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David Suchet is back playing Poirot
By Amira Hashish, Evening Standard Last updated at 09:42am on 18.11.09After 21 years playing super-sleuth Hercule Poirot, David Suchet returns with one of Agatha Christie's best-known works.
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Filming began this week for the television adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express and it will be the 65th time Suchet has sported the Belgian's famous upturned moustache.
Today, ITV announced an all-star cast including BAFTA award-winning Dame Eileen Atkins, Samuel West, Hugh Bonneville and Barbara Hershey.
The globe-trotting tale follows the detective's fateful journey from Istanbul to Belgrade, where he is called upon to solve the murder of ruthless American businessman Samuel Ratchett.
With the train stranded by a snow drift and a dozen international suspects, including English Colonel John Arbuthnot, Hungarian diplomat Count Andrenyi and Princess Dragomiroff, Poirot has to unravel the motives in one of his most puzzling cases.
Producer Karen Thrussell said: "We're all incredibly delighted that 21 years after David Suchet first played Hercule Poirot he is now starring in arguably the most ingenious and best loved Agatha Christie title of all time."
Murder On The Orient Express will be filmed on location in London and Malta and there is no date set for its broadcast.
The popular novel, first published in 1934, was made into a film in 1974 with Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall and Sean Connery.
Suchet has just finished making four other upcoming Poirot films for ITV, including Appointment with Death, The Clocks, Three Act Tragedy and Hallowe'en Party.
