I enjoy radio plays, and frequently listen to them on my phone while I drive, work, or drift off to sleep. I only recently noticed Audible’s sleep timer feature, which is certainly useful for the latter.

This includes The New Adventures of Mike Hammer, Nero Wolfe (on the CBC), Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, Clive Merrison and John Stanley as Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Mistletoe Murders: And Hercule Poirot.

I enjoy audiobooks and listen to them all year long. They let me get to books I wouldn’t have time to sit down and read. And lets me re-visit favorites, easily.

But I quite like listening to a radio play. I’m fortunate that there are a couple dozen good Poirot ones. And John Moffatt’s are in my rotation all year long.

Of course, I wrote about David Suchet’s masterful performance on British TV. It was Suchet’s Poirot, and Maury Chaykin’s Nero Wolfe, which led me to read the stories they were based on. I cannot possibly imagine a better Poirot, ever.

I have gone in-depth on radio Poriot, here and here: I’ll talk about them below. But first, a bit of a surprisingly good radio Poirot.

Murder on the Links – Alfred Molina

I think Molina is most recognizable among the younger crowd (which I am NOT a part of), as Doc Ock in the Spider Man movies. He recently played Inspector Gamache in Three Pines – a very good Canadian miniseries which ABSOLUTELY deserved a second season.

There are eighteen novels by Louise Penny, and I’m still bummed it was canned after only one eight-episode story arc. It quite liked it. After watching it, I would really like to see Molina take a shot at Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret. I think Molina would do well in the part. I wrote about Rowan Atkinson’s (yeah, that guy!) solid Maigret, here.

Molina starred in a contemporary made-for-television version of Murder on the Orient Express, set in 2001. It’s not very well thought of. I don’t think the attempt to set it in current day worked at all. But a few decades later, Molina would get another shot at Poirot.

LA Theater Works produces wonderful radio plays, featuring some well-known, excellent actors. I have their 2008 version The Caine Mutiny Court Martial and listen to it multiple times a year (I mention the play in my post about one of Bogie’s best movies).

In 2021 they produced a version of Christie’s novel, The Murder on the Links. Surprisingly to me, Molina was cast as Poirot. The Big Bang Theory’s Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) is Captain Hastings.

In this novel, Poriot is summoned to France, and arrives to find his prospective client, murdered. The body was found on an unfinished golf course – thus, the title. This isn’t particularly one of my favorite Poirot stories. I do like the relationship between Suchet’s Poirot and snooty French Inspector Giraud. The TV show escalated what’s in the book, but it improved the story for me.

I think Molina is good as Poirot. I like John Moffatt better (though that is a VERY high bar). And I do think he could well be a better Maigret. But if you’ve only seen his Orient Express movie, I think you’ll have a higher opinion of him if you listen to this radio play. I like him.

I did not recognize Helberg, with his diction and British accent. Once I knew it was him, and I focused, I could hear it. But it’s not obvious. To me, at least.

Production values for LA Theater Works are top flight. They have produced some excellent plays. I’m a week late with this post, as this was the free weekly broadcast, last week!

I listen to this through Audible, and I like it. Give it a try.

 

ORSON WELLES

Yeah, that guy. You might think he’d be more suitable for Nero Wolfe than for Poirot. But Sydney Greenstreet was also gargantuan (you got that reference, if you’re a Wolfe fan) and he was a bad radio Wolfe.

Welles did a live radio drama series from 1938-1940, with one-hour adaptations of plays, novels, and movies. The Campbell Playhouse was a successor to his The Mercury Theater on the Air.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd aired November 12, 1939, produced by, and starring, Welles (he starred in every episode). Welles played Dr. James Sheppard, as well. Since he’s the narrator, this one really is all about Orson. It also featured Alan Napier, who played Sherlock Holmes on TV, but is best known as Alfred the Butler, to Adam West’s Batman.

There is an intro with the radio announcer talking with a grumpy Poirot. Then it moves into the story. This novel is considered one of her very best, and it certainly has some surprises in it. The script was written by Herman Mankiewicz, who in just a few years would co-write Citizen Kane, with Welles.

I find Welles annoying as heck as Poriot. He definitely has a Belgian/French accent. But I don’t enjoy listening to him. Which kinda ruins the play.

I recommend that people check out stuff I like. Including the other three radio plays/series, in this post. As for Welles – it’s worth listening to for a Poirot fan. But I don’t repeat this one.

 

JOHN MOFFATT

John Moffatt appeared in several episodes of Merrison’s Holmes series (the efforts of the talented Bert Coules), and had played Holmes himself in a BBC radio play. He was even Watson for twenty-four radio shows opposite Roy Marsden’s Holmes.

The BBC did a Poriot radio play with Maurice Denham, then one with Peter Sallis. But they struck gold when Moffatt took on the part for twenty-five of the original stories, and he is to the radio what Suchet is to the screen. He is a definitive Poirot. There a few different Hastings’; none particularly memorable. Philip Jackson, Suchet’s Inspector Japp, played the part on some of the shows, and I always like to hear him.

I prefer Hugh Fraser (Suchet’s onscreen Hastings) reading the audiobooks, to Suchet doing so. But I’d rather listen to a Moffatt radio play. All twenty-five are available, and I listen to them throughout the year. Mofatt also narrated the audiobook to Black Coffee, a novelization, based on a Poirot play written by Agatha Christie.

Peter Moffatt and Clive Merrison have brought us definitive radio versions of two great detectives. Would that someone would do the same for Nero Wolfe. The Mayer Moore Canadian series wasn’t bad, but not in this league. And Sidney Greenstreet? Not even remotely.

 

HAROLD HUBER

Huber, an American actor and entertainment entrepreneur, obtained the rights to Poirot for an American radio show. Agatha Christie’s Poirot debuted on February 2, 1945, featuring a live introduction from Christie, across the sea. Except, after about thirty seconds of silence, the announcer for the Mutual Broadcasting System explained that atmospheric conditions prevented the connection.

MBS did have the foresight to record a short-wave transmission from Christie earlier that day, and played that in place of her live appearance. Having Christie explain that Poirot was busy, so she would introduce the series, was a pretty neat move in those times LONG before cell phones and podcasts.

In the premiere, The Careless Victim, Poirot is looking for an apartment. An apartment in New York City, that is! Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp, Miss Lemon, and the other recurring characters in the stories didn’t make the ocean voyage, apparently. Inspector Stevens would serve as the police department’s primary character. Poirot makes the acquaintance of a Miss Abigail Thresher, at the same time he finds a body. He finds her intriguing, and she becomes his assistant at the end of the first show, filling the Hastings and Lemon roles. She’s kind of a feisty older lady, and she calls Poirot ‘chief.’

It’s not Canon, obviously. But it works. Poirot doesn’t go to Flatbush and fake a Brooklyn accent. Poirot still acts like Poirot. You don’t get Poirot at a country estate. Or walking through the mews. But I still feel like it’s Poirot while I listen to an episode. And that’s the point.

And what about Huber as Poirot? I’m a big Nero Wolfe fan. It took almost fifty years for a decent radio Wolfe. And that was a Canadian production starring Maver Moore. To this day, it’s not particularly well known. A few early attempts, including one starring Sidney Greenstreet (whose Wolfe was more Casper Gutman more than Rex Stout’s printed version), bore little resemblance to the character.

Such was not the case with Poirot. Huber’s impersonation is quite good, and I think he is much better than Albert Finney. His accent is spot on, and he conveys well the detective’s mannerisms and amusing ego. Listening to Huber is listening to Poirot, for me.

I wrote a lot more about the series, so click on over to that prior post. I find this an enjoyable listen.

 

TWO MORE POIROTS

In November of last year, Audible produced a new version of the first Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) plays the great detective. I’ve only listened to part of it so far, thus, it didn’t make this entry. At almost four hours, it’s a pretty long radio play. But I will do a post on it.

Might try to run down Audible’s 2017 Murder on the Orient Express, with Tom Conti starring.

Prior Poirot Posts (PPP!)

John Malkovich’s Poirot
Poirot’s The Hollow & Holmes
Talking About Poirot
Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express
John Moffatt as Poirot
Harold Huber as Poirot

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.