man
is so loved around the world.
To begin to understand Poirot, we need to go back to the beginning.
I am on my way to the seaside town of Torquay
and remembering a visit I made 25 years ago.'
He said to me, "I've been offered the role of Poirot."
He said, "What do you think?"
I said, "Well, I would take it. I wouldn't hesitate."
I said, "The only piece of advice I'll give you
is it's going to change your life."
And he said, "Oh, don't be so silly." I said, "Well, it will."
So, this...is a very special place.
Agatha Christie's house.
'Greenway was Agatha Christie's summer home
from 1938 until her death in 1976.
Soon after I was cast as Hercule Poirot,
I was invited here to meet her daughter.'
I remember one particular lunch I had
with Agatha Christie's daughter Rosalind
and her husband Antony Hicks.
And they said to me,
"We want the audience to be able to smile with Poirot
but never laugh at him.
And that's why you have been chosen to play the role."
'Getting the approval of Agatha Christie's family was crucial for me
before my life as Poirot began.
Today, I've come back to meet her grandson, Mathew Prichard.'
Here we are in Devonshire, where Poirot was actually born.
How do you think he came to be?
Well, of course it was long before my time
but, erm...I'm told that a bus drew up
in Union Square in Torquay.
And out of it trooped a whole busload of Belgian refugees,
one of whom was a little man,
who, surprisingly enough, David, looked a bit like you.
Do you fancy a pint of beer, if there's any left?
Non, merci.
I cannot yet bring myself to enjoy the English public house.
My grandmother must have seen him
and she must have thought, "Well, there's my detective."
'Poirot was introduced to the world in 1920
as a World War I Belgian refugee
in Agatha Christie's first book, The Mysterious Affair At Styles.'
(READS) Poirot was an extraordinary-looking little man.
He was hardly more than 5'4" but carried himself with great dignity.
The neatness of his attire was almost incredible.
Ah!
Voila!
(READS) As a detective, his flair had been extraordinary
and he had achieved triumphs
by unravelling some of the most baffling cases of the day.
The handwriting on this letter shouts your guilt.
You are a heartless murderer.
'Agatha Christie could never have guessed
that Poirot would become so famous,
appearing in over 50 short stories and 33 novels.'
Oh, look. Now, is this a real one that she used?
That is a real one. She would have taken this to the Middle East.
She would have hammered out Death On The Nile
somewhere near the pyramids in Egypt.
Really? On something like that.
The more I know about Agatha, the more I learn about her,
that she was such a warm, generous, lovely person.
I just hope she would have liked what I did, that's all!
She was very honest. Very candid indeed.
'Today, Agatha Christie is revered in Torquay.
So I can't visit here
without loaning something very special to the museum.'
Oh, I don't believe it.
I knew some things were coming here
but I didn't know what it was and it's my flat!
MY flat! It's Poirot's flat!
Look. My desk.
Hello, Carl. Hello, David. It's nice see you. Hello, Amy.
Very nice to see you as well. Very nice to see you.
Voila.
Oh! Fantastic! Take it out.
That is absolutely beautiful.
This is actually my prize possession.
I think I've probably held that more than any other thing
I've ever held in my life!
That is absolutely incredible. It's still warm as well.
It is still -
'But there's another reason we're here.
I'm meeting John Curran,
an archivist who has found clues about Poirot's creation
in Agatha Christie's secret diaries.'
And there, look. Hercule Poirot. Yes. Written by Agatha Christie.
So you can see here, The Mysterious Affair At Styles,
the plot was roughed out and then came her dilemma.
(READS) A detective story. Now, what kind of a detective?
So she says, "Why not have a Belgian refugee?"
Because refugees were in most countries at that stage.
You're not selling onions, are you? Pardon?
Your people come over here, doing that, a lot.
(READS) What kind of man should he be?
A little man with a somewhat grandiloquent name.
Poirot, monsieur. Hercule Poirot.
Poirot? Could never get my tongue around French.
But I am Belgian, monsieur, not French.
(READS) Like many small, dandified men, he would be conceited
and he would, of course, have a handsome moustache.
Yes. I think the moment is ripe for the trimming of the moustache.
Also the pomading.
And what about Agatha's own relationship to the man himself?
Hmm. Well, that became a bit fraught as the years went on
and she says here, (READS) Why, why, did I ever invent
this detestable, bombastic, tiresome little creature?
I must be right because I am never wrong.
(READS) Eternally straightening things, forever boasting,
always twirling his moustaches and tilting his egg-shaped head.
And then she adds - and I think this is quite funny -
(READS) Anyway, what is an egg-shaped head?
Have I ever seen an egg-shaped head?
When people say to me -
Agatha said this. This is an egg-shaped head.
But you see, all of those things that irritated her, the public adored.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
And I'm here to be witness to the egg-shaped head.
'In 1920, Agatha Christie put Poirot on the page.
Soon he was to become a star of stage and screen.'
Good evening, everybody.
This is Hercule Poirot.
'In the Roaring Twenties,
Agatha Christie's new detective Hercule Poirot was hugely popular.
After only four books, he was set to appear on the London stage.'
I wish I could get into Dr Who's Tardis and go back to sitting
in a London Theatre in 1928 and witnessing, for the very first time,
that the character of Hercule Poirot came to life.
Performed by Charles Laughton,
one of the greatest actors that we had in those days,
performing in a play called Alibi,
which was adaptation of the glorious novel The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd.
(READS) It was just like the detective of the novel
walking into the room.
The actor's make-up is perfect, the attitude,
the way of holding his head.
I have seen Poirot tonight.
Poirot himself
actually appears on stage as himself
in the novel and the film we made called Three Act Tragedy.'
I was certain the person who murdered
the Reverend Stephen Babbington and Dr Bartholomew Strange
must have been present on both occasions, but not apparently so.
DAVID: And in every novel,
she gives him his great, what we call the 'summing-up'.
That's where he goes through all the people in the room,
making them feel guilty for a crime they never committed,
and pointing his finger at the guilty party.
It's his moment of theatre.
God...damn you.
What have you done?
What have I done?!
It is you who have deceived ME!
DAVID: Oh, yes, I think Poirot, if he wasn't a detective,
I think he could have easily been a wonderful actor.
'In 1931, three years after Poirot first appeared on stage,
Alibi was filmed for the cinema with a new Poirot.
Sadly, this film is now lost
but other screen portrayals have survived.'
Oh, wow.
Isn't this fantastic?
So...
lights, camera...
action.
(VINTAGE NEWSREEL MUSIC)
'The oldest surviving Poirot film is Lord Edgware Dies from 1934,
starring British actor Austin Trevor.'
The moustache for Poirot is such an important part of his character.
And it was obviously a conscious decision by the film company
not to have him with a moustache.
You mean to tell me that you think she committed all these murders?
I do not think, my friend, I know she did. Every one of them.
The accent is...
Well, you can hear it's English, trying to be French.
But then that was the style then.
Madame, you tried to pull the wool over the eyes of Hercule Poirot.
And I'm hanged if we can have that!
I remember watching Murder On The Orient Express
as part of my research when developing the character.
A repulsive murderer
has himself been repulsively
and perhaps deservedly murdered.
In the public's mind, Albert Finney was THE Poirot.
When that film came out,
Poirot came alive for the public
as he had never done before.
Great film, Death On The Nile,
and...I've always thought
that Peter Ustinov was just on the edge
of becoming a really great Poirot.
I am the...nasty little eavesdropper, madame.
'25 years ago, I went back to Agatha Christie's novels
to find her Poirot.'
I got a file of paper,
a pen...
and I started reading every single story.
But I've never seen this little creation of Hercule Poirot
portrayed as he was written in the books.
So I wrote a list of 93 little notes
about his character.
Et bien. Tell me all that you have discovered.
What's the first one?
Belgian, not French!
(READS) Has four lumps of sugar in tea or coffee, sometimes three
and once or twice, five.
Order and method are his gods.
(AS POIROT) In the little grey cells of the brain
lies the solution of every mystery.
(READS) Always wears a hat when going out in the evening air.
Will wipe dirty seats or benches with his handkerchief
before sitting down.
'I had found his idiosyncrasies.
Now I had to build his character.'
I shut my eyes and I think.
One must always seek the truth from within.
For me, it's the voice.
Poirot is not really connected with his emotions.
He's connected with his head.
And therefore, I decided to give him a head sound.
So, I can be talking to you as David Suchet.
My voice is coming up from my emotions.
Now it is in my mouth, now it is going higher, higher in my brain.
I will put on his Belgian French accent
(AS POIROT) and then I will speak as Hercule Poirot.
Chief Inspector, you ought to look to your elocution.
Swipe me, nothing wrong with my lingo.
'But something was still missing.
I went back to the books and found the final piece of the jigsaw.
His walk.'
(READS) Poirot crossed the lawn
with his usual rapid, mincing gait
within his patent leather boots.
Having found that, of course...
..I then had to learn how to do it.
And that's the walk that became synonymous with my Poirot.
Whitehaven Mansions, if you please.
'The same level of care went into the whole look
of the television series.
Here, in London's Charterhouse Square,
the production team found the exterior location for Poirot's home.'
I really do love coming here.
This is, of course, where Poirot lived.
The name of the block in the book is Whitehaven Mansions.
And he chose this particular block of flats
not because of its location or anything
but because it's symmetrical.
And that, for Poirot, was la creme de la creme.
'I've come here to meet Poirot's first producer...'
David, how wonderful to see you!
'..Brian Eastman.'
Well, this is so strange because I don't know whether
I'm coming back into one of our sets or the real place
and of course, this was the real place.
But the set was based on it, wasn't it? Yeah.
Well, it was a decision, wasn't it, to have everything set in the '30s?
Yes, cos she wrote the Poirot novels over a period of about 60 years.
And I felt that it was very important for a television show
that we should be rooted in one particular era.
And in the end, I thought,
"Well, I'm actually going to root them all in one particular year."
Dress them like 1936.
Of course, this isn't our flat in the set.
This is the real flat in this building.
We used the outside. Which one was it?
Well, I remember we always used to count down from the top.
One, two, three.
It's that one with the vertical blinds. I think that was the one.
Mr Poirot? Mr Poirot? Yes, Miss Lemon, yes?
There's a letter, sir, from Eliza Dunn.
There!
BRIAN: And the wonderful thing that I felt that you did
was you managed to capture the peculiarities
alongside the lovability.
And I think that is why people love him.
But I had a wonderful team of actors around me, didn't I?
I was able to play off them
and they were able to have their own lives and their own worlds.
Good heavens!
Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings.
Hastings, you think, "Oh, he's a bit of a dunderhead."
And maybe he isn't the brightest
but Hugh brought a fantastic intelligence
to a man who apparently didn't have much.
Right.
Hastings. Japp.
And Inspector Japp, Philip Jackson,
who is always bested by Poirot.
Right, who's the victim?
And Miss Lemon...Pauline Moran...
just brought that beautiful eccentricity to it.
Abduction. Addiction.
Adultery, see also under 'marriage'.
Bigamy, see also under 'marriage'.
Bombs. See also under 'marriage'?
I know from the mail I get and from how people react to the series,
it's not just me, it's the whole look.
It's production values, the props, the locations.
And I couldn't have been given a better place to live
for the man I played.
'There was one other element that played a crucial role
in creating the mood of the series.'
It's great to see you.
'I've come to meet composer Christopher Gunning.'
If I just hum... (HUMS POIROT THEME)
..they say, "Poirot".
But you know, David, one of many extraordinary things
was that I presented Brian Eastman with four different tunes.
And he rang up the next day and he said,
"Well, I've listened to all four of them
and number four is my favourite." Wow.
And I was mighty disappointed because number one was mine.
Why do you think I put number one at the beginning?
Yes. And I can still remember it, actually. It went like -
(SOMBRE TUNE)
DAVID: Yes, I have heard that.
(HUMS)
It went something like that.
And that was my clear favourite
but Brian didn't even get that a thought.
And of course, he was right and I was wrong.
How did you decide that should be one of your theme tunes for Poirot?
What is the process for you?
I did read a script, so I thought about what sort of music
would take us back to the '30s a little bit.
(PLAYS VERSION OF POIROT THEME)
And I phoned Brian and asked him and he said,
"No, I'm getting terribly negative reactions to the music, Christopher.
We're going to have to start again."
So what I did was to darken it all
and I moved it into G minor,
so the alto saxophone could now play it...
(PLAYS OPENING NOTES)
..in that register, and the accompaniment could be down here.
(PLAYS LOWER NOTES)
Immediately, it has a sort of gravitas that it didn't have
when I was fiddling around up there. Yeah.
'That music, along with many other elements, defines the series.
But what made Poirot such a popular character around the world?
Where better to find out than visiting the country of his birth -
Belgium?'
Pity Emily couldn't come. Still, I think she's right.
Brussels is a far cry from Isleworth.
Her loss is my gain.
'Hercule Poirot is not simply a legend in Agatha Christie's homeland.
The Poirot films have been seen in over 100 countries.'
(DUBBED INTO FRENCH)
'Over the years, I've received thousands of letters
from all around the world.
Viewers might know my face but not all have heard my voice.'
(DUBBED INTO GERMAN)
Hercule Poirot.
(SOBS)
'I had no idea Poirot would be so big outside Britain.
Now I want to find out about his international appeal
and where better to do so than the country of his birth?'
'Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome aboard this service to Lille and Brussels.'
One of the aspects that really link us, Poirot and myself,
is that both of us are, in a way, outsiders.
Although I was born in England,
most of my family on my father's side were from Lithuania.
I certainly don't look like a typical Englishman.
And that was Poirot as well.
In all the stories, he's portrayed very vividly
but we know very little about his past.
We know that he came to England retired,
head of the Brussels police force,
but we know very little about when he was a policeman there.
Well, Poirot, how does it feel
being back in Brussels again after so many years?
In the eye of my mind, Chief Inspector, I have never left.
Wow! Here we are. Most beautiful square in the world.
Ah! It's fantastic. Look at it.
The Grand Square in Brussels.
I can actually remember filming here The Chocolate Box
and yeah, I played chess in this square. I remember that.
'The Chocolate Box was the only Poirot story
that took us back to his past as a police officer in Brussels.'
Checkmate.
'It's told in flashback, so I had to lose over 20 years,
with the clever help of make-up and a hairpiece.'
I'd like a box that I can fill with chocolates, please. Sure.
There's a murder, of course,
and Belgian chocolates appear to be the cause of death.'
Of course what we have to remember
is the chocolate might have tasted nice
but you wouldn't have lived very long
to savour the aftertaste.
POIROT: My duties as a junior police officer
involved my regular attendance at the Court of the Coroner.
The death of Paul Deroulard
was treated by all those concerned as a matter of routine.
DAVID: Where I am now is in the Palace of Justice in Brussels.
And of course, Poirot would have been very familiar with this place
cos this is the High Court, this is the highest court in the land.
Superintendant Bouchet, one moment, if you please.
Chantalier and myself,
we would be very happy to investigate further the Deroulard case.
DAVID: His methods of detection are very basic.
He's not a forensic detective.
He likes clues, of course. Everything is in the clue.
Jean-Louis, inside this envelope are chocolate crumbs.
I want you to tell me by your analysis exactly what they contain
and whether or not they contain poison.
DAVID: He's far more of a psychologist.
He is interested in people's minds.
When he speaks with you, he always says,
(AS POIROT) I listen to what you say but I hear what you mean.
For it was you, Madame Deroulard,
who killed your son.
'In over 70 stories, Poirot solved many intriguing cases.
But there was always one great mystery that eluded him.'
The mystery that even I, Hercule Poirot, will never be able to solve.
The nature of love.
I get lots of mail and people talking to me
about Poirot's sexuality.
Why is everyone so afraid of sex?
Ooh!
"Why hasn't he married?"
"Does he fall in love?"
"Where's Poirot's romantic interest?"
'In Chocolate Box, Poirot found the killer
but lost his heart to his client Virginie Mesnard.'
I hope I haven't made things awkward for you, Hercule.
And Poirot really becomes very attached in an emotional way
to Virginie.
Perhaps...
this will say it for me.
'She gives to him a little silver brooch.'
Virginie, you should not have.
'If you notice, when I play Poirot as an older man,
he always wears it
and that was given to him by his first love.'
He would love to have been married but he knows himself.
No-one could put up with
his own weird eccentricities as a person.
But in actual fact, although he says that,
I believe he knows that HE couldn't put up with them.
'Poirot was a lonely man
but what he does with his life is solving crimes.
You've got it wrong, you bloody little Frog!
Firstly, I am not a bloody little Frog.
I am a bloody little Belgian.
'Poirot was proud of being a Belgian citizen
but what do the locals think of him?
Who better to ask than Belgian crime writer Stan Lauryssens?
Well - So, how's Brussels?
Brussels is wonderful but I think I have to congratulate you
because you won an award, didn't you? A writing award.
Well, I won Hercule Poirot Award. The Hercule Poirot Award?
Yeah, which is the award for the best crime novel of the year.
Fantastic. Do you think Poirot is typically Belgian?
He's typically Belgian because he's got all the mannerisms of Belgians.
First of all, they're short. Yes.
They're good-looking. Oh, well, that's very kind.
What makes Poirot so endearing?
His warmth. You can't be mad at him.
Do you get that from the page? Yeah, yeah.
I mean, that's what I found.
Yeah. You're speaking of Poirot as though he was a real person.
He is. He is? Who says he's fictional?
Because every night, at home,
anywhere in the world, there you are.
You made him a living person and that's your fault.
(SPEAKS EXCITEDLY IN FRENCH)
That's why people embrace you in the street. Take photographs.
"Hey, here he is! Poirot!"
'Even without the moustache,
I'm always surprised to be recognised anywhere in the world.'
Well, here I am in a police car,
with police outriders as an escort
and it's quite overwhelming.
Apparently, I'm going to meet somebody very important.
Has to be important for this sort of welcome.
Beautiful, isn't it? Yes. Beautiful building.
'In fact, I've been invited
to meet the Mayor of Brussels and the Chief of Police.
We're going to find out what they think
of Belgium's most famous detective.'
Hercule Poirot. Mayor Thielemans.
I say, back home, are you?
Would you have liked Hercule Poirot here now?
Yeah, we need him. Absolutely.
You need him? Yeah. But with a moustache.
That can be arranged. That can be arranged?
That can be put in the post. Can we...
What do the Belgians think of Hercule Poirot?
They are proud because he solved matters the English couldn't solve.
And your accent was not too bad. Thank you.
I wondered - I felt very nervous meeting you!
You could have said it was terrible and we are on television, you know?
Thank you very, very much. You've given me such a lovely welcome.
It's a great honour to be here. My pleasure. Thank you, sir.
They take Poirot to their hearts
and, you know, Agatha Christie is widely read here
and Poirot is one of Belgium's sons.
When I was studying the character of Poirot,
I learned that there was some speculation about where he was born.
I think Agatha is actually quite clear where he was born.
He was born in Spa in Belgium.
However, I'm on my way to a town that has claimed him, in a sense,
to be one of its sons.
'There's something distinctly odd about the small town of Ellezelles,
30 miles west of Brussels.
They like to think that Poirot was born here.'
There he is!
'Local historian Pascal Hyde
can even show me a birth certificate to prove their claim.'
So - Look, here is the birth certificate.
(READS) Extrait de naissance d'Hercule Poirot.
Here you have the name of your father. Yes.
Jules-Louis Poirot. Oui.
And you have Godelieve, your mother. This is wonderful.
It is absolutely extraordinary.
There is my birth certificate.
Born in Ellezelles
on l'Avril 1st.
April Fools' Day.
'Some Belgians might dispute the actual place of Poirot's birth
but there is no question about his commitment to his faith.'
What's interesting for me
is that Agatha Christie makes him, being Belgian, Catholic.
So he is a religious man.
POIROT: There is nothing in the world so damaged
that it cannot be repaired by the hand of Almighty God.
He believes that 'le bon Dieu' - the good God -
has put him on this earth to rid it of crime
while he is still alive and able to do so.
So part of Poirot's character is in doing his job,
he's actually serving God.
'Agatha Christie's books reveal
that Poirot retired from the Belgian police force
and that is world was thrown into turmoil
at the outbreak of the First World War.'
He couldn't have actually fought in the trenches himself
because he was retired from the Belgian police force
and then the war started and then he became a refugee.
POIROT: Then began my second career.
It is reported that I am the most famous detective in England.
'Agatha Christie created an outsider who was true to life.
His faith gave him his purpose but I think his humanity and warmth
is the secret of the character's success.
But of all the crimes he solved,
there was one case that would challenge him to breaking point.'
'In the whole of Poirot's career, there was one story above all
that seems to have captured the public's imagination.'
And if you would be so kind
as to book for me a passage tonight on the Orient Express.
'I knew that even after 20 years of playing Poirot,
this would be one of the most challenging performances
of my career.'
Good morning, sir. Good morning.
Welcome back. Nice to be back, thank you.
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
Murder On The Orient Express was almost, for me, an untouchable.
Obviously because it was such a famous film with Albert Finney
and it won Oscars.
So I had quite a lot to live up to.
'I began researching Murder On The Orient Express
by reading the book on the original restored train to Venice.
Now I'm going back to relive Poirot's most dramatic story
and meet some old friends.'
It's such a pleasure to see you again.
(BOTH EXCLAIM)
Welcome.
'In 2008, I set out to make Murder On The Orient Express,
a story about a very brutal murder, and I wanted Poirot
to be as faithful to Agatha Christie's novel as possible.'
Oh, my goodness me.
I'm back home.
Well, welcome back home.
It was an extraordinary experience to have been on the train
before I made the film
because I used that in the making of the film.
Murder On The Orient Express with Albert Finney was a wonderful film.
We had a different take on it. We took it much more seriously.
In fact...
the actual tone of the book...
is serious.
I think the story has become legendary
because to have 12 murderers - judge, jury and executioners -
was an extraordinary invention of hers.
(BRAKES SCREECH) Ca va?
DAVID: In the story,
the train becomes stationary because of an avalanche.
To be stuck inside this narrow tube made it very claustrophobic.
That was the brilliance of her story.
(PLAYS POIROT THEME)
So...the guilty 12.
Where I am now is where the big summing-up took place
and this is where he makes his big reveal
that not one person among them was the murderer
but they were all guilty of putting in the knife.
No, no. No, you behave like this and we become just...
..savages...in the street!
The juries and executioners, they elect themselves.
No, it is medieval!
The rule of law, it must be held high.
And if it falls, you pick it up and hold it even higher!
He is thrown into deep anguish and thought and prayer
as to what should be do?
Even though he may sympathise with the crime,
is it his right to let them go?
Or should he do what he knows his faith would tell him to do?
'That's the story. But where she set it is so unbelievably brilliant.
It's lovely to be on the train and in the carriage
that Hercule Poirot slept in.'
Fillet de boeuf.
'And to be able to eat in the restaurant he ate in.'
'In the 70 films I've played Poirot,
Murder On The Orient Express was the one which showed him
in a turmoil of conscience we've never seen before.
Torn and tormented over what to do about this murder.'
Bye-bye.
Thank you so much.
'In the end, he chooses to let them go.'
On the human level, he did the right thing.
But as far as his faith is concerned and what it did to him,
it really cost.
'Poirot understands the frailty of people -
their passions, their hopes and their dreams.
It's a characteristic which I think is recognised and admired
by viewers the world over.'
'Orient Express was one of my biggest challenges as Poirot.
Now, five years on, I'm on the set of Dead Man's Folly.
(AS POIROT) Good morning. How are you? Fine, thanks.
'It's June 2013 and nine months since I filmed Poirot's death in Curtain.
I wanted to end 25 years on a high, not his demise,
so we shot the final film out of sequence.
When I finish this film,
I will have shot every Poirot story that Agatha Christie ever published.'
(AS POIROT) You come on a set like this
and you think, "I don't have to do anything."
Good morning. Morning, David. How are you?
You've been in the fortune teller tent - Yes.
- which we saw you go into last night. A scene in there.
A few cuts and then - I come out and meet the Dutch girl.
80, take one.
Background action and action!
I think the enduring power of Poirot
obviously centres on David's performance.
But also, careful casting, very good direction, brilliant art direction,
excellent locations and a great deal of thought
go in to make it the package that becomes Agatha Christie's Poirot.
Madame?
What you wear on your head, it is a creation most beautiful.
Like something from Royal Ascot, ne c'est pas?
David is meticulous. He's brought with him an eye of detail.
We have never been allowed to let our standards slip
because David would pick us up on that.
Oh, it's an honour to work with David again
and it must be an extraordinary experience for him
and for his family, I have to say.
I think a big shout out goes to the family, I've got to say,
living with Mr Poirot for 25 years.
Have you seen Lady Stubbs? Have you seen my wife Lady Stubbs?
Has anyone seen Lady Stubbs?
In some ways, it's a farewell to the character.
I don't know, I think we're all anticipating the last day
and how emotional that might be.
'Agatha Christie's summer home
provided the inspiration for Dead Man's Folly.
So as a wonderful tribute to Poirot's creator, we have come to Devon,
where my final shot will be filmed.'
I think it's a lovely way to end the series here.
I feel pleased for David as well,
to have shot all of them and to have adapted all the novels,
which I know is very important to him.
It's a triumphant day. I won't see it in any other way as well. I won't.
It's emotional.
Of course it's emotional, I won't pretend it's not emotional.
But I feel very elated. Happy!
They are filming the very last scene
of the very last story of Poirot that will ever be made
with David Suchet playing Poirot.
It doesn't feel like 25 years.
If I look back, it's... really my children growing up,
my family, my...
It's a quarter of a century of my life.
And...suddenly, it's over.
I think it's the fact that he has applied utter dedication
to one role.
Most actors do a role, put it down, walk away from it.
David has never put it down.
C'est bon. Merci.
515, take one.
David's legacy is to have given the world
a character that they can never forget.
To bring to life someone who has entertained people around the world
for 100 years
and to stamp that character into all our imaginations.
And that legacy on television will never fade.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a wrap of Poirot after 25 years.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
(AS POIROT) Thank you.
Thank you.
I would like to say to you, thank you for having me.
I have enjoyed all the little adventures that I have solved.
To you all, au revoir.
Merci beaucoup.
DAVID: I really do look back with great thankfulness.
To be given that role
and have allowed me the privilege of playing him
over a period of 25 years, what a gift.
Thank you.
OK, everyone this way. One, two, three -
(ALL CHEER)
Fantastic. And again, one, two, three -
(ALL CHEER)
Brilliant. Wonderful. Well done.
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