ABSTRACT
Former Director of Global Distribution at ITV Studios, Tobi de Graaf describes Poirot as just the kind of programme international buyers want because it represents a ‘safe bet’ (Fry, 2009). This chapter explores why Poirot represents a ‘safe bet’ for programmers in Britain and its biggest export market, the United States. In tandem with analyses of key themes in a selection of episodes, and the style in which Christie’s stories have been adapted, I explore Poirot within the context of the English Heritage industry. I consider how the programme’s success relates to the export of a nostalgic brand of Englishness and what this reveals about shared values between England and America in a cultural and ideological sense. Although much recent critical attention (including in this volume) focuses on novel treatments of the crime genre, Poirot exemplifies how some of the most popular and profitable examples are mainstream and fit within the conservative period mystery genre.
