What a pity Granada have withdrawn this Poirot set: not only was it great value, it brings together two of the best adaptations the series has produced. These are two of Agatha Christie's strongest plots, written when she was at he 1940s peak. Five Little Pigs is a wonderfully stylish exercise with strongly drawn characters and a brilliant conclusion, which, in my own opinion, is more shocking when read on the page - but never mind, this is a terrific adaptation with a uniformly excellent cast and very beautiful locations.

Sad Cypress is another vintage Agatha, with a sombre, melancholic mood. Another fine cast here, with David Suchet brilliant as a slightly older, slightly sadder Poirot. Together, these DVDs represent a new pinnacle for the Poirot series, and the advances in film technology have the unfortunate habit of making the older episodes seem slightly dreary by comparison (at least visually). If you can find this boxset, it's a bargain on all fronts.

I have all the Poirot dvds and these last two do not disappoint. Five Little Pigs is one of my favourite Christie novels, and this a very good adaptation.The story revolves around Lucy Crale, the daughter of Caroline Crale who was hanged for the murder of her husband, famous painter Amyas Crale 14 years befors. Lucy now wants Poirot to investigate the case, believing her mother to be innocent. He investigates the 5 little pigs:Caroline's disfigured younger sister; Amyas's best and suspiciously close childhood friend; Amyas's young lover Elsa who he was apparently leaving his wife to marry; Lucy's childhood governess and a bumbling faithful friend of the couple with an extraordinay amateur interest in poisons.The atmosphere is darker than the other Poirot adaptations, with more violence and sex than any of the others (the hanging scene at the beginning is fairly graphic). No Hastings or Miss Lemon here, no sparkly champagne and jazz music atmosphere, but a very satisfying examination of murder in retrospect. In Sad Cypress, another tale about a female killer, two people are "killed by a fair maid" as the line goes.Elinor Carlilse is accuseed of poisoning both her wealthy great aunt and Mary Gerrard, a beautiful village girl who has managed to capture the heart both of Elinor's aunt and her fiance.Again, Poirot in fine form , but quite a tragic story.Well worth adding to your collection. The extra interviews with David Suchet (he looks so funny without the moustaches) and Margaret Mitchell are interesting too.