Air date: 12/02/1995
Published: 1955
Hickory Dickory Dock had the distinction of being the first post-Second World War novel to be adapted for Agatha Christie's Poirot. Although not a huge factor for this particular story, it serves to remind us again of that intractable issue of chronology that would become more prevalent as later Poirot novels were filmed.
The story is set in a student hostel and concerns two issues: smuggling and murder.
The book opens with Poirot observing three mistakes in a letter typed by the normally super-efficient Miss Lemon. Hickory Dickory Dock was actually the first novel to feature the character; the others being Dead Man's Folly (1956), Third Girl (1966) and Elephants Can Remember (1972).
The reason, apparently, is her current concern for her widowed sister, Mrs Hubbard, who runs a student hostel - where random items have recently been stolen.
Poirot becomes involved, under the pretext of giving a lecture on crime at the hostel, and one student, Celia Austin, eventually confesses to (most of) the crimes. Kleptomania seems the cause - although she was possibly put up to it as a way of attracting the attentions of psychology student Colin McNabb. However, shortly after this Celia is found dead from a lethal dose of morphine. Two more people, hostel owner Mrs Nicoletis, and another student, Patricia Lane, are also murdered, presumably for what they knew.
Strangely, although he appears in the book's opening sentence, Poirot slips into the background for much of the investigation, carried out by one Inspector Sharpe. This, again, would be an observable trend in later Poirot novels.
Eventually we discover that the smuggling is being run by one of the hostel residents, Valerie Hobhouse. The murders, however, are the work of her accomplice, student Nigel Chapman. Early on we are told he was estranged from his father. However, it is only in the closing chapters that Poirot announces that, years earlier, Chapman's father had covered up the fact that Chapman had killed his own mother. At the time he had forced his son to write a confession, which he promised to keep secret - as long as his son was never involved in any sort of criminal activity again.
Although generally faithful to the main plot the adaptation is, I feel, a much more balanced tale, with far more intrigue. We are introduced to Chapman's father, Sir Arthur Stanley, much earlier (although we don't initially know the link with Chapman himself). Japp (who once again replaces the local investigating officer) knows Sir Stanley from the past and is wary of him (he later tells Poirot he believes Sir Stanley murdered his wife ten years earlier). Mrs Nicoletis has become the ringleader of the smuggling (which utilises student rucksacks to bring diamonds into the UK from the continent). A mysterious man is seen (on at least three occasions) observing the hostel: he is later revealed to be a Customs and Excise officer, and one of the students, American Sally Finch, is now working undercover for him. Celia's observing of someone hiding a rucksack in a back alley boiler room is a more prominent clue as to the reason for her murder. By the same token, when politics student Pat visits the ailing Sir Stanley in hospital she discovers photos in a family album - making the link with Chapman.
Poirot has a more theatrical summing up, and when a mouse startles Miss Lemon, Chapman does a runner, before being apprehended in the local underground station.
A historical background to the episode is the Jarrow Marches, which took place in October 1936, locating the adaptation in the customary 1930s era.
One regular feature of the adaptations was the slimming down of the cast. In the original Hickory Dickory Dock novel the hostel seems a larger establishment (two buildings combined into one) and there are significantly more students. Interestingly, those who are omitted for the adaptation are the foreign students. Christie's cast originally featured Indian, Dutch, French, Egyptian and West Indian students, alongside the British. Perhaps the TV producers felt this was far less likely to have been the case in the mid 1930s than in the post-war setting of the novel.
The customary humour comes from Japp staying at Poirot's flat (while Mrs Japp is on holiday). He doesn't take to his host's fancy food - or to the central heating! In the finale, Japp returns the compliment. Predictably, Poirot turns his nose up at Japp's offering of mash, mushy peas and faggots!
Thursday, 31 December 2015
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
42. Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Air date: 01/01/1995
Published: 1938
After a year's break (the first since its inception) Agatha Christie's Poirot returned with what has become one of my favourite episodes - Hercule Poirot's Christmas.
Indeed, since 2010 (thanks, initially, to ITV3, and, latterly, to the DVD collection I have amassed) it has become a family tradition to watch the festive murder of the aged Simeon Lee a few days before Christmas.
The original opens with Stephen Farr - son of an old mining colleague of Lee's - on a train from London to the Lee country home. On board he meets Pilar Estrevados, daughter of Lee's late daughter Jennifer, heading in the same direction.
Agatha Christie created chapter divisions corresponding to calendar dates, from December 22nd to 28th. The TV adaptation follows this (with a calendar appearing periodically on screen), although, for some reason, the dates are amended to 21st - 25th.
The opening chapter introduces the family members: stay-at-home Alfred Lee and wife Lydia; ambitious, penny-pinching George Lee (MP) and his young, glamourous wife Magdalene; and artistic runaway David Lee and his wife Hilda. We meet black-sheep of the family Harry Lee on 23rd.
Most of the action happens in the long chapter for Christmas Eve. Simeon Lee, who has made his money in mining, gathers his family, while pretending to phone his solicitor about changing his will. He accuses all of them of being "namby pamby weaklings". News that Pilar and Harry will be living in permanently also ruffles a few feathers. During dinner the family hear an awful commotion from Lee's room (he never comes downstairs). Breaking into his locked room, they find him on the floor, with his throat cut. Some uncut diamonds have disappeared from his safe. Supt Sugden, who had visited earlier to collect money for a police orphanage, is quickly on the scene to begin the investigation. We then cut to Poirot (who doesn't appear until page 100) dining with his friend Colonel Johnson, the county Chief Constable. Both are called in on the crime. The rest of the chapter sees the three men interviewing all the main suspects.
The diamonds are eventually discovered in one of Lydia Lee's miniature garden displays. Stephen Farr is not who he says he is; neither is Pilar, while George Lee and his wife both claim to have been on the phone at the (apparent) time of the murder.
Poirot eventually deduces that Supt Sugden had committed the murder earlier in the evening (when visiting to collect funds). He had piled up furniture in Lee's room and attached a cord around it, before dropping it out of the window. Later he had returned and pulled the cord to cause the furniture to collapse, creating the impression that Lee was murdered later in the evening than in fact he was. Motive? Sugden was one of those children Lee had boasted of having sired "on the wrong side of the blanket". On no less than four occasions in the early part of the book we are told that Lees don't forget things, and will often wait years to get revenge on someone. That is the biggest clue.
The TV adaptation is very faithful to the story - even including several speeches almost verbatim from the book. Such changes as are made, are I believe, an improvement on the original (for reasons I will explain).
It opens with an extended flashback to 1896. A young Simeon Lee kills his prospecting partner over some uncut diamonds. Injured, he is rescued by a South African woman with whom he stays for a while. However, he eventually runs out on her. A distinct birthmark on her face identifies her as the mysterious, elderly woman who turns up in the local village, staying at the pub, during the time of the murder. This becomes a major clue for the viewer. Although Lee had mined in South Africa, the original does not suggest Sugden's mother was South African.
We then see Poirot and Chief Insp Japp bidding each other a happy Christmas, before Poirot discovers the central heating in his flat has broken down. At that moment Simeon Lee phones him, inviting him to come and stay for Christmas. Lee is worried that his life is in danger. Thus, Poirot is present when the murder takes place. He subsequently 'rescues' Japp from his Welsh in-laws (Japp thus replaces Colonel Johnson). The events are more truncated for TV, the murder taking place on the evening of the 22nd.
Not for the first time in Agatha Christie's Poirot some characters are cut from the original; namely Stephen Farr and David (and Hilda) Lee. This, I think, greatly improves the flow. Farr doesn't really add much to the original, while David reads as something of a cross between the loyal Alfred and the renegade Harry. It is now Harry who meets Pilar on the train, and when it is discovered that she is not really Pilar (but Pilar's friend) it is Harry (no longer her uncle!) who forms the romantic attachment with her at the end (rather than Farr).
The producers went to town on the 'Christmas feel' for this story. Snow is thick on the ground. No snow is mentioned in the original; indeed, when Sudgen leaves after his initial visit, the original has him telling butler Tresillian: "I think we shall have a frost tonight. Good thing: the weather's been very unseasonable lately." For TV that becomes: "We'll been having more snow tonight, I shouldn't wonder." Carol singing appears and there is also a very 'Christmassy' twist on the Poirot theme score that recurs during quieter linking scenes.
The adaptation ends on the customary light-hearted note. Poirot and Japp exchange gifts. Japp is delighted with his cigars; Poirot, predictably, less enamoured with the gloves knitted for him by Mrs Japp! Wonderful!
Published: 1938
After a year's break (the first since its inception) Agatha Christie's Poirot returned with what has become one of my favourite episodes - Hercule Poirot's Christmas.
Indeed, since 2010 (thanks, initially, to ITV3, and, latterly, to the DVD collection I have amassed) it has become a family tradition to watch the festive murder of the aged Simeon Lee a few days before Christmas.
The original opens with Stephen Farr - son of an old mining colleague of Lee's - on a train from London to the Lee country home. On board he meets Pilar Estrevados, daughter of Lee's late daughter Jennifer, heading in the same direction.
Agatha Christie created chapter divisions corresponding to calendar dates, from December 22nd to 28th. The TV adaptation follows this (with a calendar appearing periodically on screen), although, for some reason, the dates are amended to 21st - 25th.
The opening chapter introduces the family members: stay-at-home Alfred Lee and wife Lydia; ambitious, penny-pinching George Lee (MP) and his young, glamourous wife Magdalene; and artistic runaway David Lee and his wife Hilda. We meet black-sheep of the family Harry Lee on 23rd.
Most of the action happens in the long chapter for Christmas Eve. Simeon Lee, who has made his money in mining, gathers his family, while pretending to phone his solicitor about changing his will. He accuses all of them of being "namby pamby weaklings". News that Pilar and Harry will be living in permanently also ruffles a few feathers. During dinner the family hear an awful commotion from Lee's room (he never comes downstairs). Breaking into his locked room, they find him on the floor, with his throat cut. Some uncut diamonds have disappeared from his safe. Supt Sugden, who had visited earlier to collect money for a police orphanage, is quickly on the scene to begin the investigation. We then cut to Poirot (who doesn't appear until page 100) dining with his friend Colonel Johnson, the county Chief Constable. Both are called in on the crime. The rest of the chapter sees the three men interviewing all the main suspects.
The diamonds are eventually discovered in one of Lydia Lee's miniature garden displays. Stephen Farr is not who he says he is; neither is Pilar, while George Lee and his wife both claim to have been on the phone at the (apparent) time of the murder.
Poirot eventually deduces that Supt Sugden had committed the murder earlier in the evening (when visiting to collect funds). He had piled up furniture in Lee's room and attached a cord around it, before dropping it out of the window. Later he had returned and pulled the cord to cause the furniture to collapse, creating the impression that Lee was murdered later in the evening than in fact he was. Motive? Sugden was one of those children Lee had boasted of having sired "on the wrong side of the blanket". On no less than four occasions in the early part of the book we are told that Lees don't forget things, and will often wait years to get revenge on someone. That is the biggest clue.
The TV adaptation is very faithful to the story - even including several speeches almost verbatim from the book. Such changes as are made, are I believe, an improvement on the original (for reasons I will explain).
It opens with an extended flashback to 1896. A young Simeon Lee kills his prospecting partner over some uncut diamonds. Injured, he is rescued by a South African woman with whom he stays for a while. However, he eventually runs out on her. A distinct birthmark on her face identifies her as the mysterious, elderly woman who turns up in the local village, staying at the pub, during the time of the murder. This becomes a major clue for the viewer. Although Lee had mined in South Africa, the original does not suggest Sugden's mother was South African.
We then see Poirot and Chief Insp Japp bidding each other a happy Christmas, before Poirot discovers the central heating in his flat has broken down. At that moment Simeon Lee phones him, inviting him to come and stay for Christmas. Lee is worried that his life is in danger. Thus, Poirot is present when the murder takes place. He subsequently 'rescues' Japp from his Welsh in-laws (Japp thus replaces Colonel Johnson). The events are more truncated for TV, the murder taking place on the evening of the 22nd.
Not for the first time in Agatha Christie's Poirot some characters are cut from the original; namely Stephen Farr and David (and Hilda) Lee. This, I think, greatly improves the flow. Farr doesn't really add much to the original, while David reads as something of a cross between the loyal Alfred and the renegade Harry. It is now Harry who meets Pilar on the train, and when it is discovered that she is not really Pilar (but Pilar's friend) it is Harry (no longer her uncle!) who forms the romantic attachment with her at the end (rather than Farr).
The producers went to town on the 'Christmas feel' for this story. Snow is thick on the ground. No snow is mentioned in the original; indeed, when Sudgen leaves after his initial visit, the original has him telling butler Tresillian: "I think we shall have a frost tonight. Good thing: the weather's been very unseasonable lately." For TV that becomes: "We'll been having more snow tonight, I shouldn't wonder." Carol singing appears and there is also a very 'Christmassy' twist on the Poirot theme score that recurs during quieter linking scenes.
The adaptation ends on the customary light-hearted note. Poirot and Japp exchange gifts. Japp is delighted with his cigars; Poirot, predictably, less enamoured with the gloves knitted for him by Mrs Japp! Wonderful!
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Interlude: "Poirot and Me"
Chapter 10 of "Poirot and Me" focuses on the death of David Suchet's mother - and the effect Suchet thinks it had on his performance during the filming of series five. This included collapsing in the heat of Morocco while filming The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb.
Commenting on the the adaptation of The Yellow Iris (which he describes as a "very strong" story) Suchet recognises fans' sensitivities when it comes to the TV version departing from an original story. Not all Agatha Christie's stories, he points out, adapted easily for the small screen, and changes were sometimes necessary. This is undeniably true.
He also emphasises how much he enjoyed The Chocolate Box, giving him the opportunity to play Poirot as a much younger man in the flashback sequences.
Suchet appeared in the film The Lucona Affair before the opportunity to appear on stage in a Harold Pinter-directed play, Oleanna, raised the annual dilemma about whether or not another series of Agatha Christie's Poirot would be commissioned. When Suchet accepted the stage role London Weekend Television decided to postpone filming of the next series for a year.
Commenting on the the adaptation of The Yellow Iris (which he describes as a "very strong" story) Suchet recognises fans' sensitivities when it comes to the TV version departing from an original story. Not all Agatha Christie's stories, he points out, adapted easily for the small screen, and changes were sometimes necessary. This is undeniably true.
He also emphasises how much he enjoyed The Chocolate Box, giving him the opportunity to play Poirot as a much younger man in the flashback sequences.
Suchet appeared in the film The Lucona Affair before the opportunity to appear on stage in a Harold Pinter-directed play, Oleanna, raised the annual dilemma about whether or not another series of Agatha Christie's Poirot would be commissioned. When Suchet accepted the stage role London Weekend Television decided to postpone filming of the next series for a year.
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