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Sparkling Cyanide (2003)

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Sparkling Cyanide is a television adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Sparkling Cyanide produced by ITV in 2003. Directed by Tristram Powell with script by Laura Lamson, the television film was first broadcast on ITV on 5 Oct 2003. The film is an adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie.

Synopsis[]

The basic premise of the original novel is retained: a glamourous woman dies during a dinner party, followed by another one shortly thereafter. The setting has been modernised with the events taking place in the early 2000s in London. The backstories (and occupations) of the lead characters have all been changed and the most significant change is that the lead investigators are now Colonel Geoffrey Reece (somewhat related to the Colonel Race in the original) and his wife, Dr Katherine Kendal. This partnership and the repartee between them is somewhat reminiscent of Tommy and Tuppence.

Comparison with original novel[]

The main premise invovlving two deaths at dinner parties is retained but the setting and context of the story is modernised and set in the early 2000s. The back stories of the main characters are mostly changed although they play the same role in the plot. The lead investigators are Col Geoffrey Reece (renamed from Col Johnnie Race) and his wife Dr Catherine Kendall (from the name, possibly a parallel of Chief Inspector Kemp). The story is mostly told from their point of view, unlike the original which centres around the perspective of Iris Marle.

The investigative methods also depart from the original in that far fewer witnesses are interviewed and many of the breakthroughs come from an examination of modern sources of evidence such as email, digital trails, and close-circuit TV footage, which is inevitable given the modern setting. Reece and Kendall are joined by their assistant Andy Hoffman, the "wizz kid" who supplies the electronic expertise.

  • The Anthony Browne parallel is Carl "Fizz" Fitgerald, a striker recently acquired by George Barton who owns a football team. The first dinner is actually to celebrate Fizz's debut. Like Anthony Browne, Fizz has a relationship with Iris Marle but in this case, Fizz plays almost no further role in the plot. He does not help in the investigation and is not present at the denouement.
  • Reece and Kendall are called in right at the beginning to investigate. Phillip McCain, a senior adviser of the Prime Minister, wants them to stay ahead of the press and warn him of any potential scandal because Stephen Farraday was also at the dinner.
  • Farraday has a backstory and plot role that is the least changed from the original. An ambitious politician with no connections except that which he gets from his wife Alexandra. In this case, his affair with Rosemary Barton is discovered not through "leopard" love letters but through an examination of the digital trail: a regular order of sushi from a restaurant on his credit card which delivers to an apartment rented by Rosemary. An autopsy also discovers that Rosemary had had an abortion just 10 days before her death.
  • Questioning of witnesses takes place in the regular way. The waiters in the nightclub are questioned (according to Kendall) but are not shown onscreen. There is a Chloe West character and she actually does show up at the second murder, but strangely she is not questioned.
  • Reece, Kendall and Hoffman are actually present at the second murder, watching from another table. Hoffman has bugged the conversation at Barton's table. They do see something but don't realise what they saw--only later Kendall and Reece would recall that Iris dropped her bag and a waiter had picked it up and placed it against the wrong champagne class. This realisation takes place after Reece replaces his grandson's toy robot against the wrong cup, and so someone else drank his tea--which had three lumps of sugar.
  • In this adaptation, Ruth Lessing does both of the murders by herself. There is no plot device of Drake disgusing himself as a waiter. Ruth poisons Rosemary's glass in a straightforward way (there is no scene involving switch of packets in the powder room). For the second murder, Ruth is misled because the waiter has put Iris's bag next to Barton's glass. So Ruth puts the poison into the glass that Barton would later use. Here the guests do not get misled into sitting one position clockwise because of the bag in the wrong position. They resume their original seats--Iris is shown dragging her bag from Barton's glass to her lap. It is Ruth who gets misled and puts the poison into the wrong glass.
  • There is no plot device of Iris finding a packet of cyanide in her bag, nor are is there an attempt to run Iris down with a car. In this adaptation, Ruth is actually reluctant to commit the second murder--she argues with Mark about this outside the night club (an event captured on CCTV). However Mark insisted and threatened to tell the police about her role in the first murder if she refuses. Ruth later confesses this to the investigators.
  • The ending deviates from the orginal. Here, Iris becomes frightened after the Reeces (after realising that the bag was placed against the wrong glass) warn her that she was the intended victim of Barton's murder. She goes to Mark's apartment for some company. Hoffman analyses street CCTV footage to break Mark Drake's alibi: he had indeed left his casino and gone to the nightclub before Barton's murder. CCTV footage showed him arguing with Ruth Lessing outside. Again, using CCTV footage, they track Iris to Mark's apartment. Realising that she is in danger, the Reeces rush to Mark's apartment with the police.
  • Ruth is at Mark's apartment when Iris arrives. Mark tells Ruth to hide away while he talks to Iris. However when Mark offers Iris a cup of tea, Ruth bursts out and tells Iris not to drink it. Their plot is now busted. Mark tells Ruth they need to stage a suicide for Iris, He drags her out of the room but Ruth separates the two at the door, closes the door against Mark who is outside and tells Iris to run out through the window/fire escape. Mark breaks back in and pursues Iris down the fire escape into the passageway. He almost catches her but the Reeces and the police arrive and take Mark into custody.
  • In this adaptation, the Tony Brown parallel "Fizz" Fitzgerard plays almost no plot role. He has a relationship going with Iris and they are going to marry. However he is a footballer and takes no part at all in the investigation. At the end, when Iris is frightened, she thinks Fizz will protect her but she called him and only got a recorded message. That's why she ended up calling Mark Drake and going to his apartment instead. Nonetheless she doesn't not hold it against Fizz and they do decide to get married at the end.

Cast[]

Filming locations[]

  • 1 Whitehall Place, Westminster, Greater London, England, UK as Alexandra Farraday's legal chambers
  • Fulham Public Mortuary - West London Mortuary where Barlow works. As Catherine enters, the Imperial Wharf development can be seen behind her.
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