Thirteen at Dinner (1985), starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, was also based on the 1933 novel "Lord Edgware Dies". In that film, David Suchet appears as Inspector Japp.
The title of the novel this episode is based on was unfamiliar to U.S. readers for many years. The critically well-received novel, "Lord Edgware Dies", was originally published in the U.K. & U.S. in September 1933 under the same title, but later that very same year the U S. publisher decided to print the novel again but changed the title to "Thirteen At Dinner". This second title was taken from the old superstition that if there are 13 people sitting down to dinner at the same time, the first person to get up and leave will experience bad luck. Eventually, however, in more recent printings, the novel returned to being printed in the U.S. under its original title "Lord Edgware Dies".
John Castle, who plays the titular Lord Edgware, is no stranger to the world of Agatha Christie. He played Detective Inspector Craddock in Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985) and Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992).
Hannah Yelland (Geraldine Marsh) is the daughter of actor David Yelland who appeared in the episode Murder in the Mews (1989) and later went on to play Poirot's manservant, George, in seven episodes.
Fenella Woolgar makes her screen debut as Ellis the maid. She went on to portray Agatha Christie herself in the Doctor Who (2005) episode The Unicorn and the Wasp (2008), before returning to Poirot as a different minor character in Hallowe'en Party (2010).