Being Poirot Page #2

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.

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