Agatha Christie letters reveal 'love-hate' of Poirot

1 hour ago

Emma Ruminski, BBC SW Arts reporter

John Suchet played Poirot in the 2004 TV adaption of The Hollow. Christie's letters reveal how she felt about the detective

ITV/Shutterstock John Suchet as Poirot. He is smartly dressed with a cream overcoat over his pinstripe suite and crisp white shirt with a burgundy bowtie. He is wearing a black hat and has his distinctive sharp moustache — John Suchet played Poirot in the 2004 TV adaption of The Hollow. Christie's letters reveal how she felt about the detective

Letters to be displayed in a new exhibition reveal crime writer Agatha Christie's love-hate relationship with her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

The letters, from a collection kept by Christie's agent, are being loaned to the British Library for the display to mark 50 years since the author's death.

The exhibition which opens later this month explores how Christie's own life influenced her characters and crime stories.

It includes letters which tell how Christie detested Poirot but needed the income from writing about him.

The exhibition comes as the BBC has announced actor Edward Bluemel will star as a 33-year-old Poirot in Hercule, a prequel studying the younger man behind Christie's detective.

The writer's letters are being loaned to the British Library from an archive of around 6,000 documents.

Novelist Agatha Christie with actor Anthony Holles as Hercule Poirot during the recording of a radio adaption of her work which debuted on the BBC in November 1937

Agatha Christie wearing a black hat and jacket with fur collar. Holles is wearing a tweed three piece suit with a bow tie. — Novelist Agatha Christie with actor Anthony Holles as Hercule Poirot during the recording of a radio adaption of her work which debuted on the BBC in November 1937

In one letter written in 1940 she talks about her feelings towards the Belgian detective who she had given a vain yet brilliant character and a distinctive walk.

University archivist Annie Price said Christie described Poirot as "insufferable" and said she only kept writing the novels because he was "her main source of income".

But Price said Christie sometimes changed her mind about the detective.

"In other letters within the collection you can really tell she feels quite protective over him and he's the one character she really never wanted to see on film, or on TV, or even on radio."

Sophie Defrance from the British Library agrees that at one point Christie was a bit fed up with the Belgian detective: "I guess she had a love-hate relationship with Poirot".

She added: "The interesting aspect of these letters from Exeter is we see what she actually thought of the adaptations of her work and it wasn't always very complementary."

Annie Price is one of the archivists at the University of Exeter's Special Collections Library who looks after some of Christie's letters

University of Exeter Annie smiles at the camera. She wears glasses and is surrounded by old leather bound books on shelves. — Annie Price is one of the archivists at the University of Exeter's Special Collections Library who looks after some of Christie's letters

The British library also borrowed a letter where Christie talks about Miss Marple 20 years later in 1960.

She described the character as one of her "favourite creations" and revealed she was unhappy a film company had swapped her into a story that originally featured Poirot.

Caroline Walter, head of Heritage Collections at the University of Exeter, said the exhibition was an opportunity for Christie fans to access some of the author's correspondence.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for an archive that hasn't necessarily been seen more broadly outside Exeter in recent years, to go on display to a wider audience, to really show the intrinsic part of Christie's legacy that is in the South West and is essential crime writing."

A cropped extract from a letter written in 1960 showing Christie's signature. It was written to Edmund Cork regarding a short story collection and her views on the inclusion of Three Blind Mice, also known as 'The Mousetrap'.

Courtesy of University of Exeter Special Collections © The Christie Archive Trust A beige piece of writing paper features the word 'Agatha' as a signature. — A cropped extract from a letter written in 1960 showing Christie's signature. It was written to Edmund Cork regarding a short story collection and her views on the inclusion of Three Blind Mice, also known as 'The Mousetrap'.

The British Library said it aimed to reveal the "person behind the cultural phenomenon that is Agatha Christie", taking visitors on a journey through her upbringing in Torquay, her interests, travels and how her work continues to be adapted for stage and screen.

Lead curator Lucy Rowland said: "This is the biggest exhibition held in the UK in almost 25 years to celebrate Christie's writing."

The library has borrowed around 200 items, including personal objects that have never been displayed before, to examine Christie's writing process and look at her impact on the crime fiction genre.

The National Trust, which looks after Christie's former holiday home Greenway in South Devon, has also loaned items to the British Library for the display.

Christie's great-grandson James Prichard, chief executive of Agatha Christie Limited, worked with the library on the exhibition.

It feels fitting to do this to help mark the 50th anniversary of her death," he said.