More of Poirot's Finest Cases: Seven full-cast BBC radio dramatisations
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John Moffat stars as the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in seven more BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations.
Evil Under the Sun: On holiday in Devon, Poirot becomes embroiled in the murder of a glamorous American starlet.
Sad Cypress: A poison pen letter begins a chain of events which is to end in tragedy.
Murder in Mesopotamia: When death occurs at an archaeological site in the Iraqi desert, Poirot is on hand to dig for clues.
Lord Edgware Dies: Lord Edgware is found brutally stabbed, his wife the prime suspect. But did she murder him?
Hallowe’en Party: The sleuth investigates the death of a girl drowned in an apple-bobbing tub on All Hallows’ Eve.
Murder on the Links: Summoned urgently to France, Poirot finds his wealthy client dead. Can he trace the killer?
Five Little Pigs: A bride-to-be hires Poirot to solve a sixteen-year-old case and prove her mother innocent of murder.
These BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations find Poirot pitting his ‘little grey cells’ against a variety of cunning criminals. Based on Agatha Christie’s original novels, these superb adaptations feature a host of distinguished actors including Iain Glen, Fiona Fullerton, Stephanie Cole and Stephen Tompkinson.
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Agatha Christie, the acknowledged ‘Queen of Crime' (The Observer) was born in Torquay in 1890. During the First World War she worked as a hospital dispenser, and it was here that she gleaned the working knowledge of various poisons that was to prove so useful in her detective stories.
Her first novel was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced Hercule Poirot to the world. This was published in 1920 (although in fact she had written it during the war) and was followed over the next six years by four more detective novels and a short story collection. However, it was not until the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd that Agatha Christie’s reputation was firmly established. This novel, with its complex plot and genuinely shocking conclusion, attracted considerable public attention and has since been acknowledged by many experts as a masterpiece. In 1930 the sharp-witted spinster sleuth Miss Marple made her first appearance in The Murder at the Vicarage. In all, Agatha Christie published over 80 novels and short story collections.
The brilliance of Christie’s plots, and her enduring appeal, have led to several dramatisations of her work on radio, television and film. In 1930 she was one of a number of crime writers asked to contribute a chapter to a mystery, Behind the Screen, that was broadcast on BBC radio on 21st June that year. More recently, June Whitfield portrayed Miss Marple on BBC Radio 4, whilst John Moffat starred as Hercule Poirot. On screen, Peter Ustinov, David Suchet, Margaret Rutherford, Joan Hickson, Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie have all memorably played Agatha Christie’s famous sleuths.
As her play The Mousetrap (the longest-running play in the history of theatre) testifies, Agatha Christie’s detective stories are likely to appeal for a long time to come.
Agatha Christie was awarded a CBE in 1956 and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1971. She died in 1976.
