Air date: 11/02/1996
Published: 1923
From the first post-Second World War novel Agatha Christie's Poirot lurched back in time to the second-ever novel to feature the Belgian detective.
Murder on the Links, like its predecessor, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, has Captain Hastings narrating, and repeats some of the latter's description of Poirot himself.
The original plot is a clever one, although, in my opinion, drags somewhat towards the end, with possibly one or two twists too many.
It opens with Hastings meeting an unidentified young woman on a train from France. Poirot then receives a letter from a P.T Renauld in France asking for his assistance. However, when the couple arrive Monsieur Renauld has just been murdered! His body was found in a newly dug grave on the golf course adjacent to the family home. His wife, meanwhile, had been left bound and gagged in their bedroom. An Examining Magistrate, one M.Haulet, takes initial responsibility, and we are later introduced to Inspector Giraud from the Surete, who forms a dislike of Poirot.
Renauld was visited by a woman on the evening of the murder, possibly neighbour Madame Daubreuil, or possibly the mysterious Bella Duveen (a letter from her is found in the dead man's coat pocket). His son Jack, it seems, was on his way to South America that evening (dispatched by his father on some mysterious business matter). Jack is in a romantic relationship with Madame Daubreuil's daughter Marthe.
Hastings meets the mysterious woman he had met on the train again, and shows her the dead body (being kept by the police in a shed adjoining the house). The dagger later goes missing.
Then a second dead body turns up in another shed on the grounds. Initially it appears the stolen dagger was used, until the examining doctor declares this person had died earlier than Renauld! In fact, he had been stabbed after having died (probably of an epileptic fit).
A visit to Paris by Poirot uncovers a photograph showing that Madame Daubreuil was, in fact, the Madame Beroldy of a notorious murder case years earlier. The circumstances of that case had been similar (her husband had been murdered and she had been found bound and gagged). It was later claimed that she had been party to the murder and that it had been carried out by a friend of her husband's, Georges Conneau, who had subsequently disappeared.
To cut a convoluted story short, Poirot eventually reveals (quite a while before the end of the story) that Renauld was, in fact, Conneau. He had stage-managed his own (fake) death, because he was being blackmailed by Madame Daubreuil. His plan was to disappear, and for his wife to later join him. The death on his grounds of an argumentative tramp had given him the opportunity. However, while digging the grave near a planned golf course bunker (to put the tramp in, dressed in his clothes) he had himself been stabbed in the back. He and Jack had taken each other's overcoats, so the letter in the pocket was for Jack, not his father.
Evidence points to Bella Duveen as the most likely suspect, and Hastings resolves to protect her. The police, however, eventually arrest Renauld's son Jack. At the preliminary trial hearing Bella Duveen turns up dramatically to confess. However, she is not the Bella Hastings thinks is Bella! She is, in fact, her twin sister. Hastings' Bella is Dulcie. Confused?
As it turns out, it wasn't Jack. It wasn't Bella (they were protecting each other), it was Marthe. Renauld had disapproved of her relationship with his son. Poirot concocts a plan in which it seems Madame Renauld is going to disinherit her son with a newly written will, to flush out Marthe, who attempts to kill her before she can do so.
The story ends with Hastings and Dulcie together - it was Dulcie he had actually met on the train at the beginning.
The adaptation is, as has often been the case, very faithful to the essential elements of the plot, with some simplifications. It opens with a news footage report of the Beroldy case. Keen eyed viewers shouldn't have too much difficulty recognising, from the albeit grainy photos, that Conneau (or Connor as he is for TV) is Renauld.
Notably there is only one Duveen girl, Bella, who Hastings first sees singing at a club where he and Poirot are dining. She had been in a relationship with Jack Renauld. The chain of events on the night of the murder had led both to believe the other was the murderer.
An interesting, but rather irrelevant, backdrop to the story is the Deuville cycle race, which Jack is taking part in. It is at the conclusion to the race that Geraud has him arrested. Interestingly, Geraud's antipathy toward Poirot comes over even more strongly on TV. In the book the two have a £500 wager over solving the case - but this comes well into the story. For TV this comes much earlier, and is now a winner takes all, with Geraud agreeing to give up his famous pipe if he loses - provided Poirot agrees to shave off his mustache if he loses!
In the tender finale Poirot reunites Hastings with Bella Duveen. In the books Hastings would subsequently marry Dulcie and move to Argentina. His appearance in later novels being confined to occasions when he was visiting Poirot.
Friday, 5 February 2016
Thursday, 31 December 2015
43. Hickory Dickory Dock
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!
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!
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.
Tuesday, 24 November 2015
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.
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.
* * *
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.
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
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.
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.
Monday, 16 November 2015
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!
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!
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