History Series / Poirot

The ITV series of television adaptations of Creator/AgathaChristie's novels and short stories starring Literature/HerculePoirot. By which we mean it adapts ''all'' of the Poirot novels and short stories. '''''[[LongRunningBookSeries All of them.]]''''' The series ran as hour-long episodes on Creator/{{ITV}} (UK) and Creator/{{PBS}} (US) from 1989 to 1993, with sets of feature-length specials running in 1994, 1995, 2000-1, 2003-4, 2005-6, 2008-9, and 2010. The final set of stories was released in 2013, just missing David Suchet's original intention to do all of them before his 65th birthday in May 2011.

Creator/DavidSuchet portrays the titular Belgian detective, and his performance is generally regarded as the definitive version.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: In ''The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim'', a deliveryman says that the parrot is "for Mr. Poy-rott". Poirot tries correcting him with his own pronunciation of his name, but the deliveryman now calls the parrot "Poirot" while STILL calling Poirot "Poy-rott".
** Same thing happens in ''The Affair at the Victory Ball'' when a receptionist calls Poirot "Hercules Poy-rott".
** In ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas'', Inspector Japp gets Pilar Estravados' last name wrong: it is ''es-TRA-va-dos'', not ''es-tra-VAH-dos''.

*** The Duke of Merton is more likeable in this adaptation, and ends up rewarding Poirot for saving him from [[spoiler:unknowingly marrying a murderess.]]

* NudeColoredClothes: In ''Four and Twenty Blackbirds'', a model of Henry Gascoigne's is seated in a chair wearing her skin-coloured clothes and making a pose while other artists paint her portraits.

** In ''Lord Edgware Dies'',Japp shouts out "Nooooo!!!" after [[spoiler:Alton the Butler]] falls to his death trying to attack him in a botched up ChaseScene.

** A similar argument could be made for ''The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim'', which is also murder-less and includes several comedic scenes, some courtesy of a parrot Poirot is forced to pet-sit.

%%* ChaseScene: Not a rare occurrence in pre-2003 scripts.

%%* DeadMansChest: ''The Adventure of the Clapham Cook''

** A downplayed example of this is at the end of ''Yellow Iris'': after solving the case and having the guilty party arrested, Poirot laments to Hastings that while the murderer had set up the events to take place in a restaurant, he himself had ironically spent so much time setting up a FakingTheDead scenario and presenting his findings to his suspects that he didn't have the time to eat anything the whole evening and it's so late that every restaurant in the city is already closed. Hastings says he knows a place that's still open, leading him to a food truck selling fish and chips and getting a portion for himself and Poirot. He naturally hesitates at first, having stated that the English don't have a concept called "cuisine" and that their "meat is overcooked, the vegetables, soggy and the cheese, ineditable" at the beginning of the episode, but considering the circumstances, [[NotSoAboveItAll he then starts happily eating his portion, stating that "when it is so cold outside and there is not much else to be had, it is...passable."]]

* AdaptationalWimp: Colin Race (or Lamb) from ''Literature/TheClocks''. In the books, Colin is regarded as a competent agent, despite his temperament being unsuitable for his line of work, which caused him to eventually resign from MI5 at the end of the story. He questions the suspects, comes up some intelligent deductions and he eventually manages to complete his Special Branch assignment on his own. All of these accomplishments were stripped away from him in the adaptation, and were given to Poirot to give the great detective a greater involvement in the story. There is some justification, in that the adaptation also gives him a backstory involving a murdered lover for which he blames himself, thus explaining a more emotional and less effective involvement in events.

** While David Hunter from ''Taken at the Flood'' could be a jerk, he was still charming and witty in the novel. The series makes him a lot more obviously cold and creepy, and has him KickTheDog a few times. For example, rather than just mocking the family for borrowing money from Rosalyn, he publicly humiliates them in the middle of a party by making them hand the money back in front of everyone. [[spoiler:This goes hand in hand with his AdaptaionalVillainy into an insane mass murderer, which ends up turning him into more of a DevilInPlainSight.]]

** In the adaptation of ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas'', [[spoiler: Superintendent Sudgen's mother was intent on destroying Simeon Lee's life after he abandoned her and her child, which was not in the novel.]]
** ''The Underdog'' short story is one of the few cases where [[spoiler:the crime was actually manslaughter. The killer turns out to be the victim's submissive secretary who snapped and spontaneously killed his employer after recieving too much verbal abuse.]] The adaptation changes it [[spoiler:to a premediatated murder and changes his motive to a monetary one.]]
** At the end of "Dead Man's Mirror", Poirot deliberately accuses the wrong person [[BluffingTheMurderer since he knows that the real culprit will act to protect them]]. In the original story, this causes the culprit to confess. In the series they are instead caught red-handed trying to drive an innocent character to suicide by {{Gaslighting}} them into thinking ''they'' commited the murder.

** The broad hint that Tim Allerton is gay and the removal of the friendships between Poirot & Tim's mother and Poirot & Rosalie Otterbourne creates a good-sized motivational plothole in the ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'' adaptation. In the book, Poirot lets Tim off the hook for the theft of Linnet's pearls, as Poirot knows Rosalie Otterbourne and Tim are in love. It's established that Poirot feels sympathy for Rosalie over what she's gone through, and wants the two to be happily married. In making Tim gay, though, that removes the whole motive for Poirot to let Tim go, and worse, adds even more unneccesary cruelty to the TraumaCongaLine that Rosalie endures in the story.

** Also subverted toward the end of ''The Adventure of the Western Star'', in which Belgian actress Marie Marvelle makes a conversation ''en français'' in which she confesses her feelings toward her husband, Gregorie Rolf, who is nothing more than a blackmailer. Poirot consoles her and gives her the advice, also ''en français'', that she should annul the marriage.

** One of the In Memoriam condolence letters that Inspector Japp writes at the beginning of ''The Big Four'' is addressed to Honoria Bulstrode, one of the boarding school teachers in ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons''.

* IronicEcho: At the beginning of ''Dead Man's Folly'', Poirot is summoned by Mrs. Oliver via telegram to the battery scene at Nasse, in which Poirot asks, "Mais porquoi?" and Oliver goes into a conversation with him about how she feels "jockeyed about". More than halfway through the episode, the roles are reversed, this time with Poirot summoning her back to the same place via telegram for a conversation of being "jockeyed about", with Mrs. Oliver asking Poirot's question, "Mais porquoi?"

** In ''The Clocks'', [[PoliceAreUseless Hardcastle]] keeps brushing off Nora after she [[SpottingTheThread spots the thread]] at the inquiry. This [[SheKnowsTooMuch does not end well for Nora]].

** In ''The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim'', there are signs all over the race course that say "BP", "Mobiloil" and "Shell", all references to gas station names.

* TookALevelInBadass: Toward the end of ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', [[spoiler:Poirot peels off his fake moustache and posing as Norton to get Hastings' attention, then returns to Norton's room and puts the nightrobe back on him, places him on his bed, and proceeds to shoot him dead in order to teach him a lesson not to taunt or break the famous Belgian detective.]]

** The adaptation of ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'' mentions only the Litchfield, Sharples and Etherington murders, Margaret Litchfield is hanged during the opening credits (whereas she dies in an asylum in the novel), and the serial killer is not labeled as "X", although it is alluded when Poirot speaks to the others; but otherwise, it remains extremely faithful to the novel.

** In the short story "Double Sin", [[spoiler: Mary Durrant]] goes along with the plan at the center of the mystery to steal the miniatures because she's quite young and naïve and doesn't know better. In the show, her response to getting caught is to sneer at Poirot, suggesting that some of her behavior is just an act.

** This happens with Jim Ferguson of ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile''. When hears of Cornelia's [[spoiler:engagement, he looks genuinely brokenhearted and seems to finally realize that his behavior in trying to win her wasn't the best, and his jealous comments from the book are eliminated.]]

** A minor case in ''Literature/TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles'', but a plot point in the investigation involves the suspicious manner in which Lawrence insisted that his stepmother's death is natural, and his feeble attempt to suggest that Mrs Inglethorp might have been ''accidentally'' (rather than willfully) administered due to an overdose of her tonic. When Poirot mentions this oddity, Hastings dismissed it as a common layman mistake, until Poirot reminded his friend that while Lawrence is not a doctor, he has a medical degree and is thus qualified as one. While this is true in the books, in the movie, Lawrence ''is'' a medical professional, and he's working in the same hospital as Cynthia.

* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration: Toward the end of ''The Chocolate Box'', [[spoiler:when Poirot hears that Madame Deroulard killed her own son Paul though she is color-blind and very ill, the detective admires her for her moral courage and sacrifice.]]
* ArtisticLicenseGeology: In "The Lost Mine", Lord Pearson refers to pure silver being "24 karat", as if it were gold. However, silver fineness is measured with decimals, e.g. .925 (sterling) or .999 (fine).
* ArtisticLicenseHistory:

* CerebusSyndrome: After season IX (filmed 2003-2004), the series became what many fans described as "more dark"; in particular, Japp, Miss Lemon and Hastings, who often were used for comic relief in previous installments, [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome no longer were present in the episodes]]. [[BrokenBase Opinions are divided]] on whether it was a good, bad, or mixed development.

* EvilFeelsGood: At the end of ''Lord Edgware Dies'', [[spoiler:Jane Wilkinson admits to enjoying every second of her murder scheme -- including being caught -- because it made her the [[AttentionWhore center of attention]].]]

* ExoticDetective: Poirot himself, a Belgian detective who tends to work in countries other than Belgium, mostly European and occasionally America. He enjoys deliberately [[FunnyForeigner playing up his exoticness]] as a form of ObfuscatingStupidity, and his nationality is often brought up as an excuse for his strange behavior.

* FakeTwinGambit: Done briefly in [[spoiler: ''Elephants Can Remember'']] in order to fulfill a LastRequest, but with tragic results.

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Implied in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': [[spoiler:during a conversation at dinnertime, one of the guests, Toby Luttrell, tells Poirot that though he is very old [[{{Determinator}} he still never gives up on solving cases like this]]. Poirot answers in front of everyone that he has enjoyed being here with them and that "I do not want to miss every single moment. [[{{Foreshadowing}} But the clock, it ticks. Such is the will of God.]]" (implying that he has a few days left to live) Luttrell's response to Poirot: "Oh, we'll miss you, old chap, but you won't be forgotten."]]

* MenCantKeepHouse: Japp in ''Literature/HickoryDickoryDock'', who is forced to live alone for a week after his holiday is cancelled due to the Jarrow marchers. His kitchen turns into a disaster, he burns a shirt he's ironing and he starts looking so disheveled that Poirot invites him to live with him for the rest of the week.

* NudeColoredClothes: In ''Four and Twenty Blackbirds'', a model of Henry Gascoigne's is seated in a chair wearing her skin-colored clothes and making a pose while other artists paint her portraits.

* NotSoDifferent: In the adaptation of ''The Big Four'', Poirot tells off the villain regarding his taste for theatrics. He points out that Poirot is the same, given his need for a SummationGathering instead of just sending in the police to arrest him.

* AssholeVictim: It would probably be easier to name the murder victims Poirot encounters who don't fit this trope! Some examples: Miss Grace Springer in ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons''; Mrs. Clapperton in ''Problem at Sea''; Henry Reedburn in ''The King Of Clubs''; Harrington Pace in ''The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge''; Sir Reuben Astwell in ''The Underdog''; Simeon Lee in ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas''; Lady Boynton in ''Appointment with Death''; Paul Deroulard in ''The Chocolate Box''.

** Frank Carter, from ''Literature/OneTwoBuckleMyShoe'' is much less unpleasant in the TV series as he is in the books. For example, while he's still a somewhat rude jerk, he is still a respectable character, and he does genuinely try to be an upstanding citizen. The book version is a sleazy layabout who is financially dependent on his girlfriend, and refuses to hold down a proper job, and Poirot considers him a waste of space.

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:Poirot, in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': [[SayYourPrayers "Forgive me...]] [[TearJerker forgive..."]]]]

* SuperWindowJump: In ''The Veiled Lady'', when both Poirot and Hastings are cornered by the police for burglary, Poirot distracts them, allowing Hastings more time to run toward the windowed back door exit with the special Chinese fortune box in his hands. But by then the door is locked, so Hastings gets a moment of CrazyAwesome by jumping out through the window, smashing the glass from inside.

** Poirot's personal involvement with the cases is frequently increased by giving him personal connections to the victims or suspects, which were not there in the original novels. For example, in ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons'', he is an old friend of Miss Turnbull. In ''Sad Cypress'', he is well acquainted to Dr Lord. In ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'', he is an old friend of Roger Ackroyd and has invested in his business.

* RoleSwapAU: The series's adaptation of ''Literature/CardsOnTheTable'' switches the roles of [[spoiler:Anne Meredith and Rhoda Dawes]], and gives the respective characters an AdaptationalHeroism and AdaptationalVillainy. The innocent one ends up as the winner of their LoveTriangle with [[spoiler:Major Despard]], while the murderer gets a LaserGuidedKarma [[spoiler:and drowns while trying to do [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard the exact same thing]] to their supposed "best friend".]]

** ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' inverts this with Jack Renauld's character. In the books, the boy goes through a lot of emotional stress in dealing with his father's death, which he partially felt responsible for, going through arrest and trial, then being disowned by his mother. The final blow sent him to a nervous breakdown, causing him to fall ill for several days. The TV version is not as affected by the ordeal, and was, in fact, enjoying a celebration when his mother delivered the ultimatum.

** Inverted in ''Literature/OneTwoBuckleMyShoe''. The unpleasant MoralDilemma that Poirot must face in the books is mostly glossed over in the TV series, which diminishes a lot of the political overtones of the original setting, the sympathetic qualities of the killer and the unpleasant characteristics of the scapegoat (the reasons why the choice Poirot eventually made was a really tough one).

* JustTrainWrong: The adaptation of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' was filmed in the UK with a series of Wagon-Lits Pullman lounge cars and a British steam locomotive. The Simplon-Orient-Express did periodically have Pullmans, but only west of Italy - and not exclusively. Also partly for ''Literature/TheMysteryOfTheBlueTrain'', which did have Pullmans.

* ObfuscatingDisability: ''Double Sin'' short episode. [[spoiler:The real thief is an older woman who uses a wheelchair, but that's a dodge. At the very end she gets up and runs away before being caught.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In "Four and Twenty Blackbirds", the sport broadcaster makes a reference to the Sri Lankan cricket team. However, Sri Lanka was still known as Ceylon in the 1930s; it would not change its name until 1972.