Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, Helen Baxendale, Anne Reid, Matthew McNulty, Shaun Dingwall, Philip Glenister, Anna Madeley, Claire Keelen, John Standing, Alice Orr-Ewing, Aiden McArdle, Adam Englander, Gregory Cox.
The last post is played, Poirot has died. Not before though the Belgian solves his last murder before it has even happened as the pace of this special, Curtain: Poirot’s Final Case goes deeper and darker than has been alluded to before, with the greatest of exceptions to the Poirot story of them all, Murder On The Orient Express.
Since 1989 David Suchet has been the ultimate Poirot, his charm and keen eye never once wavering to the letter of the law, a law that as he says, if should fall must be held higher the next time. That doesn’t stop Poirot though breaking his own high values in terms of the greater good and perhaps in this final story, the viewer is left with the fact that the greatest detective can also be the greatest master mind when it comes to the foulest of deeds, murder.
The psychological angle in which Curtain gets drawn across is chilling. A murder not done out of pent up revenge, a taste for money or even the act of love but just for the sheer enjoyment of seeing it done and the devastation it creates is one that even sends a shudder down the infirm and ailing body of Hercule Poirot. In that respect and with the man knowing that he is not long for the world, he asks for forgiveness to his God and then sets a trap in which the perfect murder can be arranged. This is Agatha Christie at her most powerful and most unsettling.
There is something of the showman in Poirot that does not appear in many of the great detectives, the consummate actor in the body of a professional detective. It is this art of subterfuge in which he is able to gather the information he needs and then confront the murderer. Even to the end, Poirot plays a game that even his greatest friend Captain Hastings, portrayed once more and perhaps fittingly with a zest of anger within him, the great Hugh Fraser, cannot see happening before his very eyes.
No matter who your favourite television detective is, when they pass on, there suddenly appears a hole. Morse left many viewers distraught when he collapsed in his beloved Oxford, so the same effect will surely be felt by avid viewers who have taken this beacon of integrity to their hearts.
With a great cast, including the superb Helen Baxendale, Shaun Dingwall, the ever popular Philip Glenister and the wonderful Anna Reid, all giving superb performances for the final ever story, it is no wonder that the story flowed deliciously and with great purpose.
There have been many great detectives, the aforementioned Morse, Sherlock Holmes, Rebus, Alex Cross but there will only ever be one Hercule Poirot, there will only ever be one to play him as completely and as with much enjoyment, the man who made it one of the best detective series of all time, David Suchet.
Ian D. Hall