“The Most Famous Train on Earth”

This Sunday, July 11, PBS-TV will premiere the first of three new episodes in its Hercule Poirot series as part of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery! That episode--based on Agatha Christie’s famous 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express, and starring David Suchet as the brainy Belgian sleuth--will begin at 9 p.m. ET/PST. Episodes to follow will be based on Third Girl (July 18) and Appointment with Death (July 25).

To build up interest in these new Poirots, PBS has assembled a documentary, David Suchet on the Orient Express, which will air tonight (check you local TV listings for start times). Mystery Book News supplies some background on this TV special:

Commissioned by ITV, the documentary will touch on the incident in 1929 that inspired Christie’s book: the train was stuck in a snowdrift for 10 days, 60 miles outside Istanbul, carrying a full complement of passengers who survived only with the assistance of nearby Turkish villagers.

With insight and charm, Suchet leads an epic journey on this iconic train. From London, he travels to Calais in northern France to board the Venice Simplon Orient Express, and begins his 2,000-mile journey through six countries, with a breathtaking stop in Venice on the way to Prague. The delightful Suchet revels in the artistry and beauty of the train, and explores its attraction for Agatha Christie, who used it as the setting for one of her most recognized novels. [The documentary] will also use archive material to tell the train’s history from its inaugural “Express d’Orient” journey across Europe in 1883 to its role in both world wars.

You can watch a brief preview here.

UPDATE: You can watch that full 46-minute PBS special here.