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Superintendent Battle

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Superintendent Battle
First appearanceThe Secret of Chimneys (1925)
Last appearanceTowards Zero (1944)
Created byAgatha Christie
In-universe information
Occupationsuperintendent of the police
SpouseMary Battle
ChildrenSylvia Battle
Four others
Colin "Lamb" (possibly)
RelativesJames Leach (nephew), a Scotland Yard Inspector
NationalityBritish

Superintendent Battle is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie who appeared in five of her novels.

Overview

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Battle is notable for his stolid good sense and careful management of information as a case proceeds. He relies in part on the public notion that police detectives are stupid or unimaginative, when he has a good idea of just what is happening.[1]: 220  His moustache is impressive, even to Hercule Poirot.[1]: 221  Until Towards Zero the reader knows nothing of his domestic arrangements (with exception to a comment in Chimneys, when he mentions that he is "very attached of Mrs Battle"), but in this novel we learn that he has a wife and five children, the youngest of whom (Sylvia) unwittingly provides a key clue to the mystery. In the Hercule Poirot novel The Clocks, the pseudonymous secret agent Colin Lamb is heavily implied to be the son of the now-retired Battle.

Battle also has a secret professional life that is revealed in the dénouement to The Seven Dials Mystery, but this is never referred to again. In this novel he states, that "half the people who spent their lives avoiding being run over buses had much better be run over and put safely out of the way. They're no good."

Similar statements are given by Major Despard in Cards on the Table and Michael Rodgers in Endless Night and might be approved by Mrs Christie as well.[2]

Battle is in many respects typical of Christie's police officers, being (like Inspector Japp), more careful and intelligent than the police officers of early detective fiction, who had served only as foils for the brilliance of the amateur sleuth.

Novels featuring Superintendent Battle

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He appears as a detective in the following novels:

Portrayals

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Stage

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The 1956 play Towards Zero at the St James's Theatre in the West End featured William Kendall as Battle.[3] A 1981 version of Cards on the Table starred Gordon Jackson as Battle.[4]

Christie had penned a stage version of The Secret of Chimneys in 1931, but it went unproduced until 2003. The 2006 UK premiere featured Ronald Simon as Battle.

Film

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A French film version of Towards Zero starred François Morel as "Inspector Martin Bataille".

Television

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A 1981 version of The Seven Dials Mystery from London Weekend Television starred Harry Andrews as the Superintendent.

Murder is Easy has been adapted for television three times (1982, 2008, 2023), with each one omitting the character of Battle given his minor role in the plot.

The Secret of Chimneys was adapted as a 2010 episode of the series Agatha Christie's Marple, which added Christie's detective Miss Marple into the plot, and left out Battle. The same series had earlier dramatised Towards Zero and Murder is Easy without Battle, although the former replaced him with the new character of Superintendent Mallard, portrayed by Alan Davies.

Cards on the Table was adapted as a 2005 episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot. David Westhead played the Battle character, renamed Superintendent Jim Wheeler.

An upcoming Netflix miniseries dramatising The Seven Dials Mystery will star Martin Freeman as Battle.[5]

BBC Radio

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In 2002, Card on the Table was done as part of a series of Poirot adaptations starring John Moffatt. Ioan Meredith voiced Battle.

References

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  1. ^ a b Hart, Anne (2004). Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot. London: HarperCollins.
  2. ^ Osborne, Charles (1982). The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie. London: Collins. p. 48.
  3. ^ Wearing, J.P. The London Stage 1950–1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. p.207
  4. ^ Programme for Cards on the Table: Theatreprint, No. 80, May 1982
  5. ^ Ritman, Alex (10 June 2024). "'How to Have Sex' Star Mia McKenna-Bruce to Lead Netflix Agatha Christie Series 'The Seven Dials Mystery' With Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 18 June 2024.

Bibliography

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  • Barnard, Robert (1980): A Talent to Deceive, Fontana/Collins
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