Each segment of the documentary is introduced by Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games, The Devil Wears Prada), and the special starts off with Suchet preparing for the filming of one of the last episodes, "Curtain." While this is the last episode to air, and the last Poirot story written by Agatha Christie, the crew actually decided to film a different episode last in order to end their time with the character on a happier note.
During this behind-the-scenes segment, Suchet discusses everything from how he gets into character (the mustache is, of course, the key), to makeup, and practicing his lines on the drive to the set.
After that segment, Being Poirot follows Suchet as he returns to Greenway Estate in Devon, England. Suchet visited Agatha Christie's home when he was selected to portray Poirot. At that time, he met Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks, and they discussed how Suchet would play the role. One of the ideas that Hicks conveyed to Suchet, and something that apparently stuck with him over the 25-year run of the series, is that the audience should be "Smiling with him, not laughing at him."
During this visit at Greenway, Suchet meets Hick's son, and current protector of Christie's works, Matthew Prichard. The two men talk a good bit about Agatha Christie's writings, how she developed the character of Poirot and even various little details about the writer, the character and how Prichard feels she would have thought about Suchet's portrayal of Poirot.
Suchet also visits a museum dedicated to Christie, including a large section for the series. In fact, a lot of props from the show are on display at this museum, and before his visit ends, he gifts a special piece to the curators and meets up with an archivist by the name of John Curran who has studied Christie's journals and gives some interesting insight into the origins of the character and how Christie's feelings towards the Belgian had changed over the years.
Being Poirot also follows Suchet as he explores various real-world set locations and talks with composer Christopher Gunning, the man responsible for the iconic opening theme. He also goes to Brussels where he not only talks with a local crime writer, Stan Lauryssens, but also the Mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans. His time in Belgium also lets him get an idea for how the people feel about Poirot, both the character from the books and Suchet's portrayal of the man; he even gets to visit a town that claims to be Poirot's birthplace.
The documentary wraps up by focusing on two special episodes, "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Dead Man's Folly." The first, one of Christie's most famous Poirot stories, goes into depths regarding how Suchet and the crew wanted to remain faithful to the original work, and as a result, make it stand apart from the other film adaptations of the book. As for "Dead Man's Folly," this was the last episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot filmed and emotions are high as the final scenes are shot at Greenway Estates.
This documentary also comes with two special features. One is an interview with Prichard as he discusses everything from his grandmother's works, to her life, and even touching a bit on the play The Mousetrap. Of course, it also delves into the TV series itself. This half-hour long interview goes into a lot of detail and should be interesting for any Agatha Christie fan out there. The other special feature is an interview with Suchet as he goes into even more depths about many of the topics touched on in this documentary.
Faithful fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot should see this as an additional chapter in the series and should definitely add it to their collection. Given the 25-year-long process it's taken to produce every Poirot story, anyone who has worked their way through the show's 13 seasons will want to finish the series off with this final documentary.
