23. The Plymouth Express

Air date: 20/01/1991
Published: Ninth story in "Poirot's Early Cases" (1974)

The next episode in Agatha Christie's Poirot is a classic example of the way the order of events sometimes had to be amended - in a story that was otherwise fairly faithful to the original - to bring it from the page to the screen.

The story concerns a Mrs Flossie Carrington, who is murdered for her jewels on board a train from Paddington to Bristol, the 'Plymouth Express' of the title.

The original opens with an officer of the Royal Navy finding her body under the seat of a compartment. Poirot is called in by her father, rich American businessman Ebenezer Halliday, to track the killer.

There seem to be two likely suspects: her husband Rupert, said to be an unscrupulous gambler, or an adventurer called the Count de la Rochefour, who is described as a bit of a "bad hat".

In the original Halliday recounts how Flossie had travelled on the train with her maid, Jane Mason, but had left her maid in Bristol, saying she was travelling further, and would rejoin her later.

Eventually Japp discovers the jewels have been pawned by a well-known jewel-thief Red Narky, who normally works with Gracie Kidd. Japp believes they still need to find Narky's accomplice, but Poirot has worked out that the maid Jane Mason is, in fact, Gracie Kidd, and that, after Flossie was killed, before the train reached Bristol, she wore duplicate clothes to look like Flossie, in order to convey the impression that Flossie was killed further down the train line.

For a TV adaptation there has to be more action and less recounting, so Poirot is initially called in by Halliday to investigate the unsavoury Count. More is made of Flossie's separation from her husband in the adaptation; it being only briefly referred to in the original. The murder of Flossie is played out as part of the story (rather than just being recounted) and a distraught Halliday asks Poirot to solve it.

Interestingly, for TV, American Ebenezer Halliday has become Australian Gordon Halliday, and Red Narky is known simply as McKenzie. Neither Rupert Carrington nor the Count de la Rochefour actually appear in the original (they are only referred to), but both are given significant roles in the adaptation. Carrington is desperate for money (at one point Hastings meets him in a pub and buys him a whisky) while the Count (now referred to by the French version of the word, 'Comte') meets Flossie and shows a clear interest in her, but is also doing some underhand share dealing in her father's mining business!

The adaptation ends on a poignant note - a rarity for Poirot short stories (which, more often that not, end with some light-hearted exchange between Poirot and either Hastings or Japp). Back at his office, with Hastings and Miss Lemon, Poirot refers to Halliday's generous cheque and the accompanying letter, announcing that Halliday is returning to his native Australia, to help him cope with the loss of his daughter.