Original Airdate: 12 February 1995 Written by: Anthony Horowitz Directed by: Andrew Grieve Recurring cast: Inspector Japp, Miss Lemon Based on:Hickory Dickory Dock
Tropes:
Adaptation Deviation: The reason Patricia Lane is killed is because she came upon a photo in Sir Arthur Stanley's photo album that revealed Nigel's relationship to him, and the subject of Valerie's passports isn't brought up at all.
A subplot is added where Sally Finch sneaks away to communicate with a sinister-looking man, who is later revealed to be John Casterman, an agent of the Customs and Excise office who was investigating the smuggling ring around the hostel.
Another subplot is Japp deciding to accept Poirot's offer to stay with at Whitehaven Mansions while his wife is out on holiday, which then provides the humor in the episode.
Adaptational Job Change: Valerie Hobhouse is now a fashion design student rather than the owner of a beauty salon.
Several of the lodgers at the hostel, some of whom happen to be persons of color like Akibombo were left out of the story.
The subplot about the green ink is left out altogether.
Artistic License – History: Due to the Setting Update that puts all of the stories in the Poirot canon to be placed in the 1930s, this creates a minor issue where Sally passes herself off as a Fulbright scholar - said scholarship was established only in 1946, after WWII ended.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: Mrs Nicoletis of Hickory Dickory Dock is stabbed to death. In the novel, she was poisoned.
Evil-Detecting Dog: There is an evil-detecting mouse which becomes a plot point later on.
Foreign Queasine: Poirot serves some of his native Belgian cuisine to Japp and Miss Lemon for dinner, which includes pork trotters and innards. Japp then gets back at Poirot much later by serving him some English cuisine, which to Poirot is foreign - and it's Poirot's turn to be weirded out by the English serving organ meat to him!
Good All Along: The sinister-looking man who's often seen interacting with Sally, and who threatens to deal with Poirot, turns out to be a government agent named John Casterman. That being said, Good Is Not Nice is in play here, and he gets off on the wrong foot with Poirot before he explains everything.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Nigel Chapman (aka Nigel Stanley) is a bespectacled young man who has murdered four women, including his own mother, all because they knew too much about his schemes.
Men Can't Keep House: Inspector Japp's kitchen is, to put it simply, a mess while his wife isn't around and he has to do everything. It's getting overwhelmed by the combination of doing housework on top of his regular police duties that leads him to stay with Poirot for a while.
Mistaken for Toilet: Inverted. Inspector Japp, while staying over at Poirot's place due to his wife being on vacation, mistakes the bidet for a face-washing implement. When he recounts this to Poirot, the latter doesn't even attempt to disabuse Japp of his assumption.
Nice Mice: There is a little mouse who becomes a witness to the thefts and the murders. In fact, the mouse is more than a Running Gag or an object of the Mother Goose poem: it is also... shall we say... Chekhov's Gunmouse?
Odd Couple: The subplot of Japp staying with Poirot while Mrs. Japp is away is full of this, contrasting the pair's lifestyles and palates.
Poor Communication Kills: A Played for Laughs example. Japp is curious as to what purpose the bidet is, and given that Poirot tries to avoid the subject especially while they're at dinner, Japp then uses it later to cool himself down after finding Poirot's apartment a little too warm.
Railroad Tracks of Doom: In Hickory Dickory Dock, someone ends up falling/jumping in front of an Underground train.
Spotting the Thread: A literal example. When Poirot dismantles a rucksack he bought from the shop that had belonged to Mrs Nicoletis, Miss Lemon points out the distinctive stitching in the back of the bag - which turns out to be similar to the stitching Valerie uses for her fashion designs.
Unrelated in the Adaptation: Mrs Nicoletis isn't Valerie's mother in this adaptation, which makes the fact that they're both in the smuggling ring more of an event of mere happenstance.
