One of the longest running, most beloved British television programs to air on PBS, “Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot,” returns this summer with three new episodes. The series, which debuted in 1989, has been adrift in recent years, helmed by different writers and directors, some of them trying to locate the debonair Belgian detective in the heart of darkness.
The new episodes are closer in tone to the earlier seasons, even if they lack the quirky signature music and Poirot's endearing associates, Captain Hastings, Miss Lemon and Chief Inspector Japp. Dominating the proceedings is one of the U.K.'s great unsung actors, David Suchet, whose sad-eyed countenance and fidelity to a particular vision of his character have eclipsed all previous portrayals of Poirot. The little Belgian with the spats and walking stick will long be identified with Suchet.
As always, the screenwriters must depend on the convolutions of Agatha Christie's plots, which often resemble puzzles assembled from arbitrarily carved pieces. The pleasure derived from this series has less to do with guessing the murderer than the Merchant-Ivory perfect settings furnished with lavish attention to the Art Deco world Poirot inhabits. Many talented and familiar British actors fill the smaller roles, including Art Malik (“The Jewel in the Crown”) and Zoe Wanamaker (from the Harry Potter series).
8 p.m., June 19, June 26 and July 3, Milwaukee Public Television.
