"Agatha Christie: Poirot" Hickory Dickory Dock (1995)

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Anthony Horowitz (dramatisation)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

12 February 1995 (Season 6, Episode 2)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

Miss Lemon persuades Poirot to investigate a series of apparently minor thefts in a university hostel, but simple kleptomania soon turns to baffling homicide.

Plot Keywords:

Rucksack | Kleptomania | Morphine | Hostel | Hercule Poirot

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Philip Jackson	...	Chief Inspector James Japp
Pauline Moran	...	Miss Felicity Lemon
Paris Jefferson	...	Sally Finch
Jonathan Firth	...	Nigel Chapman
Damian Lewis	...	Leonard Bateson
Gilbert Martin	...	Colin McNabb
Elinor Morriston	...	Valerie Hobhouse
Polly Kemp	...	Patricia Lane
Jessica Lloyd	...	Celia Austin
Sarah Badel	...	Mrs. Hubbard
Rachel Bell	...	Mrs. Nicoletis
Granville Saxton	...	Mr. Casterman
David Burke	...	Sir Arthur Stanley
Bernard Lloyd	...	Mr. Endicott

Runtime:

Brazil:103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Brushfield Street, Spitalfields, Shoreditch, London, England, UK

Company:

Carnival Films

Trivia:

Although Agatha Christie's original story took place in the 1950s, the setting is moved to the 1930s for continuity reasons for this series.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Poirot and Japp are reading the newspaper at breakfast (an hour into the film), the back page of the section held by Poirot is clearly identical to the back page of the paper bought at a newsstand by Japp at the beginning (approx. 4 minutes in), even though a few days have passed in the story.

Quotes:

Mrs. Hubbard: I think she might have been a secret drinker.
Chief Inspector Japp: After all the bottles we found in her room, there's no secret about it.

Solid Poirot mystery

It all begins with a series of thefts of seemingly unrelated objects in a hostel for students on Hickory Road, London. Concerned for her sister, who is the housekeeper there, Miss Lemon asks Hercule Poirot to look into the matter. He agrees, but soon the stakes get higher when a girl, who had admitted that she was responsible for most (not all) of the thefts, is found murdered.

"Hickory Dickory Dock" is a solid brain exercise, without being as mind-numbingly complicated as "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe". Murder, theft and diamond smuggling are the crimes involved, and the final twist that ties everything together is revealed only in the last 2 minutes! The characters are interesting, particularly the psychology student Colin McNabb and the mysterious American girl Sally Finch, Inspector Japp has his funny moments (in perhaps the closest this series has come to "toilet humor"), and Miss Lemon gets a more integral part to the story than usual. (***)