ROLE REPLAY: Hercule Poirot

In Murder On The Orient Express (8pm, Sky Premiere), Kenneth Branagh became the latest actor to play Agatha Christie’s sleuth. Here, we look at how others interpreted the role…

Albert Finney While Charles Laughton was the first to portray Poirot on stage in the West End (in Alibi, in 1928) and Austin Trevor played him in three thrillers between 1931-34, it was Finney, in 1974’s Murder On The Orient Express, who earned great acclaim and an Oscar nomination as Poirot. Peter Ustinov Over ten years, Ustinov played Poirot in three feature films – Death On The Nile (1978), Evil Under The Sun (1982) and Appointment With Death (1988) – and in three TV movies in the mid-1980s. In the first of the latter, Thirteen At Dinner (1985), Poirot’s Scotland Yard sidekick, Inspector Japp, was played by none other than David Suchet… David Suchet The definitive interpreter of the character, Suchet (centre) took the lead in 70 episodes of ITV’s Agatha Christie’s Poirot

(1989-2013), adapted from every major work in which the sleuth appeared, from novels to short stories. While Christie’s daughter had thought Ustinov wasn’t right in the role, she told Suchet that her mother would have approved of him. John Malkovich In a casting coup that could prove either brilliant or bonkers, the offbeat Hollywood star will be taking the lead in an upcoming BBC production of The ABC Murders.

Kevin McNally is his Inspector Japp in a starry three-part mystery that is set for release at Christmas.