41. Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan

Air date: 07/03/1993
Published: Seventh story in "Poirot Investigates" (1924)

Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan is nothing if not a functional title! This is one Poirot story where no-one gets murdered!

But it is a good story, with some interesting embellishments added to adapt it for Agatha Christie's Poirot.

The original opens with Poirot agreeing to Hastings' suggestion of a seaside break at Brighton's Grand Metropolitan hotel. At the hotel they meet a Mrs Opalsen (described quaintly as a "buxom dame" with an "ample bosom" who "waddled"). She tells them about her famous pearls. However, when she insists on going to get them from her room to show them - they have disappeared.

The two likely suspects are Mrs Opalsen's personal maid, Celestine, and a hotel chambermaid, who had both been in the room that evening. The pearls, however, were locked in a box - and Mrs Opalsen had the only key. Although Celestine had gone into an adjoining room very briefly it seemed unlikely that she was away long enough for the hotel maid to have forced open the box and taken the jewels. Both women are searched, and eventually the pearls are found hidden in Celestine's bed - or so it seems. In fact, Poirot immediately recognises them to be fake.

Thanks to the appearance of french chalk on the dressing table, Poirot eventually deduces that the hotel maid was working in cahoots with the hotel valet, who had been waiting in a different adjoining room. When Celestine had popped out the maid had opened the drawer (running silently, thanks to the chalk), had handed him the box through the door, giving him ample time to open it in the next room and to retrieve the jewels. They had reversed the process the next time Celestine went out, to replace the empty box. The imitation pearls had been planted earlier in the day, to incriminate Celestine.

The adaptation features Mr Opalsen more prominently. He is a theatre producer launching a new play, which will feature the famous pearls. Celestine is an excitable French woman in the original; here she is very calm and English, although, we are told, with a French mother. The valet has become Opalsen's chauffeur, who disguises himself as an elderly American, Mr Worthing, and takes the adjoining room, enabling him and the hotel maid to enact their plot. The pearls are stolen while the Opalsen's are at a post-opening night party (also attended by Poirot and Hastings). Japp again replaces a local police inspector as the investigating officer, and Miss Lemon does some snooping in London (to discover that the chauffeur and maid are married) - as well as chiding Hastings for allowing Poirot to get involved in a case when he was supposed to be resting! Struggling playwright Andrew Hall, a friend of Celestine's, is added to the mix as a further red herring.

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The final episode in series five marked the first major turning point in Agatha Christie's Poirot - for at least three reasons.

First, and most obviously, it brought to an end the one-hour (50 minutes without commercial breaks) adaptations of short stories. In all, thirty-six stories had been produced, taken from the major published collections. One intriguing omission was The LeMesurier Inheritance, which appears in "Poirot's Early Cases". By contrast, The Yellow Iris, which hadn't even been published in the UK when David Suchet began playing Poirot, was included in the fifth series.

Second, the end of series five marked the end of Agatha Christie's Poirot as an annual 'series', in the accepted and traditional understanding of that word on television. From its inception in 1989 it had become a staple part of Sunday evening entertainment in the early weeks of the year. Even the three feature-length episodes that constituted the somewhat 'ahead-of-its-time' series four had been shown on consecutive Sundays. From now on that would all change. Although, initially, Sunday evening continued to be the favoured night, it would gradually give way to other slots. More particularly, though, from now on it would be rare for episodes to be aired on more than two consecutive weeks. In time, this would have the effect of making each episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot more of an 'event'. We had seen 41 stories in a little over four years. The remaining 29 episodes filmed by David Suchet (all feature-length, of course) would, from the programme's return in 1995, span a further 18 years!

Third, the end of the one-hour episodes also marked the end of the iconic opening credits. It is fascinating to consider how strongly they are associated in everyone's mind with Poirot - even though they disappeared as the the two-hour episodes became the norm.

40. Dead Man's Mirror

Air date: 28/02/1993
Published: Third story in "Murder in the Mews" (1937)

Dead Man's Mirror has the distinction of being the longest 'short story' adapted for Agatha Christie's Poirot. At 131 pages, the original is the longest of the four 'novellas' that made up the Murder in the Mews collection.

Poirot is summonsed by Gervaise Chevenix-Gore, a wealthy eccentric, who believes he is being defrauded.

The night that Poirot arrives at his country home Chevenix-Gore is found dead in his study, apparently having committed suicide by shooting himself.

As ever, Poirot is curious about some of the apparent details (including a mirror, shattered, it seems, by the gun-shot, but which appears in the wrong position).

Most of the original is taken up with Poirot and the Chief Constable, Major Riddle, interviewing the people present. This includes Chevenix-Gore's wife Vanda, his adopted daughter Ruth, his nephew Hugo, a friend Susan Cardswell, a Colonel Bury (an admirer of Mrs Chevenix-Gore), the family lawyer Mr Forbes, estate agent Captain Lake, Chevenix-Gore's secretary Burrows, and a Miss Lingard, who was helping him write a family history.

One key element is the dinner gong, traditionally banged once eight minutes before dinner, and then a second time. One of Chevenix-Gore's eccentricities was his desire for punctuality at dinner!

Poirot eventually deduces that it was not suicide. Chevenix-Gore's will left most of the estate to Ruth, but he was about to amend this with a stipulation that she had to marry Hugo. It is revealed late in the story that Ruth had secretly married Captain Lake a few weeks before! Poirot deduces that Miss Lingard was, in fact, Ruth's mother, and had killed Chevenix-Gore so that her daughter could inherit.

The adaptation opens with Chevenix (the "-Gore" is dropped for TV) beating Poirot in an auction bid for the mirror. It is at this point that he hires him. Hastings, who is not in the original, joins Poirot for the  trip to Chevenix's country mansion. We are shown, early on, the private wedding of Ruth and Lake.

The plot is largely faithful to the original, although, not for the first time in the TV series, some of the characters are omitted (Forbes, Colonel Bury and Burrows, to be precise). Japp replaces Major Riddle as the investigating officer. Chevenix and Miss Lingard are writing a book on art, not on the former's family history (his obsession with the family name being a significant element in the original). Lake is running a struggling business and is involved in an arson incident towards the end, which provides the moment for Ruth to reveal that they are married.

39. The Chocolate Box

Air date: 21/02/1993
Published: Tenth story in "Poirot's Early Cases" (1974)

The Chocolate Box was never one of my favourite episodes in Agatha Christie's Poirot, although, from what I have read elsewhere, I appear to be in the minority.

As far as the adaptation goes, it has a slight resemblance - at least in the general 'feel' of the story - to The Double Clue. Perhaps it is the slightly dreamy way Poirot observes Virginie Mesnard (resembling the way he fell for Countess Vera Rossakoff in the earlier episode).

The original has Poirot recounting to Hastings an occasion when he failed to solve a crime.

Paul Deroulard was a French politician with a strong anti-church (Catholic) bent. He died while in Brussels, which was what occasioned Poirot (then in the Belgian police) being involved. Deroulard's wife had died a couple of years earlier when she had fallen down the stairs of their home.

The popular verdict was heart failure but when Poirot was approached by the suspicious cousin of Deroulard's former wife, Virginie Mesnard, he agreed to investigate further - and privately - during a period of leave. Poirot concluded that the culprit was a Mr St. Alard, a friend, whereas, in fact, it was Deroulard's mother. She killed her son because (a) she was a staunch Catholic, and hated what he stood for, and (b) because she believed he had killed his wife.

The adaptation does away with the fact that Deroulard was a Frenchman who died while visiting Brussels, and simply moves the whole 'anti-Church' movement plotline to Belgium.

The occasion is a visit by Poirot and Japp to Brussels. The latter is to be honoured by a civic society for his police work (which, apparently, has included helping the Belgian force on occasions in the past). It is while dining with a former police colleague of Poirot's - Claude Chantalier (not in the original) - that the story about the Deroulard death is told in flashback.

Interestingly, as the three men discuss it, Poirot affirms he did not make a mistake - contrary to the position held in the original.

Much of the murder detail is kept the same, with Madame Deroulard having poisoned some of her son's favourite chocolates, using someone's medication, to kill him. Her failing eyesight had caused her to put the wrong lid back on the box, which turned out to be the key clue. As Madame Deroulard was close to death, Poirot had agreed not to reveal what had happened.

In the original we are told at the end that Virginie entered a convent. In the adaptation there is a touching reunion with Poirot. She is now married (to a old chemist friend of Poirot's) and has two sons - one of whom is named Hercule!

38. The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman

Air date: 14/02/1993
Published: Tenth story in "Poirot Investigates" (1924)

Blackmail, boats, Hastings' love of cars - and even something of a love interest for Miss Lemon are all part of the mix in the next episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot.

The original short story is simpler, of course. Poirot and Hastings are dining with a friend, Dr Hawker, when he is called to the flat of one Count Foscatini, who has apparently rung saying someone has killed him!

The three go to the flat and Foscatini is, indeed, found dead, killed by a blow to the back of the head. The doctor remarks that death would have been virtually instantaneous - an immediate clue that someone is trying to lead everyone up the garden path (how could he have made the phone call?).

Foscatini's valet, Graves, reports how the previous day Foscatini had a visit from a Mr Ascanio. This man returned for dinner the following night. After serving them Graves had been given the night off. Not surprisingly, Ascanio is arrested, but denies even knowing Foscatini.

After we are told that an Italian ambassador has given Ascanio an alibi, Poirot deduces that Graves was the murderer. He had fabricated the story about Ascanio's visit. Foscatini was a blackmailer. After killing him (for his money) Graves had ordered meals down from the kitchen (did blocks of flats have their own kitchen service in those days?) and had eaten them, to create the impression of someone having dined with Foscatini that evening. Much is made of the fact that the rice souffle was not really touched (Graves couldn't manage it), and that Foscatini's teeth had not been stained by the black coffee that the evidence implied he had drunk.

The adaptation goes in rather less for such detailed clues, but adds a number of other features. Graves is first introduced (before the murder takes place) as an admirer of Miss Lemon. The story opens with Hastings visiting an Italian car dealer, where he is contemplating buying a new car. The dealer, Bruno Vizzini, turns out to be the man Foscatini was blackmailing.

Japp (who is not in the original, although he is referred to briefly by Poirot) has Ascanio arrested, shortly after the latter is seen burning some incriminating papers.

The finale takes place at Chichester, where Graves had earlier claimed he had a boat. The boat, in fact, belonged to Vizzini (Graves had been trying to impress Miss Lemon and Poirot). When Graves arrives and sees the police he attempts to escape, but is followed by Hastings in the car Vizzini had been driving. It's a while since we've seen a car-chase finale. This one ends with Hastings cornering Graves and delivering a blow that sends him into a stream. "You swine. That's for Miss Lemon!" he declares.

37. The Case of the Missing Will

Air date: 07/02/1993
Published: Eleventh story in "Poirot Investigates" (1924)

As I have remarked already, some of Agatha Christie's short stories were, indeed, short - and required considerable embellishment to bring them to the TV screen.

The Case of the Missing Will is, perhaps, the most extreme example of this to date, with the result that the end production is scarcely recognisable from the original.

This is an interesting issue, given how the series was first launched on a platform of being very faithful to the author's original work. If a story is simply too short, or too bare, what should the producers have done? Left it alone? The only alternative was to stretch the notion of 'adaptation' as far as it will go.

In the original book Hastings narrates a curious little tale. A Miss Violet Marsh, an orphan, approaches Poirot for help. Her uncle Andrew, who, having returned from making his fortune in farming in Australia, had acted as her guardian after her parents had died. However, he had not approved of her pursuing an education.

Upon his death, his will had revealed that Violet had a year to prove herself - or else his fortune will go to various charities. Poirot deduces that another will has been hidden in his home as a test. Although nothing appears to surface, he eventually deduces an elaborate plan with invisible ink on an envelope, which duly reveals the will that gives Violet the fortune.

The TV adaptation picks up Andrew's farming fortune in Australia, and his antipathy toward women pursuing academia - but that's about it.

The story begins on New Year's Eve, 1925, when Andrew announces to a group of friends how his newly written will is to divide up his fortune.

Cut to ten years later, and he is debating the place of women at a Cambridge debating society with Robert Siddoway, son of his lawyer. Violet (Wilson, not Marsh, for some reason) is present, along with Miss Campion, head of a female college at Cambridge.

At a house-party at his home, Andrew reveals to Poirot that he is about to change his will - and leave everything to Violet, who he says he is very proud of. That night, he is lured to a folly in the grounds and killed with an overdose injection of insulin.

The housekeeper, Mrs Marsh, is married to a local police sergeant, who seems reluctant to investigate the case after the family doctor declares the death to have been heart failure. This gives the excuse for Poirot to call in the services of Japp. When the family gather to hear the reading of the old, familiar will (which would have left most of the estate to the doctor's medical centre) the will has gone missing.

Fingers appear to point in various directions, particularly after an accident reveals that Miss Campion has, in fact, had a child in the past by caesarian section. The child was, of course, Violet - the father was Andrew. Poirot concludes that the lawyer's wife had killed Andrew, in an attempt to ensure that his fortune went to her son Robert.

It's a spirited, if somewhat convoluted tale - and quite some distance from the rather tame original.