Superintendent Battle

Fictional character created by Agatha Christie

Fictional character

Superintendent Battle

First appearance| The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
Last appearance| Towards Zero (1944)
Created by| Agatha Christie
In-universe information
Occupation| superintendent of the police
Spouse| Mary Battle
Children| Sylvia Battle
Four others
Colin "Lamb" (possibly)
Relatives| James Leach (nephew), a Scotland Yard Inspector
Nationality| British

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:

* The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
* The Seven Dials Mystery (1929 – including some of the same characters, notably Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent)
* Cards on the Table (1936, with Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver and Colonel Race)
* Murder Is Easy (1939 - cameo) – titled as Easy to Kill in the US.
* Towards Zero (1944)

## 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

## External links

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* Superintendent Battle at Hercule Poirot Central

* v
* t
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Agatha Christie

* Bibliography
* Universe
* Adaptations

Characters|

* Superintendent Battle
* Tommy and Tuppence Beresford
* Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent
* Sir Henry Clithering
* Captain Arthur Hastings
* Chief Inspector James Japp
* Miss Jane Marple
* Ariadne Oliver
* Hercule Poirot
* Parker Pyne
* Mr. Harley Quin
* Raymond West

Locations|

* St. Mary Mead

Novels|

* The Mysterious Affair at Styles
* The Secret Adversary
* The Murder on the Links
* The Man in the Brown Suit
* The Secret of Chimneys
* The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
* The Big Four
* The Mystery of the Blue Train
* The Seven Dials Mystery
* The Murder at the Vicarage
* The Sittaford Mystery
* Peril at End House
* Lord Edgware Dies
* Murder on the Orient Express
* Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
* Three Act Tragedy
* Death in the Clouds
* The A.B.C. Murders
* Murder in Mesopotamia
* Cards on the Table
* Dumb Witness
* Death on the Nile
* Appointment with Death
* Hercule Poirot's Christmas
* Murder Is Easy
* And Then There Were None
* Sad Cypress
* One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
* Evil Under the Sun
* N or M?
* The Body in the Library
* Five Little Pigs
* The Moving Finger
* Towards Zero
* Death Comes as the End
* Sparkling Cyanide
* The Hollow
* Taken at the Flood
* Crooked House
* A Murder Is Announced
* They Came to Baghdad
* Mrs McGinty's Dead
* They Do It with Mirrors
* After the Funeral
* A Pocket Full of Rye
* Destination Unknown
* Hickory Dickory Dock
* Dead Man's Folly
* 4.50 from Paddington
* Ordeal by Innocence
* Cat Among the Pigeons
* The Pale Horse
* The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
* The Clocks
* A Caribbean Mystery
* At Bertram's Hotel
* Third Girl
* Endless Night
* By the Pricking of My Thumbs
* Hallowe'en Party
* Passenger to Frankfurt
* Nemesis
* Elephants Can Remember
* Postern of Fate
* Curtain
* Sleeping Murder

As Mary
Westmacott|

* Giant's Bread
* Unfinished Portrait
* Absent in the Spring
* The Rose and the Yew Tree
* A Daughter's a Daughter
* The Burden

Short story
collections|

* Poirot Investigates
* Partners in Crime
* The Mysterious Mr Quin
* The Thirteen Problems
* The Hound of Death
* The Listerdale Mystery
* Parker Pyne Investigates
* Murder in the Mews
* The Regatta Mystery
* The Labours of Hercules
* The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
* Three Blind Mice and Other Stories
* The Under Dog and Other Stories
* The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
* Double Sin and Other Stories
* The Golden Ball and Other Stories
* Poirot's Early Cases
* Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories
* Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories
* The Harlequin Tea Set
* While the Light Lasts and Other Stories

Plays|

* Black Coffee
* And Then There Were None
* Appointment with Death
* Murder on the Nile
* The Hollow
* The Mousetrap
* Witness for the Prosecution
* Spider's Web
* Towards Zero
* Verdict
* The Unexpected Guest
* Go Back for Murder
* Fiddlers Three
* Akhnaton
* Chimneys

Radio and
television plays|

* Wasp's Nest
* The Yellow Iris
* Three Blind Mice
* Butter in a Lordly Dish
* Personal Call

Other books|

* The Road of Dreams
* Come, Tell Me How You Live
* Star Over Bethlehem
* Poems
* An Autobiography
* The Mousetrap and Other Plays
* Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks

Depictions|

* Agatha Christie Memorial
* Agatha (1979 film)
* Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (2004 docudrama)
* The Unicorn and the Wasp (2008 TV episode)
* Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018 film)
* Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (2019 film)
* Agatha and the Midnight Murders (2020 film)
* See How They Run (2022 film)

Related|

* Archie Christie (first husband)
* Max Mallowan (second husband)
* Ashfield, Torquay (home)
* Greenway Estate (home)
* Agatha Award
* Agatha Christie Award (Japan)

* Category

Authority control databases: National |

* Israel

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