The Hollow

Just after having moved into his new cottage in the English country, Hercule Poirot gets an invitation to dinner from Sir Henry and Lady Angkatell, the owners of a large mansion nearby. But the next day, one of the guests is found shot near the pool, and his clumsy wife is holding a revolver a few steps away....

This Agatha Christie mystery is somewhat thin, though the killer's plan is still very clever. It's the exquisite filming and cinematography that elevate the story to a higher level. This episode mostly keeps the serious tone of "Five Little Pigs" and "Sad Cypress", but contains more dark humor than them. The cast includes possibly the two most famous actors to have worked in the series by this point, Edward Fox (as the butler) and Sarah Miles (as Lady Angkatell), though the standout performance is given by the dazzlingly beautiful Megan Dodds as the ahead-of-her-time Henrietta: her one-on-one confrontations with Suchet sparkle and are the highlights of the film. Oh, and since an English police inspector does get involved in the case, I think they could have brought Philip Jackson back for this one. (***)

I hadn't read the book for a couple of months prior to seeing this, but while I enjoyed it I never considered it a favourite. While not the best Poirot, The Hollow is a rock solid adaptation, and is remarkably true to the book. Midge and Edward's relationship development is a little too out of the blue, my only criticism of the adaptation, but I loved the Hollow's serious and dark tone while maintaining some dark, subtle humour too. The story does have moments when it is thin, but it is still involving and suspenseful, and standout scenes have to be the face to face confrontations between Henrietta and Poirot and of course the final solution. The adaptation is exquisite to watch with terrific production values, and the music is a nice touch. The acting is excellent as per usual, David Suchet is impeccable as the eccentric Poirot, while Megan Dodds is breathtakingly-beautiful as Henrietta, Jonathan Cake is suitably loathsome as John Cristow and Sherlock Holmes's Edward Hardwicke is an inspired piece of casting as Sir Henry. Overall, a solid adaptation and wonderful to watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox

David Suchet is the perfect Poirot. This tale is a love triangle-quadrangle... A prestigious doctor has been cheating on his dowdy wife for years. Then an old girlfriend arrives at a country house weekend. Which one of his paramours will be his downfall? Or is someone else the killer? Sad because of the genuine feelings so many have for this man, who seems to treat them all lovingly, but also cavalierly. Poirot is able to delve through the clues and determine the killer. Great location and setting.

I really love the book and the TV adaptation is truthful and is nearly perfect in how I imagined the characters and the settings. The casting was perfect overall, only Sarah Miles as Lady Angkatell was terribly miscast. I loved Lucy Angkatell in the book, she is a very original character, airy, charming, elegant, etc. Sarah Miles´ lady Angkatell was like (and looked like) a mad housekeeper. No charm, no lightness, no elegance, heavy-handed. When the story started and she wandered into Midge´s room in the morning, I was horrified and said: THIS cant be Lucy Angkatell, no way. Unfortunately, she was. She really looked like a house-keeper or a mad relative you keep in your home out of pity. No elegance, no charm, no wit. Awful casting.

I liked the others (the actors who portrayed the characters), Edward was perfect, just how I imagined him. Henrietta was ok, and Veronica Cry was proper hollywood-type beautiful. Midge was good, Gerda was perfection. Gudgeon was really good, but too young, I imagined him older a bit.

I liked the settings, but more the outdoor country than the inside.

I enjoyed this adaptation as the book is one of my favorites. David Suchet as Poirot is the best, altough he was not pivotal to the story. As someone mentioned, this is more of a drama than a detective story.

Poirot comes upon a tableau of women around a recently shot doctor, who dies at his feet. Has he come upon a murder or a conspiracy?

He is hampered by a challenging young artist, pretty but snarky, who seems to have taken against Poirot from the get-go and brazenly tosses the murder weapon on the swimming pool.

Once again, the series is able to draw an impressive cast including Edward Hardwicke and Sarah Miles, the latter whose scatty non sequiturs provide much of the episode's entertainment. But having recently watched, once again, "The Day of the Jackal," it's disappointing to see Edward Fox (whose brother James appeared as Colonel Race in "Death on the Nile") reduced to the mysterious butler.

Just when you want to bail on "Poirot" a first-class episode like this one comes along. I haven't read the book so I can't testify as to its accuracy but it's well-crafted all the same.