I keep forgetting that johnny Depp s in that. What keeps throwing me off is that, as good an actor as Branaugh is, he is physically completely wrong for Poirot. To tall, not nearly round enough, and the staches just aren't right. I don't think it's been nearly long enough since the A&E series ended for a new actor playing Poirot. David suchet spent 25~ years at it and even if some actual episodes were weak, his performance was consistently acclaimed. (In contrast, we had 3 different long-ish term Marples over the same time period, so a new Marple in a couple years would be considerably less jarring.)

I've watched the first 18 series (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) of Midsomer Murders over the last few months, and Troy is by far my least favorite sidekick. And the only one aside from Bullard to get an actual send-off episode, instead of our being told the next season that he/she got transferred. (Except for Scott, who called in sick one day and then was never mentioned again...)

One thing I found interesting is that you can see the rise of the procedural as the show progresses. Earlier seasons often took the Christie-esque approach of building up the victim's world and relationships before killing them off (the "killer commits suicide" is also a popular Christie trope) while more recent series have the victim die right at the start, or after just one introductory scene, and are more prone to discussing technology and methods. Not that it' become anything close to a procedural, but the influence is there.