Suchet's role in stage-play Oleanna was the cause of production on episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot being postponed for a year. He clearly enjoyed what was a challenging and demanding role, and was rewarded with some excellent reviews.
Four episodes of Poirot were filmed in 1994, two of which were broadcast the following year, and the other two in 1996.
The first of these was Hercule Poirot's Christmas, which I have already referred to as one of my favourite episodes, and one that I enjoy watching every year in the week leading up to Christmas. Suchet comments on how much Philip Jackson enjoyed the episode, as it gave him the opportunity to flesh out the character of Japp somewhat - away from his usual London setting.
Suchet describes the story as "not in the slightest bit 'Christmassy'", which I would disagree with. To some extent, of course, it depends what you mean by 'Christmassy', but I thought the production was full of touches that made it the perfect Christmas murder mystery: the thick snow, Christmas carols, a large old country manor, and a musical score that, in between scenes, added a Christmas feel to the Poirot theme music.
The last of the four episodes filmed that year, Dumb Witness, was one Suchet clearly enjoyed immensely, partly for the storyline and partly for the Lake District location given to the adaptation.
That year he also appeared in a stage production called What a Performance, about the post-war comedian Sid Field. The chapter ends with an ominous final sentence - presaging the longest-ever break in production of Poirot stories.
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Friday, 19 August 2016
45. Dumb Witness
Air date: 16/03/1996
Published: 1937
Dumb Witness is one of those stories where my preferences lay decidedly with the TV adaptation.
The novel opens with the stark sentence, "Miss Arundell died on May 1st." It quickly becomes apparent that what follows is by way of flashback, as we are introduced to aging Miss Emily Arundell, her fussy companion, Miss Lawson, her nieces and nephews Theresa (engaged to a young doctor), the seemingly amoral Charles, and Bella (married to a Greek doctor). All three are keen to get their hands on some of Miss Arundell's considerable fortune.
There is an accident while all three are staying with their aunt. Miss Arundell falls down the stairs at night. Bob, her dog, is blamed for leaving his ball at the top of the stairs. Fortunately Miss Arundell is not seriously injured. While recovering she begins to have doubts about the cause of the incident, and writes to both her solicitor (to change her will) and to Poirot.
It is only when we get to chapter five, and Poirot is reading his mail, that we discover that the previous four chapters have been narrated by Captain Hastings. Although Miss Arundell wrote on April 28th it has taken some weeks for the letter to reach our Belgian detective.
Intrigued, the pair head off for the town of Market Basing. However, upon arrival, they discover that Miss Arundell died some weeks previously - apparently of liver failure. The change of will had seen her leave everything to Miss Lawson.
However, when Poirot discovers a nail in the landing skirting board he suspects that Miss Arundell's fall had been attempted murder. He begins to investigate further.
The middle part of the book is, to my mind, rather ponderous, as Poirot visits and interviews the various leading players and other locals. Eventually Miss Lawson remembers seeing someone kneeling on the landing on the night of the accident, wearing a brooch with the initials 'TA' on it. This obviously suggests Theresa Arundell had attempted to murder her aunt.
However, Poirot eventually realises that Miss Lawson was looking in a mirror at the time! 'TA' therefore becomes 'AT' - (Ara)bella Tanios. Bella had subsequently created the impression that she was terrified of her husband, Dr Tanios, and had left him, seeking sanctuary with Miss Lawson.
A rather unnecessary addition to the story is an interest in spiritualism. Two sisters, the Tripps, and Miss Lawson, show an enthusiasm for the practice, and claim that Miss Arundell was emanating a "luminous haze" at the time of her death.
Very late in the story Poirot introduces the element of phosphorous to account for this. Bella Tanios had poisoned her aunt. She hadn't realised that the will had been changed (although Charles was aware of this before his aunt's death). Motive? She disliked her husband and wanted to be rid of him and to make a life of her own. Poirot gives her a letter with his summary of events. She commits suicide before he gets to do his usual summing up.
Dumb Witness is one of Christie's longer Poirot novels. Considerable tightening up of the storyline takes place to bring it to the small screen.
The adaptation opens with Bob watching someone doing something nefarious on the landing. Miss Lawson hears Bob bark and sees the person in the mirror. We clearly see 'TA' (now on the breast pocket of a dressing gown, rather than on a brooch) - providing the initial clue much earlier.
A common feature in Agatha Christie's Poirot has been for Poirot to be present at the time of a murder, rather than hearing everything in flashback. So here he and Hastings arrive in the Lake District (a different setting to the novel) to see Charles (an old acquaintance of Hastings) attempt to beat the motorboat world speed record. Perhaps because of the link with Hastings Charles is far less criminally intentioned in the adaptation.
Bob's trick with the ball is now that he both bunts it down the stairs and runs after it to catch it (in the novel he bunts it down for others to retrieve). Afterwards he always returns it to his basket - which initially alerts Poirot to the unlikelihood of his ball being at the top of the stairs. The skirting board nail, covered in varnish, has become a screw eyelet, which later gets removed - confirming Poirot's suspicions. This is, I think, more plausible than the nail being left in the skirting board for weeks as in the original novel, and makes for a good clue to Poirot being on the right track.
Theresa's fiance, Dr Donaldson, is omitted altogether, as are several of the village characters that Poirot interviews in the novel. However, Miss Arundel's doctor, Dr Grainger, is retained. In fact, if anything, he has a bigger role in the adaptation. First, he has a romantic association with Miss Lawson (who is not quite so fussy as in the novel), and it is he who first suspects phosphorous when told of a green luminous haze on Miss Arundel's breath shortly before she died. He telephones Dr Tanios, but the call is taken by Bella. Shortly after, he is murdered. Big clue. A red herring is thrown in, however: we see Charles using a mixture containing phosphorous to polish his boat.
In his summing up Poirot refers to the mirror image of 'AT'. Bella, it now transpires, added phosphorous to her aunt's liver capsules, which gets round why she killed her even after the will had been changed: she had, in fact, added the substance to the capsule before the change of will, not knowing exactly when her aunt would take the capsule in question.
Dumb Witness marked the end of season six, which had been spread over 1995 and 1996. It would be four years before we would see Poirot on our TV screens again - the longest gap in the entire history of the programme.
Published: 1937
Dumb Witness is one of those stories where my preferences lay decidedly with the TV adaptation.
The novel opens with the stark sentence, "Miss Arundell died on May 1st." It quickly becomes apparent that what follows is by way of flashback, as we are introduced to aging Miss Emily Arundell, her fussy companion, Miss Lawson, her nieces and nephews Theresa (engaged to a young doctor), the seemingly amoral Charles, and Bella (married to a Greek doctor). All three are keen to get their hands on some of Miss Arundell's considerable fortune.
There is an accident while all three are staying with their aunt. Miss Arundell falls down the stairs at night. Bob, her dog, is blamed for leaving his ball at the top of the stairs. Fortunately Miss Arundell is not seriously injured. While recovering she begins to have doubts about the cause of the incident, and writes to both her solicitor (to change her will) and to Poirot.
It is only when we get to chapter five, and Poirot is reading his mail, that we discover that the previous four chapters have been narrated by Captain Hastings. Although Miss Arundell wrote on April 28th it has taken some weeks for the letter to reach our Belgian detective.
Intrigued, the pair head off for the town of Market Basing. However, upon arrival, they discover that Miss Arundell died some weeks previously - apparently of liver failure. The change of will had seen her leave everything to Miss Lawson.
However, when Poirot discovers a nail in the landing skirting board he suspects that Miss Arundell's fall had been attempted murder. He begins to investigate further.
The middle part of the book is, to my mind, rather ponderous, as Poirot visits and interviews the various leading players and other locals. Eventually Miss Lawson remembers seeing someone kneeling on the landing on the night of the accident, wearing a brooch with the initials 'TA' on it. This obviously suggests Theresa Arundell had attempted to murder her aunt.
However, Poirot eventually realises that Miss Lawson was looking in a mirror at the time! 'TA' therefore becomes 'AT' - (Ara)bella Tanios. Bella had subsequently created the impression that she was terrified of her husband, Dr Tanios, and had left him, seeking sanctuary with Miss Lawson.
A rather unnecessary addition to the story is an interest in spiritualism. Two sisters, the Tripps, and Miss Lawson, show an enthusiasm for the practice, and claim that Miss Arundell was emanating a "luminous haze" at the time of her death.
Very late in the story Poirot introduces the element of phosphorous to account for this. Bella Tanios had poisoned her aunt. She hadn't realised that the will had been changed (although Charles was aware of this before his aunt's death). Motive? She disliked her husband and wanted to be rid of him and to make a life of her own. Poirot gives her a letter with his summary of events. She commits suicide before he gets to do his usual summing up.
Dumb Witness is one of Christie's longer Poirot novels. Considerable tightening up of the storyline takes place to bring it to the small screen.
The adaptation opens with Bob watching someone doing something nefarious on the landing. Miss Lawson hears Bob bark and sees the person in the mirror. We clearly see 'TA' (now on the breast pocket of a dressing gown, rather than on a brooch) - providing the initial clue much earlier.
A common feature in Agatha Christie's Poirot has been for Poirot to be present at the time of a murder, rather than hearing everything in flashback. So here he and Hastings arrive in the Lake District (a different setting to the novel) to see Charles (an old acquaintance of Hastings) attempt to beat the motorboat world speed record. Perhaps because of the link with Hastings Charles is far less criminally intentioned in the adaptation.
Bob's trick with the ball is now that he both bunts it down the stairs and runs after it to catch it (in the novel he bunts it down for others to retrieve). Afterwards he always returns it to his basket - which initially alerts Poirot to the unlikelihood of his ball being at the top of the stairs. The skirting board nail, covered in varnish, has become a screw eyelet, which later gets removed - confirming Poirot's suspicions. This is, I think, more plausible than the nail being left in the skirting board for weeks as in the original novel, and makes for a good clue to Poirot being on the right track.
Theresa's fiance, Dr Donaldson, is omitted altogether, as are several of the village characters that Poirot interviews in the novel. However, Miss Arundel's doctor, Dr Grainger, is retained. In fact, if anything, he has a bigger role in the adaptation. First, he has a romantic association with Miss Lawson (who is not quite so fussy as in the novel), and it is he who first suspects phosphorous when told of a green luminous haze on Miss Arundel's breath shortly before she died. He telephones Dr Tanios, but the call is taken by Bella. Shortly after, he is murdered. Big clue. A red herring is thrown in, however: we see Charles using a mixture containing phosphorous to polish his boat.
In his summing up Poirot refers to the mirror image of 'AT'. Bella, it now transpires, added phosphorous to her aunt's liver capsules, which gets round why she killed her even after the will had been changed: she had, in fact, added the substance to the capsule before the change of will, not knowing exactly when her aunt would take the capsule in question.
Dumb Witness marked the end of season six, which had been spread over 1995 and 1996. It would be four years before we would see Poirot on our TV screens again - the longest gap in the entire history of the programme.
Friday, 5 February 2016
44. Murder on the Links
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)