Five Little Pigs: And Then Everything Changed - Movie Review (Agatha Christie's Poirot) 

Five Little Pigs remains one of my favourite of the many Poirot stories, both as a novel and as a television adaptation - that never fails to move me.

I loved the novel and was very impressed with this adaptation. It seemed more like a movie than a serial television show.

This was the one that hooked me. Never managed to get into the series with the regular cast but the movies were beautiful and entertaining.

I love five little pigs but sometimes find it difficult to watch because it’s so sad 💔

03:18 They seemed vital to me. They conveyed how the past remains vividly alive in memory, not just Poirot's client but others as well. But also, that memories slip away. The older a memory, the more indistinct. 06:38 The governess also seemed to me more strained, carrying (as she believes) a terrible secret. In fact I thought the show made it oh so vividly clear how everyone's life was blighted by the murder. To kill one person is to do more than end one life, but also shatter the lives around them. Such was an important theme explored in POIROT. 06:52 Amyas is NOT her father. He is her brother in law. 09:41 Totally disagree. That gives us a real glimpse of what what truly going on between the two--the way they interacted, even at genuinely intimate moments. 09:59 Honestly, I thought this made so much more sense than Phillip in the book. That all three men were in love with Caroline was a bit much, and frankly I didn't really believe much in the book's Phillip. But this version...! I loved the nuances therein, not least that he's not only in deep mourning over the person he loved, but feels deeply guilty because he liked Caroline, regarded her as one of his best friends, has never gotten over the shock and betrayal. Now, at the end, to learn the truth was such a deep further shock to his system...! And it made his feelings about that household parallel that of the daughter, the beloved golden time when he could visit his favorite people on Earth. It was startlingly fine improvement! 10:57 Again, this struck me as an improvement. The daughter's entire past was poisoned, and Poirot restored it to her. While having her threaten to kill Elsa not only made the climax more dramatic, it emphasized just how wretched Elsa was in that she tried to goad her into doing it, and how very different the daughter really was--she was no killer, nowhere near so selfish. She wanted the parents of her memories back. And she got them. I found that far more moving than (frankly very stupid) worries about homocidal tendencies when we are ALL related murderers, geniuses, perverts, and saints. In the book she's just intensely curious and prejudiced, with no strong emotional factor at all. Personally I regard this as THE best Poirot episode.

I love both the book and the adaptation. It's one of the most underrated Poirot stories in my view. The music used for the adaptation - both the Gnossienne No.1 piece by Erik Satie and the original music by Christopher Gunning - were outstanding and fitted the production perfectly. I agree with your points about the plot changes. The big disappointment for me was that the adaptation didn't use the big clue provided by Crale's painting. In the book, Poirot know the solution as soon as he saw it. A shame they couldn't find a way to portray that.

I don't mind the changes they made. I think it is an absolutely beautiful adaptation. Interesting review.

this is an interesting episode. Toby Stephens is the son of Maggie Smith who was in Two of the Ustinov Poirot movies(Evil under the Sun and Death on the Nile), Rachael Stirling is the daughter of Diana Rigg who was also in Evil under the Sun and Talula Riley was in The Moving Finger episode of Marple.

Absolutely my favourite reviewer, thanks so much esp for the Poirot episodes. Any chance of you reviewing the 1965 version of 10 Little Indians?

The Toby Stephens character was more plausible to me with the change. I agree though that the book ending is better.

Another great review! Thanks!

This was the only episode of the "new" Poirot that I really liked. I have always been curious to know how David Suchet felt about the change. What did he like better - the lighter, more humorous earlier episodes or the later darker, edgier, more sexual ones? Does anyone know?