Dr Martin Pritchard

Dr Martin Arthur Pritchard is a non-canonical character created for the 1993 film adaptation of The Case of the Missing Will in Series 5 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. He is the physician of Andrew Marsh and later a suspect in his murder.

Some ten years before his death, Andrew Marsh had made a will in which some 75% of his estate would be left to the Ellen Fort Medical Foundation which Dr Pritchard is chairman of. As such when Marsh was murdered shortly after announcing that he intended to change his will, Pritchard was aware that he would be a prime suspect and so declared his interests to Poirot. Poirot was non-commital, reasoning that while he would have a motive to kill Marsh, he would not have a motive to steal the will which had gone missing.

Chief Inspector Japp, however, came to a different conclusion. After being summoned by Poirot, he searched the grounds where Marsh had been killed and found a empty phial of insulin whose serial number he traced to Pritchard's clinic. Japp had also met Pritchard before. Some 15 years earlier, Pritchard had run a "humanitarian group" in London which illegally assisted people in euthanasia. The police couldn't prove anything at that time but Japp reasoned that killing Marsh fell into the same category of action and so arrested Pritchard. He was presumably released at the end when Poirot exposed the real murderer.

Pritchard also made a contribution in finding the murderer. He told Poirot that he believed Andrew Marsh had a son. He suggested it might be this son might be Peter Baker the child of Andrew's housekeeper Margaret Baker since the two were fond of each other.

Martin Pritchard is portrayed by Richard Durden.