Hi, Strange.

I haven't watched any of this series' episodes in some time, but throughout the years viewed nearly all the episodes that were produced and never thought anything seemed out of the ordinary regarding Poirot's build. I think the padding was a combination of to correspond with the character's general persona and his aging, that looks "right" for Poirot. As actor David Suchet portrayed the Poirot character for several years, I'm guessing the costuming department designed a physical build for him that could be carried through the many seasons even when Suchet's own weight and build fluctuated at times.

Hi genplant29 - thanks for your response - I am sure you are right - but in some shots you can see the padding quite plainly and it is distracting!! I read somewhere that David Suchet suffered a lot with the weight and the heat of the padding during filming in hot countries for some of the specials. He is the definitive Poirot for me.

Good morning, Strange.

I absolutely agree with you, that David Suchet is the ultimate Poirot. It was wonderful that his series was able to run for so many years - and a shame that it's concluded.

I never really noticed anything about his back, regarding the costuming, but will definitely be looking, the next time I watch an episode. I have one of the latter seasons (2008), of three 93-minutes movies, in a DVD set, but haven't watched it in probably a year or somewhat more. It's the season Third Girl, Murder on the Orient Express, and Appointment with Death comprised. Of those three episodes/movies, definitely Third Girl is by far the best and my favourite (I didn't at all care for the 2008 version of Orient).

David Suchet certainly is an excellent actor. I also have 2011's UK miniseries Great Expectations on DVD, that he's in.

By the way, at around the time the Poirot series concluded, David Suchet made a one-of special, personally traveling on the Orient Express. That was really interesting and enjoyable. It was good seeing him walking around and talking being his own actual self.

This episode was called "The Chocolate Box" quite an old one but I have noticed on the later ones that the padding has become quite extreme to reflect his aging I expect.