"Agatha Christie: Poirot" Death on the Nile (2004)

Director:

Andy Wilson

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Kevin Elyot (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

12 April 2004 (Season 9, Episode 3)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

A wealthy British heiress honeymooning on a Nile cruise ship is stalked by a former friend, whose boyfriend she had stolen before making him her new husband.

Plot Keywords:

Egypt | Hercule Poirot | Murder | Detective | French Maid

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
James Fox	...	Colonel Race
Emma Griffiths Malin	...	Jacqueline De Bellefort (as Emma Malin)
JJ Feild	...	Simon Doyle
Emily Blunt	...	Linnet Ridgeway
Judy Parfitt	...	Miss Van Schuyler
Daisy Donovan	...	Cornelia Robson
Barbara Flynn	...	Mrs. Allerton
Daniel Lapaine	...	Tim Allerton
David Soul	...	Andrew Pennington
Frances de la Tour	...	Salome Otterbourne (as Frances De La Tour)
Zoe Telford	...	Rosalie Otterbourne
Alastair Mackenzie	...	Mr.Ferguson
Steve Pemberton	...	Dr. Bessner
George Yiasoumi	...	Cruise Manager
Elodie Kendall	...	Joanna Southwood
Félicité Du Jeu	...	Louise Bourget

Directed by
Andy Wilson

Writing credits
Agatha Christie		(novel "Death on the Nile")
Kevin Elyot		(screenplay)

Produced by
Michele Buck	....	executive producer
Phil Clymer	....	executive producer
Delia Fine	....	executive producer
Leila Kirkpatrick	....	line producer
Fiona McGuire	....	executive producer
Margaret Mitchell	....	producer
Emilio Nunez	....	supervising producer
David Suchet	....	associate producer
Damien Timmer	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Christopher Gunning

Cinematography by
Martin Fuhrer		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
John Mayes

Casting by
Maureen Duff
Gail Stevens

Production Design by
Michael Pickwoad

Art Direction by
Malcolm Stone

Makeup Department
Carli Mather	....	makeup artist
Sian Turner	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Giles Butler	....	second assistant director
Robert Fabbri	....	first assistant director
Jessica Hurles-Laws	....	third assistant director (as Jessica Hurles)

Art Department
Dougie Lankston	....	dressing prop/storeman

Sound Department
Tony Jackson	....	sound recordist
Mike Reardon	....	boom operator
Charlotte Gray	....	sound trainee (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Melissa Butler Adams	....	digital compositor
Alan Church	....	visual effects supervision
Adam Gascoyne	....	effects compositing supervisor
Simon Giles	....	visual effects supervision
Simon Hughes	....	digital compositor: CLEAR
David J. Zimmerman	....	data operator: CLEAR

Stunts
Ray Donn	....	stunt double: David Suchet

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Green	....	focus puller
Phil Penfold	....	best boy

Casting Department
William Davies	....	casting assistant
Claire Saunders	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jason Gill	....	costume assistant (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Anya Dillon	....	assistant editor
Simon Giblin	....	on-line editor
Judd Watts	....	post-production facilities coordinator: Pepper (as Oly Watts)

Other crew
Emily Chittell	....	production assistant
Elton Farla	....	unit medic
Maureen O'Farrell	....	choreographer
Sami Rafe	....	location manager: Egypt
Lawrence Stevens	....	floor runner
Derek Wax	....	script executive

Sound Department
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Leonie Barker	....	wardrobe mistress

Other crew
Mark Albela	....	location manager
Daren Thomas	....	location runner

Production Companies

• A&E Television Networks
• London Weekend Television (LWT)
• Granada Television
• Chorion
• Agatha Christie
• Carnival Films

Distributors

• London Weekend Television (LWT) (2004) (UK) (TV)
• Granada Media (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• A&E Television Networks (2004) (USA) (TV)
• A&E Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• New Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Malavasi Editore (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• RTL Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing) (RTL8)

Other Companies

• Pepper Post Production  post-production facilities

Runtime:

Finland:98 min | USA:97 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Netherlands:6 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Eltham Palace, Court Road, Eltham, London, England, UK

Company:

A&E Television Networks

Trivia:

The cruiser Karnak used in this production is the same cruiser used in the 1978 film version, Death on the Nile (1978).

Quotes:

Hercule Poirot: Do not open your heart to evil, mademoiselle. If you do there will be no turning back.

Movie Connections:

Version of Death on the Nile (1978)

The Boat

This is one of Christie's most popular mysteries because it works with the "impossible murder." Its also an exotic way to manage the remote country house idea, where you know exactly how many suspects there are and can map their movements within the structure.

If you aren't unhappy with the others in the Suchet series, you won't be unhappy with this. Generally, they've settled the stories into a simple BBC model, with the answer revealed at the end instead of displayed as a puzzle.

This one is worse in that regard, because this story is more of a puzzle than the others. And they go much further in telling you who the villains are even before the story itself begins.

But what'll be interesting to students of film is the way the space is used. Despite the flaws of the 1978 version, it understood that the structure of the space is a part of the puzzle. People coming and going, being seen, being heard. This version and that use the very same boat, but the difference in how things are photographed is radically different.

Its partly a matter of cost. The TeeVee budget could pay for location shots, but when they use the boat, they have to work with the physical limits of where they can put the camera. The 78 version made a studio copy of much of the boat. It had a real cinematographer — we're talking "Red Shoes" and African Queen" — and knew something about how space constrains emotional vision.

So quite apart from whatever problems you might have with BBC handle of an entire genre, and Suchet's sensibilities, there's this business about space that just might drive you crazy if you know how well it can be done.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.