Sagaspedia
Easter eggs
Hidden details in every movie and series: 63 in total. Tap a poster to see its eggs. Titles you haven't marked as seen stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- Behind the scenesMountbatten won Christie over
Christie didn't want to sell more rights after the 1960s adaptations, which she disliked. Lord Mountbatten helped the producers get her yes, and she ended up giving the film some grudging praise.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Oscar Bergman picked
Ingrid Bergman was offered Princess Dragomiroff but asked to play the shy Greta Ohlsson instead. The part won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe moustache didn't sell the author
Christie wrote that Poirot had the finest moustache in England. After the film, she complained that Albert Finney's didn't measure up.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesFinney skipped the Egyptian sun
Albert Finney didn't want to wear Poirot's heavy makeup again under the Egyptian heat. The producers cast Peter Ustinov, who debuts in the role here.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesAn Oscar for the costumes
Anthony Powell won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for the film. It was the second of his career.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo temples in one day
The film has Abu Simbel and Karnak visited on the same day. In real life the temples are about 480 km (300 miles) apart.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesMaggie Smith returns as someone else
Besides Ustinov, Maggie Smith and Jane Birkin come back from Death on the Nile, each playing a different character.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Adriatic island is Mallorca
The story moves from Devon to a made-up Adriatic kingdom. It was shot in Mallorca in May 1981, and the murder cove is Cala en Feliu on the Formentor Peninsula.
source ↗ - ReferenceA Cole Porter score
Instead of an original score, the film uses Cole Porter songs, arranged and conducted by John Lanchbery.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesUstinov's grandfather's hotel
Part of the film was shot at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. The hotel was founded in 1902 by Peter Ustinov's grandfather, Plato von Ustinov.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesFrom Petra to Jerusalem
The novel is set mostly in Petra, Jordan. Since the production company was based in Israel, the story moved to Jerusalem and Qumran.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBacall wanted to see Israel
Lauren Bacall took the part partly because it gave her a chance to visit Israel for the first time.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesRecommended by Christie's family
Agatha Christie's family suggested David Suchet after seeing him as Blott in Blott on the Landscape.
source ↗ - Behind the scenes93 notes on Poirot
Suchet read every novel and short story and copied out each description of the detective. He ended up with 93 notes that shaped Poirot's voice and quick, mincing walk.
source ↗ - CameoA face that comes back later
David Yelland shows up in Murder in the Mews as Charles Laverton West. The actor returns to the show later in a regular role.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesPeril at End House in two parts
The show's first feature-length story first aired in two parts. Later releases present it as a single episode of about 100 minutes.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe fourth theme won
Christopher Gunning wrote four themes for producer Brian Eastman, who chose the fourth after Gunning darkened its tone. The score won the 1990 BAFTA.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWhitehaven Mansions is real
The Art Deco building Poirot lives in is Florin Court, on Charterhouse Square in London.
source ↗
- ReferenceBack to 1917
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is set in 1917, one of the few exceptions in a show that lives between 1935 and 1939. It's Christie's first novel, from 1920.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe duo behind the first eight
Clive Exton adapted the pilot with producer Brian Eastman. The two wrote and produced the first eight series.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSuchet nearly quit
Back in the first series, Suchet nearly walked away over an argument about Poirot putting a handkerchief on a park bench. He said he had to become the character before shooting.
source ↗
- CameoChristopher Eccleston guest stars
Christopher Eccleston, a future Doctor Who, is in the cast of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesExton and the ABC
Clive Exton adapted seven novels and 14 short stories for the show. The ABC Murders, which opens this season, is one of them.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesNo Miss Lemon
Pauline Moran, who plays Miss Lemon, sat this series out. It's the only one of the first eight without her.
source ↗
- ReferenceYoung Poirot in Brussels
The Chocolate Box goes back to the early 1900s, when Poirot was still a policeman in Belgium. It's the case he tells as one of his failures.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe last batch of short episodes
This is the last series of roughly 50-minute episodes. From series 6 on, every case runs feature length, about 95 minutes.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe Yellow Iris became a novel
Christie reworked the plot of the short story The Yellow Iris into the novel Sparkling Cyanide (1945), minus Poirot.
source ↗
- CameoDamian Lewis before fame
Damian Lewis, of Band of Brothers and Homeland, shows up in Hickory Dickory Dock in 1995.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesFeature length from here on
From this series on, every episode is film length, about 95 minutes.
source ↗ - ReferencePoirot's second novel
The Murder on the Links, from 1923, was Christie's second Poirot novel, right after Styles.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesNearly four years off
Dumb Witness aired in March 1996. The show didn't return until January 2000, with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe best crime novel ever
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, from 1926, was voted the best crime novel ever by the UK's Crime Writers' Association in 2013.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesExton writes Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was adapted by Clive Exton, the writer who'd been with the show since the pilot.
source ↗
- CameoRussell Tovey at the hotel
Russell Tovey, of Being Human, is in the cast of Evil Under the Sun in 2001.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesEnd of the Exton and Eastman era
Clive Exton and Brian Eastman left after 2001 to make another mystery show, Rosemary & Thyme.
source ↗ - SetupSee you later, gang
It's the last series with Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon as regulars. This comes back later.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesPoirot gets darker
From series 9 on, the humor is dialed down and themes not in the books, like drugs and abortion, come in. The look gets darker, and Poirot moves to a bigger apartment.
source ↗ - CameoEmily Blunt on the Nile
Emily Blunt plays heiress Linnet Ridgeway in 2004's Death on the Nile. James Fox plays Colonel Race.
source ↗ - CameoAidan Gillen and Edward Fox
Aidan Gillen, Game of Thrones' Littlefinger, is in Five Little Pigs. Edward Fox, James's brother, plays the butler Gudgeon in The Hollow.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesEnter Ariadne Oliver
Zoë Wanamaker debuts this series as Ariadne Oliver, the crime novelist who works as a playful stand-in for Christie herself.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesGeorge, at last
Poirot's valet George was in the early books but left out of the early adaptations. David Yelland takes the part from here on.
source ↗ - CameoMichael Fassbender at the funeral
Michael Fassbender, just before breaking out with 300 and Shame, is in 2006's After the Funeral.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesEvery case before 65
In 2007, Suchet set out to film the whole Poirot canon before turning 65 in May 2011. He made it, just a bit later than planned.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesAn American co-producer
From 2008, Boston public broadcaster WGBH came on as a co-producer, all the way to the end in 2013.
source ↗ - ReferenceUstinov took this trip first
Appointment with Death had already been filmed in 1988, with Peter Ustinov as Poirot and Lauren Bacall in the cast.
source ↗
- CameoJessica Chastain and Toby Jones on board
ITV's 2010 Murder on the Orient Express has Jessica Chastain and Toby Jones among the passengers.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe train that waited for Christmas
Murder on the Orient Express was meant to open the series but was held for Christmas 2010. The Clocks got moved too and didn't air until December 2011.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe theme gets upbeat strings
Over the end credits of Hallowe'en Party and The Clocks, Christopher Gunning's theme plays in a brighter string arrangement.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesLast shot at Christie's house
Dead Man's Folly was the last episode filmed, in June 2013, at Greenway, Agatha Christie's former holiday home.
source ↗ - CameoThe gang's back
Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson and Pauline Moran return as Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon in The Big Four. Fraser is in Curtain too.
source ↗ - CameoSean Pertwee, 24 years later
Sean Pertwee was in The King of Clubs back in series 1 in 1989, and returns for Dead Man's Folly. The same episode features Tom Ellis, the future Lucifer.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesShot on 65mm, like Dunkirk
The film was shot on 65mm and shared some cameras with Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, which Branagh had just acted in.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesPfeiffer sings the finale
Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays Mrs. Hubbard, recorded the original song Never Forget for the film's finale.
source ↗ - SetupA note about the Nile
In the last scene, a British Army messenger hands Poirot a request: there's a death on the Nile to look into.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesEgypt, made in England
The plan was to shoot in Morocco, but it was all filmed in England at Longcross Studios. The boat and Abu Simbel were rebuilt there.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo years of delays
It was dated for December 2019, moved to October 2020, and with the pandemic finally opened in February 2022.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSalome's singing voice
When Salome Otterbourne sings at the club, the voice you hear comes from recordings by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mavis Staples.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesNo Patrick Doyle
The score is by Joker composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. It's the first film in the series not scored by Branagh regular Patrick Doyle.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesShooting began on Halloween
Filming started on October 31, 2022, in Venice and at Pinewood Studios.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA palace in miniature
The palazzo interiors were built at Pinewood. For shots of water slapping the palace, the crew built a one-third scale model in Reading.
source ↗
- CameoRupert Grint as the inspector
Rupert Grint, Harry Potter's Ron, plays Inspector Crome, who has zero patience for Poirot.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThree Christmas nights
BBC One aired the three episodes back to back, December 26 to 28, 2018. Sarah Phelps wrote it.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesYorkshire everywhere
Nearly everything was shot in Yorkshire, including the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Newby Hall, which plays the Churston mansion. Only the De La Warr Pavilion is actually in Bexhill.
source ↗
Locked. These details give away parts of the title. Mark it as seen to unlock.
Original text by Sagaspedia. Posters: The Movie Database (TMDB); character photos via Wikipedia. This site uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. All trademarks and titles mentioned belong to their respective owners. Streaming availability may change.
As an Amazon Associate, Sagaspedia earns from qualifying purchases.