--- description: Plus: the exclusive premiere of a trailer for the final season of Agatha Christie's Poirot title: Agatha Christie's Poirot David Suchet: Final Season Begins in U.S. image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bc00c2855511a84/69869cf13bc999b4621a4a88/agatha-christies-poirot-series-13_acorn-tv_curtain_352.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Same Man Has Played Detective Poirot for 25 Years, But Now He's Out of Mysteries  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 25, 2014 5:21 PM CUT  Acorn TV  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 25, 2014 5:21 PM CUT In 1989, when actor David Suchet began playing Detective Hercule Poirot on the TV series _Agatha Christie’s Poirot,_ it’s unlikely that he could have guessed where it would take him. Now, 25 years later, Suchet has played Poirot in a whopping 70 separate mysteries — and it’s come time to hanging up the mustache. Though other long-serving actors may give up a role for a variety of reasons, Suchet didn’t really have much of a choice: the series has run out of Christie stories, having covered what _The Guardian_ [calls](http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/oct/23/david-suchet-poirot-tv-great-casting "undefined") all of the “substantial” fictions about him. (Poirot appears in dozens of novels and short stories, as well as a play.) The lucky 13th season wrapped up its U.K. broadcast last November with _Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case_, and the five-episode season begins broadcasting for U.S. audiences on July 27 on PBS and July 28 via the streaming service Acorn TV; the final three episodes will be available for U.S. viewers only via Acorn. As one of the characters in the trailer premiering above puts it, “this is a terrible loss for the world.” Chances are she’s not talking about _Poirot_, but for Agatha Christie lovers the sentiment fits. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3026159/agatha-christie-poirot-final-season/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3026159/agatha-christie-poirot-final-season/"},"headline":"The Same Man Has Played Detective Poirot for 25 Years, But Now He's Out of Mysteries","datePublished":"2014-07-25T17:21:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:18:48.505Z","description":"Plus: the exclusive premiere of a trailer for the final season of Agatha Christie's Poirot","url":"https://time.com/3026159/agatha-christie-poirot-final-season/","keywords":["Television","Exclusive","video","Mystery"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bc00c2855511a84/69869cf13bc999b4621a4a88/agatha-christies-poirot-series-13_acorn-tv_curtain_352.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bc00c2855511a84/69869cf13bc999b4621a4a88/agatha-christies-poirot-series-13_acorn-tv_curtain_352.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Agatha Christie's Poirot","caption":"Agatha Christie's Poirot","creditText":"Acorn TV","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3026159/agatha-christie-poirot-final-season/","name":"The Same Man Has Played Detective Poirot for 25 Years, But Now He's Out of Mysteries"}}]}] ```