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Michael "Mike" Rogers is the main antagonist of Agatha Christie's 1967 crime novel, Endless Night. He is the husband of Fenella “Ellie” Rogers (née Guteman), and had worked with Greta Andersen into killing his wife.
In the 1972 film adaptation, he was portrayed by the late Hywel Bennett. In Agatha Christie's Marple, where the novel was adapted in 2013 as its series finale, he was portrayed by Tom Hughes. In BBC Radio 4 adaptation, he was voiced by Jonathan Forbes.
Personality[]
Michael is a typical adventurer. He wants everything at once. He is also shown to be greedy and envious. Having seen his friend’s watch, he wanted the same one for himself. Seeing that his friend was in danger, he did not help, but killed him and took possession of the watch. Later, he killed another friend of his and robbed him, blaming the bandits who had previously attacked this friend. He easily conspired with Greta (a greedy adventurer like Michael himself) to kill the wealthy heiress Ellie and take over her property. However, he later repents of killing Ellie and kills Greta, who called him a coward.
Biography[]
Endless Night[]
Michael hides from his employers because he wants to do something else. One day he visits a house that is for sale and wants to buy it, but does not have the money to do so. Then he meets a girl named Ellie, who immediately falls in love with him. They start dating, but at some point Ellie needs to leave. Then Ellie buys that house and hires a builder (an old friend of Michael's), who restores the house, after which she marries Michael. Michael does not plan to invite Ellie's relatives and his mother to the wedding, so as not to be considered a gigolo and a gold digger. He also doesn't want to cross paths with Ellie's friend Greta (on whom she relies too much and of whom Michael is jealous). However, this does not prevent Michael from meeting his wife’s relatives, who liked him. Ellie also secretly visits Michael’s mother, who likes him. Michael, although he does not really approve of this act, is not at all offended by Ellie for this. Later, Ellie begins to be stalked by a local gypsy, who makes creepy predictions for her. This scares Ellie. One day, Michael goes to town on business, where he plans to meet Ellie. But she's been gone for a long time. When he returns, he discovers Ellie's corpse. It turns out that she fell from her horse, but what caused her death is still unclear. Michael travels to America, where Ellie's funeral takes place and takes over inheritance rights. In America, he learns that the body of the gypsy woman who was pursuing Ellie has been found. The gypsy woman was found with money, which means she was paid by someone to stalk Ellie. Also, one of Ellie's friends also falls off her horse and dies. Upon arrival home, Michael takes off the mask that he had been using in front of the audience all this time. He once killed and robbed two of his friends, after which he conspired with Greta and poisoned Ellie. However, the poison pill accidentally fell into the hands of Ellie's friend. Ellie's friend took this pill and then died. The manner of her death was the reason for a thorough investigation, and due to the fact that she died in front of witnesses, the poison did not have time to dissolve in her body. It was Michael who hired the gypsy to intimidate Ellie and it was Michael who killed her. Upon arrival, he begins to repent of killing Ellie, which causes him to have a scandal with his accomplice Greta. Michael kills Greta. Then the police arrest him.
Agatha Christie's Marple[]
Although the original book did not feature Miss Marple, it was adapted into Agatha Christie's Marple and featured Rogers as its main character.
In this version, most of Rogers' role remained faithful to the novel, with additional plots. When he was much younger, Rogers apparently attempted to save the brother of his architect friend, renamed Robbie Hayman in this version, but in fact he only snatched the watch of the said brother and left him to die. In the end, the ploy of Rogers was exposed by Marple in a personal confrontation, and Hayman discovered his brother's watch inside Rogers' house, which Hayman designed. He burned the house down out of rage, leaving Rogers nothing but staying in prison for the rest of his life.
Victims[]
- Two unnamed friends: one killed and one robbed.
- Ellie Rogers (née Guteman): poisoned to death.
- Claudia Hardcastle: accidentally drank Ellie's poisoned pills.
- Gypsy Mrs. Lee.
- Greta Andersen.
Trivia[]
- He is chronologically the last culprit from a standalone story in Agatha Christie's works.
- In the real life, Agatha Christie had adapted the novel into a short story titled "The Case of the Caretaker", which was published in 1942 and later included in the posthumously released 1979 short story collection, Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories. The plot was the same, but the character names was different.
- In Agatha Christie's Marple, Michael Rogers became the main antagonist at the end of the series due to the episode of Endless Night became its series finale. The series was, in a way, cancelled due to BBC acquired rights of adapting Marple novels soon after, meaning that ITV would not be expected to film a seventh series in a short term of time.
- In the original novel, the main antagonist at the end of Marple series (as well as the entire detective fiction universe of Agatha Christie) was the culprit from Sleeping Murder.
- Michael Rogers and James Sheppard share many similarities, although they are not from the same book series:
- Michael and James are both first-person narrators, and are both the main antagonists of their respective novel;
- Michael and James have both committed blackmail (Michael blackmailed Mrs. Lee to scare Ellie, and James blackmailed Mrs. Ferrars into poisoning Ashley Ferrars).
- Michael and James have both decided to write down their stories, with the exception of James murdering himself in the end.
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 Villains(Non-Poirot & Non-Marple) | |
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Tommy and Tuppence Beresford And Then There Were None Other Mystery Stories Adaptational, Homage & Non-Canonical | |
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Murderers Villainous Victims Others ITV Series Exclusive | |