Stylish Television: Death On The Nile (2004)

Death on the Nile is one of the most iconic of all Agatha Christie novels, the deadly love triangle featuring a beautiful heiress, a handsome but penniless husband, and his jilted lover as all the ingredients that make the very best of murder mysteries. It has been filmed twice for the silver screen, both of the films being star studded affairs that feature great performances, beautiful settings and exquisite costumes. I have blogged about both of these other versions in a series of reviews (you can find the posts here, and here.) Today I turn my attention to the small screen version which featured David Suchet as Poirot, and actually had a little Hollywood glamour all of its own.

The star power is provided by the lovely Emily Blunt, here before her breakout role in The Devil Wears Prada, playing the very blonde heiress Linette Ridgeway. Linette is one of the most memorable of Agatha’s victims, the girl who really has it all – looks, more money than she knows what to do with and an idyllic lifestyle. Yet, when she chooses to get married, she chooses the one man who should be out of bounds, her best friend Jacqueline’s fiance, Simon. Jacqueline becomes the very epitome of the woman scorned, following the newly married couple on their honeymoon, a trip down the Nile. Hercule Poirot just happens to be on the same trip, and senses that this is a tinder box that will explode, which it does when Jacqueline shoots Simon in the leg on exactly the same night as Linette is murdered in her bed.

This is a sumptuous adaptation that has so much to recommend it. David Suchet is the definitive Poirot (although I do like both Kenneth Branagh and Peter Ustinov), and he is majestic here, as ever noticing things that us mere mortals would miss. Emily Blunt is great, as is her counterpart Jacqueline, as played by Emma Griffiths Malin, and I also loved Daisy Donovan as the put upon Cornelia Robson. Of course, as in all adaptations of this novel, it is the outrageous author Salome Otterbourne who totally steals the show. This role was tailor made for Frances De La Tour and she literally chews up the scenery, she is just hilarious.

The styling and costumes are just exquisite, particularly those worn by the two warring leading ladies. The style of the 1930’s is brilliantly recreated, leading to a wonderfully decadent atmosphere that permeates the whole production.

You can watch Death on the Nile on demand at ITVX.

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