Agatha and the Midnight Murders

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source: Agatha and the Midnight Murders

Awful! I'd have thought the estate would have had to have given permission for Christie's name to be used, but clearly not. Can't even say it was so bad that at least it gave me a laugh. It was torture. OK I watched it recorded on TV, so could fast forward a few bits to see if it improved any, but after 2/3rds scrolled through till last 5 minutes. Helen Baxendale - I hope you got very well paid. Plot - dialogue - phony accents; it portrayed several different nationalities in pretty horrific stereotypes, (including English toffs) but not it seemed in comic fashion a la Borat. Aaaahhhhh!

This would have made a better stage production with it's minimal set. Helen Baxendale and Blake Harrison (who was so good in Prime Suspect 73) made the best of a not so good script. Jodie McNee as the 'Police Woman' over acted and made her character unbelievable so I was suspicious of her from the start. Another give away was the so called air raid, sirens only go before and after a raid, not during a raid as happened when both the the policewoman and Travis were out of the room. It was also a very quiet air raid, even in a cellar it would have been heard, especially if you hear the siren, which would be a lot quieter. Another give away was when Jun was murdered and Travis was left alive, why would the killer leave a witness? So he had to be in on it. I still found it enjoyable even if it was a bit predictable

I'll give points for the idea, because they could have actually gone somewhere with this storyline. Instead what we got was an uninspiring mess with flaccid characters and an uneven plot. It made it far too obvious who the villain was, you didn't even have to guess. It was just awful. Poor Agatha, they did her dirty. Poor woman must be turning in her grave.

Tom Dalton strikes again, giving us another installment of Agatha Christie, albeit another work of fiction. First point, without there being an Agatha Christie scheduled for Christmas, it's a shame they didn't save this one up until the festive season, a miserable Wednesday night in October was bizarre scheduling, meaning this drama will perhaps go unnoticed. In truth, I think it may have been a bit more enjoyable, had I been three sheets to the wind with Christmas port. The story was a bit odd, but it was Agatha Christie herself who was so off, we've had two different interpretations of her previously, Marshall and Bradley, this time Helen Baxendale. Baxendale is an excellent actress, and performs particularly well, it was a very good performance, the problem was more so the material she's working with, Christie was portrayed as a somewhat devious, conniving character, I'm not sure anyone believes that about her. I'm glad they're still making them, I enjoyed the last two, this one is pretty good, I thought the first half was pretty poor, but the second half was much, much better. If you can stick with it, the ending is rewarding, it's better with a second watch. 6/10.

More than a little muddled, poorly acted and with rather a lot of bad language not typical of the period in which it is set.

Anachronistic dialogue (e.g. "Never rub another man's rhubarb" from Batman (1989)), poor acting and accents, ridiculous plot twists and character changes, an unbelievable background - Agatha Christie selling a manuscript to a gangster businessman because she's bankrupt - and, finally, Agatha herself finishing off by finishing someone off. I remember seeing plays in the 70s which were 'provocative' and had wild 'modern' dialogue and people sneering at other people to show dominance. These stories also did not belong in the real world. Swearing isn't clever, funny, strong, necessary or shocking. Basically unbelievable characters in an unbelievable plot saying unbelievable things. Stage a Christie story in modern, or wartime, setting and you'd potentially have a classic. Putting Christie in this is an insult to fans and family. If you have an opportunity to see this, miss it.

I seriously think that the release of this film should be regarded as a crime, I wonder how many people wasted 90 minutes of their life watching this utter dross.

I love all Agatha Christie's tv shows and most of the movies and was so excited about watching this but is so bad I fell asleep. There is no real story and the dialogue is just awful also didn't like any of the characters.