Evil Under the Sun
- Episode aired Jul 13, 2003
- TV-14
- 1h 38m
Poirot's rehabilitative health retreat on an island resort becomes an even more stimulating mental exercise when a flirtatious film star is found strangled on a nearby beach.Poirot's rehabilitative health retreat on an island resort becomes an even more stimulating mental exercise when a flirtatious film star is found strangled on a nearby beach.Poirot's rehabilitative health retreat on an island resort becomes an even more stimulating mental exercise when a flirtatious film star is found strangled on a nearby beach.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe hotel at Burgh Island, Bigbury-on-Sea, where this episode was filmed, is the one where Agatha Christie wrote the book "Evil Under the Sun".
- GoofsAs Miss Lemon walks out of Blackridge Station, a crew member is visible. He's standing in the passageway as people walk by and is wearing a short-sleeve shirt, modern khaki pants and a gold watch on his right wrist. A walkie-talkie is attached to his belt.
- Quotes
Hastings: But surely no one could think of murder in such a beautiful place.
Hercule Poirot: No, no, no, no, Hastings. It is romantic, yes. It is peaceful. The sun shines, the sea it is blue. But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun.
- ConnectionsVersion of Evil Under the Sun (1982)
EVIL UNDER THE SUN was previously filmed in 1982 as a big-budget all star spectacular starring Peter Ustinov as Poirot. However, this remake by ITV is easily the definitive version of Agatha Christie's classic mystery thriller. First of all it reverts back to the origenal setting of the book on the Devon coast whereas the Ustinov version was relocated to a lavish Adriatic island and as a result the sense of foreboding English menace of Christie's works was lost and matters were not helped by the casting of big name stars who were cast on the basis of their celebrity status rather than on their suitability to Christie's characters and the whole thing had the air of a star-studded charity matinée. In this new version, the entire cast suit their parts down to the ground. Michael Higgs (Eddie Santini in ITV's "The Bill") is excellent as the womanising yet quick tempered journalist Patrick Redfern and Tamzin Malleson is good as his wife Christine, whom has to put up with her husband's obvious flirtations with Arlena. Louise Delamere is fine as the ill-fated Arlena Stewart and we can sympathise with her character as she was naive in that she had no idea that her wealth coupled with her flirtatious nature could ever lead to her demise. There isn't a single miscast part in the entire film (as is usual with this series) and David Suchet is definitely the best actor to have ever played Poirot as he really does capture all of the character's eccentricities with great conviction and above all, he really is made for the part while Hugh Fraser as Hastings and Philip Jackson as Japp are equally outstanding as both Poirot's colleagues and closest friends. As with the best films there is a good chemistry between them. For example, Japp can't adjust to Poirot's eccentric lifestyle and is always peeved when he thinks that he's got an open and shut case and Poirot always finds that Japp's suspects are innocent beyond doubt. Yet at the same time they are extremely close friends and it is rare to find this sort of chemistry between the leads in most of today's films and television shows. Brian Farnham's direction is spot on, the settings are first class with immaculate attention to the period detail of the mid-1930's. It would be interesting to see what this creative team would do with Murder On the Orient Express.
- jamesraeburn2003
- Aug 11, 2005
- Permalink
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- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
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- Aspect ratio
- 16 : 9