Film
Death on the Nile
Branagh's second glossy Poirot outing swaps the snowbound train for a sun-drenched Egyptian river cruise, but the recipe is the same: gorgeous scenery, a wealthy cast of liars, and a fussy Belgian genius untangling them. It's comfort-food mystery — tourism dressed as tension. Best for a lazy evening when you want a solvable puzzle rather than genuine dread.
If you liked this
Murder on the Orient Express2017
Branagh and his moustache tackle another Christie classic aboard a snowbound train — same lavish production, same fussy genius, if anything a tighter, better-constructed puzzle than the Nile.
But It's essentially the same formula you just watched, so if the first didn't grab you, this won't either.

Knives Out2019
Rian Johnson reinvents the country-house whodunit with real wit, a starry cast having a ball, and a structure clever enough to reward a second viewing.
But It's contemporary and irreverent where Christie is stately — the jokes and modern setting might jar if you wanted pure period comfort.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery2022
Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc returns for an even glossier, more satirical puzzle box, this time skewering tech billionaires on a Greek island.
But The satire is broad and topical, which dates fast and can feel smug if you're not already in on the joke.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
And Then There Were None1945
Same author, same 'trapped with a killer among wealthy strangers' engine, decades before Christie got the lavish colour-and-scenery treatment — this is the bare skeleton the Nile dresses up.
The first great Christie film adaptation — ten strangers stranded on an island, picked off one by one, shot in stark black-and-white with real menace under the wit.
But No detective to lean on, no travelogue glamour, and the 1940s pacing and theatrical performances take some adjusting to.

More like this (8)
Gosford Park2001
Robert Altman's country-house ensemble piece is the sophisticated cousin of the genre — upstairs-downstairs class drama disguised as a murder mystery, with a script by Julian Fellowes.
But The mystery is almost incidental; if you want a tight, solvable puzzle rather than a slow character tapestry, this will frustrate.

Evil Under the Sun1982
Peter Ustinov's Poirot investigates on a sun-baked island resort, all Riviera glamour and bitchy one-liners — a direct ancestor to the Branagh films' holiday-set spectacle.
But The pacing is stagier and slower by modern standards, and Ustinov's Poirot is a much gentler, less flamboyant presence.

The Mirror Crack'd1980no page yet
More Agatha Christie, this time with Miss Marple and a cast of aging Hollywood stars turning a village murder into gossipy, glamorous fun.
But It swaps Poirot's continental flair for cosy English village texture, a real shift in tone if you came for exotic settings.
A Haunting in Venice2023no page yet
Branagh's third Poirot outing ditches the sunny travelogue for something genuinely eerie — a seance-gone-wrong gothic chiller that's the strongest of his trilogy.
But The horror atmosphere is a real tonal departure; if you liked the Nile for its brightness, this is deliberately gloomy.
Clue1985
The board game turned into a gleefully silly ensemble farce, with six suspects, six endings, and pratfalls instead of prestige.
But It's broad slapstick rather than a fair-play puzzle, so if you want to actually solve the case, you'll be disappointed.

Crooked House2017no page yet
A lesser-known Christie adaptation with a terrific cast (Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson) and one of her nastier, twistier family plots.
But It's a much smaller production with less polish, and it never quite finds the confidence of the big-budget Poirot films.
Broadchurch2013
Same 'everyone's a suspect in a close-knit group' machinery as Poirot's boat full of secrets, but stripped of glamour and comedy to show the genre played completely straight.
A small English seaside town is torn apart by a child's murder, and the show cares more about grief, suspicion and community fallout than any tidy solution.
But It's slow, bleak and emotionally heavy — there's no fun in the whodunit here, and the ending devastates rather than satisfies.

The Last of Sheila1973
Same setup — glittering people trapped on a boat, playing at murder until it stops being a game — but swaps Christie's cosiness for real teeth and Hollywood self-loathing.
A cabal of Hollywood insiders is invited onto a yacht for a 'murder game' that turns genuinely vicious — campy, catty, and far nastier than anything Christie would allow.
But It's mean-spirited and dated in its excess, with less polish and more spite than the Branagh films' comfortable glamour.

People
Cast
Kenneth BranaghHercule Poirot
Tom BatemanBouc
Annette BeningEuphemia Bouc
Russell BrandWindlesham
Ali FazalAndrew Katchadourian
Dawn FrenchBowers
Gal GadotLinnet Ridgeway
Armie HammerSimon Doyle
Rose LeslieLouise Bourget
Emma MackeyJacqueline de Bellefort
Sophie OkonedoSalome Otterbourne
Jennifer SaundersMarie Van Schuyler
Directing
- Kenneth BranaghDirector
Writing
- Agatha ChristieNovel
- Michael GreenScreenplay
Production
- Lucy BevanCasting
- James PrichardExecutive Producer
- Mark GordonExecutive Producer
- Mathew PrichardExecutive Producer
- Matthew JenkinsExecutive Producer
- Simon KinbergExecutive Producer
- Judy HofflundProducer
- Kenneth BranaghProducer
- Kevin J. WalshProducer
- Ridley ScottProducer
Recommended by
Knives Out, Murder on the Orient Express, Gosford Park, Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery