They're now advertising it for Christmas Day, with They Do It With Mirrors on New Years Day.

okay so they changed it

NEW AIRDATE CHRISTMAS DAY!

8.00 Coronation Street 9.00 Agatha Christies Poirot

I was just reading about it in the Christmas double edition of Radio Times. Sounds as if they've hacked up the story a fair bit. We shall see. At least it gives me a programme to watch on the day. There's nothing else for me.

I think I might be best giving this a wide berth. I can just see my Christmas this year being overshadowed by the annoyance I will feel if my favourite Christie has been butchered in the name of 'entertainment'. Better to leave well alone, play silly games with the family and avoid the TV as much as possible (although I see there is a Orsen Welles season on BBC4 which I must, MUST see).

Monkfish, I'll keep a mince pie for you if you like. Then you can avoid it too.

Appointment with Death is VERY entertaining, but if you are a hardcore-stick-to-the-novel-Fan you should avoid this maybe.

Good Actors, good Story, very nice atmo, nice Settings and so on - cannot say a bad word about it as i have not read the book.

Id rather have an Entertaining Reworked Movie than a not so good movie that is true to a (maybe poor) book.

If you want your favorite christie, puff, then read it and avoid watching it. But you might miss some entertaining Movie there.

The two things (aside from a really weak story) that really brought the episode down in my view was the direction and the music. The diretion was really distracting, as haloes of light surrounded everything. As for the music, the chorus perpetually chants, and this simply screams "OMINOUS!" at the viewer. By the end, it sounded like a Gregorian chant without the Latin.

also theres another new Poirot :)

Three Act Tragedy premieres 03.01.2010 at 8pm on ITV1.

Any Idea when The Clocks will be on?

at a later date it says.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/agathachristiespoirot/threeacttragedy/default.html

Excellent! Nick Dear, who did a great job adapting Cards on the Table for the little screen, adapted Three Act Tragedy so I am definitely looking forward to seeing it.  Stewart Harcourt, who adapted several Miss. Marples that were quite good including By the Pricking of My Thumbs, adapted The Clocks so I am looking forward to seeing The Clocks as well.

Oh well. You can't please all the people all the time.

S_Sigerson

Oh well. You can't please all the people all the time.

LOL!  Or in the case of this forum - NONE of the people None of the time !! Seriously though I'm glad we don't have to wait 12 months before we see the new series.

sadly people only come up to say how they dislike something, if they enjoyed a film they rather stay silent - thats how it works on the internet :(

I have just looked up Stewart Harcourt and he wrote the Screenplays for A Murder Is Announced and By The Pricking of My Thumbs both of which I loved even if Miss Marple shouldn't have been in the Latter Book and Tuppence was portrayed as an Alcoholic and Tommy was portreayed as Ascerbic but Tommy was absorbed in his work which could have explained Tuppences's Drink Problem (Although frankly I think not) and he wasn also worried about Tuppence's Safety which explains his Manner and he was like that in the Book but I still feel the same about Cards On The Table.

Exciting news, of course!... but not for a Canuck like me. Nick Dear is an extremely gifted screenwriter, and I look forward to this latest one. The only fears I have is seeing Ashley Pearce's name attatched as director. Her direction style is horrid; every episode she's been in charge of has had distracting visuals, as haloes of light surround EVERYTHING. But if the cast of actors is talented enough, they could make up for this (case in point: Mrs. McGinty's Dead).

And a new composer has been brought on board for the music, according to IMDb! Christian Henson is his name, and he'll be apparently composing music for the first three episodes (he hasn't done any Poirots prior to this). I'm excited to hear what he comes up with, as music will either add to a movie's success (By The Pricking of My Thumbs) or bring the whole thing crashing down (The old version of Ordeal by Innocence, Appointment With Death).

D.Suchet on "Appointment with Death"

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“I can appreciate and understand the adverse reaction to the fact that we have moved so far away from the original book, and I can assure fans that it is not something any of us would do wilfully. However, sometimes there are instances where the adaptation from novel to film does not really work and so the plots have to be broadened. And, in broadening the plots, other characters are sometimes introduced by the writer. I do hope that those who see Appointment With Death will agree with me with that it’s still very much in the spirit of Agatha Christie, still very much in the spirit of Appointment with Death as written and Poirot is still Poirot: I will always, wherever I’m put, be faithful to him as created by Agatha. And so I hope that everyone will enjoy what I consider to be a very exciting, very dark and very macabre tale of a wonderful book and one of the greatest Poirot films we’ve ever made.”

X is seen with blood on her hands; Y is found with her head bashed in. And somehow, the viewer isn't expected to make the obvious connection? The talk of a mysterious slave trader behind the attack is horrid misdirection in a flimsy plot, and hardly justifies Suchet's claim that is is one of the greatest Poirot films they've made.

I've already talked about my issues on direction and music, and with these factors combined, I really have to disagree with Suchet here. Yes, Hercule Poirot is the same Poirot- but for once, the case he wallowed through got extremely dull. A far better job was done expanding the somewhat dull Third Girl. Just because the film has dark themes like child abuse, doesn't mean it automatically gains diplomatic immunity and must be one of the greatest in the series.

"However, sometimes there are instances where the adaptation from novel to film does not really work and so the plots have to be broadened."

A great big thanks for summing up my thoughts exactly. I was more than open to changes in Appointment With Death; but when Poirot tosses up random conclusions faster and with less hints (but far more obvious and silly ones; "Ah, but remember, I remarked that the goat looked slightly like a panda and that her light blue shirt did not match white gloves...") than Jessica Fletcher... AWD is the only Poirot episode that I dislike to date, but it does have one or two interesting elements, in particular a perfect Mrs. Boynton, and a surprisingly good performance by Tim Curry (but in weak, weak material).

Although I haven't seen this yet I would like tyo mmake some points;

1) I wish that Mr Suchet had felt the need to defend Cards On The Table then we might have been given the reason for those appalling changes

2) I have read Appointment With Death not that long ago and apart from the fact that Agatha Christie should have explained the Murderer's past Crime I don't see which part didn't work

3) If some parts of the book didn't work for the screen Mr Suchet should explain which parts and why or else don't bother try to defend it, inb short all or nothing.

4) We are the Fans who have bought the books and have decided to watchg the programme so We should be allowed to see the Adaptation Properly

I don't doubt for a minute that David Suchet will remain faithful to Poirot as he was created by AC. But he still has to work with the material he is given and if this is poor, the end result will be poor, regardless of how well he plays the part. The reason we read AC's book (well, speaking for myself) is that the stories are so GOOD and they don't depend on a single character to keep us interested. I may read one BECAUSE it features Miss Marple or M. Poirot, but I would not have read the complete canon and continued to love them most of my life had they been flimsy and poorly crafted storylines. Bless Mr Suchet for keeping a stiff upper lip and defending the adaptations (so very British!), but a good adaptation is the sum of its parts and is NOT successful simply by David putting in a fantastic and faithful-to-the-spirit-of-AC performance. He's not there to carry it alone.

So will you be watching, Tommy? I think I may steer clear or I can see it putting a dampner on my (hopefully) jolly Christmas.