"Agatha Christie: Poirot" Taken at the Flood (2006)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Andy Wilson

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Guy Andrews (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

2 April 2006 (Season 10, Episode 4)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

Hercule Poirot finds himself trying to solve the mystery of the Cloade family. Rosaleen is the young...

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Hercule Poirot | Shakespearean Quote | Brother Sister Relationship | Suspect

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Jenny Agutter	...	Adela Marchmont
Patrick Baladi	...	Rowley Cloade
Eva Birthistle	...	Rosaleen / Eileen
Elliot Cowan	...	David Hunter
Amanda Douge	...	Lynn Marchmont
Penny Downie	...	Frances Cloade
Richard Durden	...	Pebmarsh
Claire Hackett	...	Beatrice Lippincott
Richard Hope	...	Supt. Harold Spence
Celia Imrie	...	'Aunt' Kathy Cloade
Nicholas Le Prevost	...	Major James Porter
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Dr Lionel Cloade
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Mrs Leadbetter
Pip Torrens	...	Jeremy Cloade

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Chilworth Manor, Chilworth, Guildford, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Granada Television

Trivia:

The title is from the words of Brutus in William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", which Poirot (in the novel) quotes: "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to Fortune". (Poirot is explaining "it is very Shakespearian".)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Poirot is at the inn examining the murder scene, the "dead" body can be seen breathing.

Quotes:

Hercule Poirot: This woman in the scarf, Madame: she was up the stairs or down?
Mrs. Leadbetter: She was scuttling down, having leeched the vital juices from your customer in number three.

"Poirot stands in awe!"

Here's a family so dysfunctional that it could have wandered in from one of Simenon's Maigret novels rather than Agatha Christie. The Cloade family are full of rather awful people and as usual the question is which one of them is going to end up face down on the library carpet.

Poirot isn't on stage for a lot of the middle of the story, but when he springs into action he makes up for it.

In retrospect, it's easy to point out some clues which are so obvious that we never noticed them. But then 'twas ever thus with Agatha Christie.

There are a couple of modern touches -- Christie would never have used the word "shit" or included casual references to homosexuality. But they do say every generation re-makes the classics anew.

As always with these made for TV movies, the period atmosphere looks wonderful.

I'm sure the 1930s weren't this agreeable in real life, but they look great here.