The riddle of Poirot’s doom
Helen Baxendale stars as Queen of Murder Mysteries as she kills her famous creation – then faces death too
Cold Feet actress Helen Baxendale plays Agatha Christie in this gripping featurelength drama.
Much of the story is clearly made up as a tribute to Agatha’s genius but the beginning is based on a real-life crisis for the famous author. “In 1940, Agatha was struggling to make ends meet,” said writer and executive producer Tom Dalton, who was also behind The Truth of Murder and The Curse of Ishtar. “But once she had written the novel depicting Poirot’s death (Curtain), she put it in a vault for publication following her death. “This seemed strange to me. Why write a book that would have sold like hot cakes and then, in your hour of financial need, not publish it? “It was this question that we set out to answer in this film.” And what a twist and turn packed tale is then told using the writer’s intriguing back story. We meet Agatha again at a moment when, despite her success, she is strapped for cash.
The taxman is demanding money and the American authorities are freezing her royalty payments.
But she plans to solve her financial problems by killing off her popular character Poirot and selling the book privately to a rich superfan, with the help of lovable rogue Travis Pickford (The Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison, who played Neil in the smash-hit comedy).
However, just as the deal is about to be made, an air-raid siren sounds, and Agatha, Travis and the twitchy buyer are escorted to the cellars in a nearby hotel to sit out the
Blitz attack. Here, they meet a very colourful group – from deserters to minor celebrities – who all have questionable reasons for being in a hotel during the black-out.
And Agatha begins to fear that not only will it be Poirot’s last adventure, it could be her own.
Helen, 50, who also famously played Ross’s wife Emily in Friends, said: “I just knew it would be good fun playing Agatha Christie.
“I had been in her dramas before – a Marple and a Poirot set in different eras – but obviously playing Christie herself is a whole other thing.
“What was really nice about filming this drama is that it is a real ensemble piece and the whole cast were there most of the time, which you don’t normally get on a TV set.”
Having most of the action filmed in a darkened cellar in an estate did take its toll on the actress, though.
She said: “Let’s just say it was nice to come out every evening and see the beautiful blue sky.
“I didn’t find it too oppressive. I felt it was right for what we were playing, which is great. But it was a bit mouldy and chilly.”