Christie News

Here you'll find updates from film sets, broadcast dates, publishing news and other announcements from the world of Agatha Christie ...

Login or Register to post a comment

Poirot's apartment

16 Jun 11 11:58AM

Poirot Production Designer Jeff Tessler discusses filming locations:

“There are very few blocks in London that could provide the Art Deco image that was required for Poirot’s London home ‘Whitehaven Mansions’” but one such building, Florin Court, located near London’s famous meat market Smithfield and close to the Barbican, proved ideal and has been used ever since the very first David Suchet Poirot, shot back in 1989. “Florin Court has an excellent central location, and, other than changing the name of the building to Whitehaven Mansions, not much needed to be done.”

Getting permission to film the exteriors of Florin Court was a relatively simple process explains Jeff, “Most people are delighted if their building appears in a television drama. We always do all we can to minimise disruption. Even a short scene can take many hours, so we have to ensure that people do not wait for more than a few minutes to enter or exit the building. The biggest difficulty we have is closing off the street. Most councils have a Film Commission Office, and we have to get permission from them. It still takes a lot of organisation once permission has been granted. All parked cars need removing, and other anachronisms such as yellow lines and parking bays need disguising.”

“We try to get a large number of different shots when we do have access to the site. We will shoot Poirot arriving and leaving a number of times, and in a variety of vehicles. We also have a large number of exterior shots of Florin Court on file. With all of these available it might not be necessary to film there for two or three years.”  

Another building to have featured in past Poirots, and one of Jeff’s favourite locations is the Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street, Covent Garden. “It really is the most beautiful building, and very familiar to viewers, being the exterior of MI5 in Spooks as well as being an ever-present in Poirot”.

If you’re in London and want to visit either of the locations mentioned above you can find Florin Court here - plus did you know, you can actually get inside the Freemasons Hall and observe the magnificent architecture by joining a tour organised by the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, which are held regularly, daily, and are absolutely free! Visit their website.   

• 5 comments

Comment on this story

Login or Register to post a comment

5 comments

odeon123 04 Jul 11 at 10:44a.m.

Thanks for posting, the location which is used in this series is ver nice.
Regards<a rel="follow" href="http://www.nz-online-pharmacy.com/">New Zealand Online Pharmacy</a>

Moderator2 20 Jun 11 at 10:47a.m.

Hello askMissJones - Jeff Tessler (the chap interviewed for the article) created the interiors for Poirot's flat - he's a big Art Deco fan and we think he did a great job too.
Hello sylvia_wain - we will see what we can do but because many of the locations used are private property the owners are undertandably reluctant to have their homes "on the map"!

sylvia_wain 18 Jun 11 at 7:00p.m.

Have always  wondered where 'Whirehaven Mansions' were filmed- thanks for the info. A lot of lovely locations and properties are used in the series, maybe  we could get to know where some of them are . Thanks again!

Valkyrje 16 Jun 11 at 10:39p.m.

A very interesting read, thanks for posting this. Last December when I was in London on holiday I visited "Whitehaven Mansions" and took photos of it, I almost felt like Poirot was inside with Hastings and Miss Lemon having a cup of hot chocolate and talking about a case.

askMissJones 16 Jun 11 at 9:31p.m.

Thanks for this.  I've always wanted to live in 'Whitehaven Mansions' so now I can at least walk past Florin Court and imagine...   One question (and it may have been answered in a previous edition of "Christie News"), who did the terrific interior decorating for Poirot's apartment?  I love anything Art Deco and think the interiors are superb.  Love the doors and furnishings and if memory serves me right, there's a beautiful statue of a cat.  Thanks!