Taken at the Flood

The complexity, acting, direction and production of this 2-hour episode of the Poirot series, starring David Suchet, are superb. If you are a fan of the Poirot series, you will be amazed at what has been achieved here. The supporting actors are excellent, and far more skilled than the "usual, pleasant Poirot" series.

In this episode, we see a flashback to a horrific gas explosion, tearing apart the lives of many of the Cloade clan. The only survivors include the hated wife of the patriarch of the clan, and her brother.

Layer upon layer of secrets, several murders and a suicide thoroughly twist us around and around in the screenwriter's capable hands.

I might even venture to say that, gasp, this episode rises to the heights of Inspector Morse!

The best ever Poirot, by far!

I have to admit to never having read the book for this one. I've listened to the BBC Drama audio version, which was great, but I'd only heard once.

So it was good to sit down and watch this without knowing the whole story and wondering where it might all be leading. I remembered certain plot elements and I did realise who the murderer was, but this was extremely cleverly plotted and I hope kept (or will keep) everyone guessing.

Some fine performances, as usual, from the pick of TV, film and theatre's best.

And Agatha Christie, whatever her background, really had a way of creating some characters that didn't just kill out of an 'obvious' motive, but out of a true coldness and evil. That's maybe the most frightening thing of all.

I'd also like to say regarding the two-hour slots for these episodes that I also believe Poirot is one of the best at filling the whole time with interest. So many of the normal one-hour shows now try to create a film-length episode and you're sitting there longing for the next ad break so there'll be something good to watch!

Once again proving that Suchet IS Poirot, another masterclass in crime drama, which further dispelled my fears that the movie-length mysteries were becoming tired and flat. This was far from that, not even sagging in the middle like some earlier attempts to fill out 2 hours. A villainous character who can't possibly be the murderer but turns out to be guilty of something far worse, another spectacular example of false identity (reminsicent of the previous "After the Funeral" where we realise no one has actually ever been introduced to a certain character and so cannot honestly identify them) and a wonderful supporting cast including legends Jenny Agutter, Liz Spriggs, Patrick Baladi and the marvellous Celia Imrie.
Poirot is seen once again languishing in his Whitehaven apartment, if only they'd dropped in a hint of where Ms. Lemon, Hastings or Japp were, then this would have been perfectly at home alongside the one hour format.