Poirot / Poirot - Tropes A to D

This page is for tropes that have appeared in Poirot.

For the rest:

• E to M
• N to Z

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• Abuse Discretion Shot: In the adaptation of Appointment with Death, in the flashbacks to Lady Boynton ordering the nanny to beat one of her adopted children, Leslie, we only see the cane and the terrified expressions of the other children, and hear Leslie screaming and crying; we also see Lady Boynton listening in remorselessly. The fact we don't see Leslie also helps conceal the plot twist that Leslie was actually a young boy rather than a girl as one of the adult children misremembered; one of the male cast is revealed to be a grown-up Leslie out for revenge against Lady Boynton.
• Accidental Murder: Revealed toward the end of The King of Clubs: Valerie Saintclair along with her brother, Ronnie, met up with film producer Henry Reedburn one night to argue about blackmail, but when things got escalated, Ronnie punched him in the face, and he fell and hit his head on a chair part so hard that he died. Poirot lets her off the hook because he considered it an accident and not a murder.
• A Day in the Limelight: The adapted version of Double Sin features Hastings as the main investigator of the case since Poirot is currently undergoing a 10-Minute Retirement. He actually manages to solve most of the case on his own and Poirot's only real contribution is pointing out that Ms. Penn shouldn't have known Wood's name when she met him for what should've been the first time. The episode also has a secondary minor version of this where Miss Lemon has lost the keys to Poirot's apparment and thus can't leave it to visit her own home or even sleep there until she finds them, resulting in a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment where she imagines Poirot and Hastings saying random things with swapped voices. When she hears Poirot's voice reminding her "Order and method, Miss Lemon! Order and method," she wakes with the idea of using Poirot's methods to retrace her actions to find where she lost the keys.
• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Miss Lemon was described in the books as "ugly" and "hideous." Though not a supermodel, the Miss Lemon of the adaptation was certainly fairly easy on the eyes.
  • In the original novel of Sad Cypress, Dr. Lord is said to be "pleasantly ugly", having freckles and remarkably square jaws. In the adaptation, he's played by Paul McGann who has never been described as 'ugly', pleasantly or otherwise.
  • In Five Little Pigs, Angela Warren has a large, disfiguring scar on the right side of her face together with her milky-white blind right eye. In the adaptation, she has the milky-white eye with some permanent bruising around it, but no facial scars.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • All over the place in the latter years of the series. Starting in Series 9, the tone of the series shifted from light-hearted (if murderous) detective series to bringing out the struggles and darkness inherent to Poirot's fight against crime. Changes are frequently made to suspects' motives, which feature secret love affair (often between two characters of the same sex, which brings a lot of period-appropriate homophobia into the mix), and characters who are not suspects or have no motives frequently gain them. Murderers who in the book keep a stiff upper lift struggle with their guilt or break down in shame, and there is an increased emphasis on Poirot's loneliness, the cost of his career and his religious faith.
  • The changes made to The Clocks give a lot more dramatic tension to the story and character arcs.
    • Colin is an emotional wreck because his lover died while fighting off an MI6 mole, and he blamed himself for her death because he hadn't paid attention to her earlier call of help.
    • Sheila does not have an aunt in this continuity. She's an orphan who had lost both her parents and her adoptive parents, and, in her loneliness, became involved in a love affair with one of her clients. Her "disgraceful" behaviour is the reason why Miss Martindale decided to frame her for the crime. Also, while both versions of the story saw her as the primary suspect of the murder, she was never arrested in the book.
    • Miss Pebmarsh lost two sons (which she does not have in the original novel) during the first World War, and this was the reason why she became a spy/traitor. She believed that, if Hitler takes over England before Churchill, the second War would be avoided. She is not Sheila's mother.
    • The Waterhouses, originally a pair of wacky siblings, are turned into Jewish refugees who came to England to escape the Nazi regime, but were still forced to hide their identities due to the anti-Semitic discrimination they faced in the new country.
  • Inverted in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. The unpleasant Moral Dilemma 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).
  • In the original novel of Sad Cypress, Elinor's innocence is proved at court thanks to the clues gathered by Poirot. However, in the adaptation, Elinor is found guilty and sentenced to be hanged in five days after her appeal is denied. Poirot does manage to acquit her, but it's much more angsty that way.
• Adaptational Expansion: The adaptation of the short stories stretches out a few pages worth of content into a feature-length episode. According to the writers, they had to keep the identity of the murderer and the method of murder the same — other than that, they were free to do whatever they wanted. "The Yellow Iris", for example, adds a plot involving dealings with Argentine military officers aiming for a coup, which ties into the killer's motive.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Colin Race (or Lamb) from The Clocks. 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.
• Adaptational Friendship: The series occasionally did this to facilitate Poirot getting involved in the adaptations earlier than in the original stories. For example, Poirot is now good friends with Sir Charles in the adaptation of Three Act Tragedy, which makes The Reveal that Sir Charles is the murderer more personal for Poirot.
• Adaptational Heroism: In The Hollow, the killer's death is made into a deliberate suicide, rather than a second murder attempt that backfired as in the original novel.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In The Chocolate Box the short story, Poirot grabs an Idiot Ball, by his own admission, and fails to connect the necessary dots and solve the case. In the corresponding episode, he solves it but, like in the story, doesn't make the solution public due to the culprit's terminal illness and the victim being a particular asshole.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Five Little Pigs:
    • In the original novel, it is mentioned that Amyas and Angela would mostly get along swimmingly with him acting the Cool Uncle to her. But then sometimes Caroline would focus on her, and Amyas would get intensely jealous and start throwing his bile at Angela, the week of the story being one of those episodes. The Series doesn’t mention any of this, portraing Amyas like a wicked stepfather to Angela.
    • Caroline gets a bit of this due to the change in Philip Blake's sexuality. While in the original story he tried to seduce Caroline while her marriage was apparently on the rocks; in the adaptation it was she who tried to seduce him, and then taunted his homosexuality when he refused her, making her come across less sympathetically than she had been in the original novel.
  • Played with in Sad Cypress, in which the angelically sweet and innocent Mary Gerard may or may not be quite as sweet and innocent as she appears since she's more openly interested in Roddy than she was in the novel and more actively steals him away from Eleanor.
  • In the short story "Double Sin", Mary Durrant goes along with the plan at the centre 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 behaviour is just an act.
• Adaptational Karma: In the original story of Sad Cypress, the killer fled from the trial; in the adaptation, this person is apprehended by Poirot and the police.
• Adaptational Name Change:
  • A downplayed example in "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat". The spy Elsa Hardt is now named Carla Romero, though she goes by Elsa Hart while moonlighting as a cabaret singer.
  • In The Clocks, Colin Lamb becomes Colin Race. To be fair, though, "Lamb" is not his actual surname. Edna Brent's name is also changed to "Nora".
  • In Five Little Pigs, Carla's name is changed to Lucy.
  • Superintendent Spence's first name is changed from Albert to Harold.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Poirot himself is an example. David Suchet's portrayal of him tends to emphasize his more amiable moments and shows his relationship with people like Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon to be more genuinely friendly. This makes his displays of ego come off as more charming and less arrogant than in the books.
  • Frank Carter, from One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is much less unpleasant in the TV series as he is in the books. He's a rude and abrasive jerk, but the series seems to justify his behaviour as stemming from his unfortunate unemployment, and he Took a Level in Kindness when he finally gets a job. 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.
  • In Five Little Pigs, Phillip Blake doesn't try to take advantage of the vulnerable Caroline; this is partly because in this version he is gay and in love with Amyas.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • In Five Little Pigs, Phillip Blake is made gay and is in love with Amyas, whereas in the books, he's in love with Caroline. Also the governess, Ms. Williams is made a lesbian and was fiercely in love with Caroline Crale.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Dr. Gerard in the adaptation of Appointment with Death is a downplayed case. While in the books he serves as one of Poirot's assistants, he becomes an accomplice to the murder in the TV series. Lady Boynton's status as an Abusive Parent is also upgraded from being pointlessly cruel and controlling, to putting her children through physical abuse that borders on Cold-Blooded Torture.
  • The Underdog short story is one of the few cases where the crime was actually manslaughter. The killer turns out to be the victim's submissive secretary who snapped and spontaneously killed his employer after receiving too much verbal abuse. The adaptation changes it to a premeditated murder and changes his motive to a monetary one.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
  • The removal of Mr. Satterthwaite from Three Act Tragedy causes some slight changes to the progress of the investigation, which causes the eventual reveal to make less sense. In the books, Mr. Satterthwaite is the one who baits Poirot into being involved in the case (the others were quite reluctant to have him interfere), while in the ITV series, he's enlisted by Sir Charles. The only problem? Sir Charles is the murderer! Why would he ask for Poirot's help?
• Adapted Out: The books often include minor characters that ultimately don't matter to the plot, so they are often omitted from the film adaptations.
  • In One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Howard Raikes, the American leftist, was not included in the adaptation. The unpleasant encounters he had with Poirot is instead attributed to Frank Carter (who shares a similar temperament), while a toned down version of his fanatical views is attributed to Jane Oliviers (who sympathises with his ideas).
  • The novel Three-Act Tragedy was a team-up between Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite, one of Christie's other detectives; the TV adaptation does not have Mr Satterthwaite in it, thus—since he's in the novel precisely because he's a consummate aesthete and theatre connoisseur, and therefore has a very specific set of reactions to Sir Charles' theatrics—subtly changing the entire tone of the investigation, and indeed the overall story.
• Adults Are Useless: In Appointment with Death, we discover that Lady Leonora Boynton was the one who ordered Nanny Taylor to either beat her stepchildren for their laziness or to submerge them in a bathtub until they were nearing death. Not even Leonora's husband could intervene, which is kinda tragic. The implication is that Lord Boynton was too distracted with his archaeological digs to realise what was going on, at once the truth is revealed at the end he appears to be making efforts to atone.
• Aliens Speaking English:
  • Noticeable at the beginning of The Underdog, in which a letter from a German scientist was written entirely in German, yet his voice is spoken in English, albeit with a German accent.
  • 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, Gregory 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.
  • Despite his Poirot Speak constantly reminding us that French is his first language, there are times when he interviews other native Francophones in English, e.g. in "Elephants Can Remember" in which there is a lengthy two-hander between Poirot and another native French-speaker in Paris - and Poirot still lapses into Poirot Speak, thereby destroying the excuse that it could be simple Translation Convention. Even more noticeable in ‘The Chocolate Box’. The entire story takes place in Brussels, yet everyone only speaks perfect British English, except for Poirot who continues in Poirot Speak.
• The Alcoholic:
  • In Five Little Pigs, compare how many drinks the present-day Philip Blake is knocking back compared to the flashback Philip Blake.
  • Henry Delafontaine in How Does Your Garden Grow? who hides his alcohol stash by labeling the bottle "Weed Killer" to prevent anyone else from drinking it.
• And I Must Scream:
  • In Appointment with Death, it is revealed that Lady Boynton was injected by Dr. Gerard with a drug that slowly paralyzes her, until she is unable to move or get out of the chair outside. For hours she is basically burned alive by the heat of the sun, until finally, when the time came for Dame Celia to check on Lady Boynton, the dame quickly stabs her in the chest as a Coup de Grâce before declaring her dead.
• And Starring: Zoe Wanamaker gets this in Ariadne Oliver's later appearances.
• And This Is for...: In The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman, when the Scotland Yard police outnumber the murderer, Edwin Graves, Hastings confronts him saying, "This is for Miss Lemon!" before punching him into the river. This quote indicates that Miss Lemon had been used by Graves, who became a Jerkass to her by saying that he was about to destroy his master's cat, as Miss Lemon later points out.
• Arson, Murder, and Admiration: Toward the end of The Chocolate Box, when Poirot hears that Madame Deroulard killed her own son Paul though she is colour-blind and very ill, the detective admires her for her moral courage and sacrifice.
• Artistic Licence Geology: 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).
• Artistic Licence – History:
  • 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.
  • "The Theft of the Royal Ruby" depicts Prince Farouk of Egypt as a 19 year-old at Christmas 1935, when in reality he was just shy of his 16th birthday the following February.
  • Although the series is ostensibly set in and around 1935, "Yellow Iris" refers to the 1930 Argentine coup as being only two years earlier. One character mentions that the ousted president Hipólito Yrigoyen had been shot, but he was instead exiled and lived another three years; however, it is possible that this was not known so soon after the coup.
• Ascended Extra: In an odd fashion, Poirot himself in many episodes. In some books (most notably Cat Among the Pigeons, The Hollow and The Clocks) he doesn't become involved in the case until quite late of the story, sometimes as late as the final third. Most adaptations find a way to bring him into the story from the beginning, usually by making him a friend of one of the supporting characters.
• Asian Speekee Engrish:
  • Miss Lemon tries this (at Hastings's suggestion) when the Chinese laundry that she sends Poirot's clothing to over-starches his shirt collars. It goes about as well as expected.
  • Played with in the form of Mr. Wu Ling in "The Lost Mine" since Wu Ling is already dead and is being played by an actor. Played straight with a Chinatown prostitute seen later in the episode.
• Asshole Victim: It would probably be easier to list the murder victims Poirot encounters who don't fit this trope! After all, it helps create mystery if there are multiple suspects who would plausibly want the person dead. Some examples: Miss Grace Springer in Cat Among the Pigeons; 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; Lady Boynton in Appointment with Death; Paul Deroulard in The Chocolate Box.
• As the Good Book Says...:
  • During the flashback in The Adventure of the Clapham Cook, you can hear a vicar recite Psalm 118:22-25.
  • During the burial service of Emily Arundell in Dumb Witness, we hear another vicar recite the KJV version of Psalm 103:14-18, followed by the KJV version of Job 1:21.
  • In the Downer Beginning of Five Little Pigs, we hear a priest recite the KJV version of Psalm 23 as Caroline Crale is being hanged for the murder of her husband Amyas.
  • In Appointment with Death, Sister Agnieszka recites Luke 14:23, which is actually an excerpt from the Parable of the Great Feast (Luke 14:15-24). However, the Bible version she recites is the King James Version, which is the Protestant one and foreshadows that Sister Agnieszka is not a real Catholic nun. Roman Catholics would never recite a Protestant Bible like the KJV one; they would have settled for the Douay–Rheims Bible instead if that is the case.
• As You Know: In "The Affair at the Victory Ball", Poirot provides a description of the characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, with Hastings as the Audience Surrogate.
• The Atoner: In The Hollow, it's implied that this trope is in play. But not from the killer. One of the characters is revealed to have been the ringleader of various attempts to throw suspicion off the actual killer, who murdered her husband because he was cheating on her, in large part because she had also been having an affair with him.
• Author Avatar: Ariadne Oliver, whose detective, Sven, is a sort of Expy Poirot himself - of course, it's all very much an Affectionate Parody.
• Babies Ever After: At the end of The Chocolate Box, it is revealed that Poirot's old friend Jean-Louis Ferraud is married to Virginie Mesnard and they have two sons named Henri... and Hercule.
• Back for the Finale: Hastings, Miss Lemon, and Inspector (now Assistant Commissioner) Japp, all of whom disappeared without a trace after 2001, appear in the final season's The Big Four (which Poirot himself notes). Hastings also appears in the final episode, Curtain.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Inspector Japp is holding several lectures on his past cases for charity in Double Sin and Poirot decides to eavesdrop on one of them just as he starts giving his opinion on private detectives. He starts off by badmouthing them severely, calling them nuisances who distrupt real policemen's work, who mainly focus on catching adulterers, and who mainly have their offices set up in dingy holes above tobacco shops: clearly insulted by this, Poirot is about to leave when Japp adds "except for one" and then proceeds to praise Poirot for his "original mind," skills and bravery, allowing him to leave satisfied.
  • In The Affair at the Victory Ball, Poirot holds The Summation over the radio with the persons of interest in the case. Shortly after, callers begin to provide their thoughts on this event... emphasizing Poirot's (alleged) mangling of the English language rather than the fact that he uncovered the killer.
• The Bet: In The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim, Inspector Japp makes a bet with Poirot that if the latter can solve the mystery without leaving the apartment for a week, the former can pay up five pounds. Poirot also makes another bet with Hastings in The Third Floor Flat over ten pounds regarding whether he can deduce the murderer of the play they're currently attending before it's revealed in the end, which he loses since he claims the audience wasn't given sufficient leads to the identity or motive of the murderer and because the actual murderer wasn't introduced as a character until near the end of the play, who then turned out to be a previously unmentioned relative of another major character. Of course, the mystery he solves in that episode relies on actions he took off-camera, so his complaint applies to him too.
• Better to Die than Be Killed:
  • Also happens to Gerda Christow in The Hollow; Major Richard Knighton in The Mystery of the Blue Train; Dr. Theodore Gerard and Dame Celia Westholme in Appointment with Death; and Amy Folliat and her son James in Dead Man's Folly.
  • Mary Delafontaine in How Does Your Garden Grow? tries to kill herself by drinking weed killer after being revealed as the murderer. She fails as her husband had hidden whiskey in the weed killer bottle.
• Big Damn Heroes: In The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, Major John Rich shows up to save Poirot from getting killed by Colonel Curtiss.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mary Gerard plays with this trope in Sad Cypress, in contrast to the original novel; she seems like sweet and lovely on the surface and is very well liked by everyone, but she also steals Elinor Carlisle's fiancé away from her and there are some implications that she is cosying up to Elinor's aunt primary to claim part of her inheritance. While Elinor at least clearly seems to think this trope is in play (although, as noted, she's hardly an unbiased witness) you could go either way on whether she's a genuine example of this trope or an otherwise genuinely nice person who just happened to get entangled in a very difficult and painful situation. Nurse Hopkins turns out to be a much more clear-cut example of the trope, however.
• Bittersweet Ending: Curtain, to the entire series. Poirot has solved the crime and justice has been done. Unfortunately, the only way to achieve justice was for Poirot to kill the murderer, then die of a heart attack while throwing himself on God's mercy. By the episode's end, poor Hastings has lost both his wife and his best friend, and his daughter has gone to Africa, leaving him entirely alone. However, it is implied that he might get together with Elizabeth Cole.
• Blame the Paramour: Elinor is furious and brokenhearted when her fiance Roddy falls in love with their grown-up childhood friend Mary; however, she puts the blame squarely on Mary's shoulders, hating her with a passion. But later Elinor realizes that she and Roddy are too different and he would have left her at some point anyway, and she realizes she no longer resents Mary.
• Book Ends:
  • The Double Clue, starts in a train station on Countess Vera Rossakoff's arrival, and ends on the same station at her departure.
  • Five Little Pigs starts and ends with young Lucy Crale running out toward the porch to have her picture taken with her mom and dad.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: A subversion. Chief Inspector Japp exclaims “Good God!”, with a similar inflection to Hastings’ “Good Lord!”, in The Dream, when Poirot reveals that Benedict Farley’s body was in the room he was prevented from looking into.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: In The Plymouth Express, Gordon Halliday attempts to drive away his daughter Florence's estranged husband Rupert from visiting her, and even goes as far as to hire Poirot to vet Florence's new lover to see if he's just as unsavory. He's proven horrifically right later in the story as his daughter's found murdered on a train.
• Brains and Brawn: Poirot and Hastings. Naturellement, Poirot is famous for his little grey cells. Despite Hastings's slender frame, he is - according to Poirot - 'ever the man of action,' and more than willing to take down a miscreant.
  Japp: (in response to Waverly's suggestion that Poirot guards a hallway) Er, I don't know about that, sir. If there was to be any rough stuff, I don't as Mr Poirot would be the first person I'd think of. Brain work, yes; rough stuff - dubious.
  Marcus Waverly: What about his colleague, Hastings?
  Japp: That'd be more like it, sir.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly:
  Miss Lemon: It's nearly complete, you see. My system.
  Poirot: Ah.
  Miss Lemon: Every one of your cases classified and cross-referenced five different ways.
  Poirot: Five?
  Miss Lemon: Oh, yes. In this cabinet, names of witnesses; in this, name of perpetrator, if known. Victim's trade or profession. Type of case: abduction, addiction, adultery - see also under marriage, bigamy - see also under marriage, bombs.
  Poirot: [confused] "See also under marriage"?
• Breather Episode: The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly can be this. Sure, it involves kidnapping, and one person gets sick with food poisoning and is recovering, but at least no one is murdered. It even throws in some fun and funny things, such as Poirot learning to sing "One Man Went to Mow" along with Hastings when their car breaks down on the way back, and little Johnnie playing with a toy car and petting a Cute Kitten. Awww!
  • A similar argument could be made for The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim, which is also murder-less and includes several comedic scenes, courtesy of Poirot's learning magic tricks and a parrot Poirot is forced to pet-sit.
  • Played with in the case of Dead Man's Folly, which was filmed after but broadcast before Curtain - even with a murder involved. Bonus marks for doing exterior filming at Agatha Christie's Greenway estate in Devon.
• Brief Accent Imitation:
  • In The Theft of the Royal Ruby, three children, having met Poirot for the first time, plan on arranging a false murder for the girl Bridget, all while using their Belgian French "Hercule Poirot" accent.
  • In The Clocks, after Poirot tells Inspector Hardcastle, "I do not think it is important who he is, but who he is," before leaving, Hardcastle repeats the phrase in his Poirot accent, as if he hasn't had a clue.
• Busman's Holiday: A lot of times, Poirot just wants to take a holiday but ends up having to solve a mystery instead of getting to enjoy himself.
• Call-Forward: At the end of The Mystery of the Blue Train, one of the characters remarks that she's planning to travel on the Orient Express, and inquires whether Poirot has. Poirot replies that he hasn't yet, but must get around to it one day. Of course, we all know what'll happen when he does...
• Celibate Hero: Explained in The Double Clue:
  Captain Hastings: [referring to marriage] You ever thought about it?
  Hercule Poirot: In my experience, I know of five cases of wives being murdered by their devoted husbands.
  Captain Hastings: Oh?
  Hercule Poirot: And twenty-two husbands being murdered by their devoted wives. So thank you, no. Marriage, it is not for me.
  • In the early seasons, it was something of a Running Gag that the celibate Poirot nevertheless had much better instinctive understanding of women than the clueless Hastings. Often deconstructed in later seasons, however, as a running theme throughout the episodes was how lonely and isolated Poirot's devotion to his work and intellect had made him. It was also sometimes hinted that there was some hidden heartbreak in Poirot's past that had led him to this, as in Sad Cypress:
  Poirot: [To Elinor Carlisle, on learning of the ending of her engagement] Madame, I hope you will be permit me to express my sincerest condolences. I too know of the ache of the heart. It is a place most lonely.
• Cerebus Syndrome: 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 instalments, no longer were present in the episodes. Opinions are divided on whether it was a good, bad, or mixed development.
• Character Aged with the Actor: Hastings and Poirot visibly aged over the almost 20 years of filming. Although to be fair, the books' timeline also spans over several decades, and the characters are much older in Curtain than they were in The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
• Chase Scene: Frequently used in the earlier seasons, particularly courtesy of Captain Hastings: as a car fanatic, he often seems to be much more in his element behind the wheel, and has driven his own classic Lagonda, a sporty Italian car, and even a commandeered police vehicle in chases. Notable examples include Triangle at Rhodes, The Incredible Theft, The Veiled Lady, and The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman.
• Chiaroscuro: Happens quite a lot in Three Act Tragedy. For example, in scenes when a victim dies or when one plots a murder, the iris will close in on a person's head, or sometimes the heads of two people as well.
• Christmas Episode: Two of them, just like in the literature series: The Theft of the Royal Ruby (Season 3), and Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Season 6).
• Clear Their Name: A task which Poirot often has to do, notably Sad Cypress (where an heiress is convicted of double murder and has five days before she's hanged) and Mrs MсGintу's Dead (where he's asked to look into a murder by someone who's convinced that the convicted culprit is innocent.).
  • Poirot is also determined to prove that his new friend Bob - a Fox Terrier - didn't cause Emily Arundel's fall in Dumb Witness.
  Poirot: First, we restore the good name of Monsieur Bob!
• Closeup on Head: Happens in Three Act Tragedy from time to time.
• Comic-Book Time: Inverted, in contrast with the source material which mostly plays it straight. All but a handful of the adaptations^note "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" and "The Chocolate Box" are kept in their original time periods, while "Curtain" is set at the end of the 40s are now set in the mid to late 30s, but the series itself was filmed and aired over a period lasting for over two decades. It's to the point where Poirot ages much faster than you would expect he would over a few years in-universe.
• Commedia dell'Arte: Becomes Chekhov's Running Gag from the very beginning in The Affair at the Victory Ball, when Poirot's voice-over narrates this.
• Composite Character: The books frequently have a number of minor suspects who can be merged together into a single character with little effect to the plot, if they are not omitted completely.
  • In the adaptation of The Murder on the Links, Bella Duveen is merged with her sister Dulcie, taking over the role of Hastings' love interest.
  • Ted Horlick from Sad Cypress, the gardener who is in love with Mary, corresponds to Ted Bigland, Mary's farmer boyfriend, and Horlick, the gardener who noticed some suspicious activity around the house during the time of murder.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Early on in The Million Dollar Bond Robbery the events of The Lost Mine are alluded to, with Miss Lemon mentioning that Poirot helped put the chairman of his bank behind bars.
  • The book that Egg reads in Three Act Tragedy is Travels in Arabia by Dame Celia Westholme, a character from Appointment with Death.
• Cool Car: Seen all over thanks to the use of classic 1930s cars, but in particular:
  • Captain Hastings's 1931 Lagonda.
  • In The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly, Hastings delightedly announces to Miss Lemon that his beloved Lagonda has been accepted into the second stage of entry for the 1935 Le Mans.
  • The "Eliso Freccia" (actually an extremely rare Alfa Romeo 2900A) Hastings drives in a car chase in "The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman".
• Cool Train: The animated title sequence includes the unmistakable profile of the London & North Easter Class A4, one of which still holds the speed record for a steam locomotive.
• Creepy Children Singing:
  • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe makes use of this at the beginning and throughout the episode, as children ominously sing the nursery tune.
  • We also hear the children's chant of "Hickory, dickory" in the creepy music that plays every time the mouse and the clock related to the plot points show up in Hickory Dickory Dock.
• Crisis of Faith: Both the adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express and Curtain test Poirot's strong Catholic upbringing.
• Cruel Mercy: In Five Little Pigs, the murderer tries to goad Lucy to shoot her when she confronts her with a gun, but with Poirot's help, Lucy resolves to let her live instead.
• Cry into Chest:
  • In Dumb Witness, we see Wilhelmina Lawson cry onto her maid's shoulder after the death of Dr. Grainger.
• Damsel in Distress: Katherine Grey in The Mystery of the Blue Train.
• Dating Catwoman: Toyed with in The Double Clue and again Murder in Mesopotamia in a case of Adaptation Expansion on the part of the writers. Turns out she just wanted Poirot to pay her hotel bill.
• Dead Guy Junior: Downplayed. At the end of The Chocolate Box, it is revealed that Virginie Mesnard-Ferraud and her husband named one of their sons "Hercule" after her former love interest. Not that Poirot died, but he did leave the Belgian police service and the country — and Virginie.
• Dead Man's Chest: Used in the typical way in The Adventure of the Clapham Cook; used to set up the murder in The Adventure of the Spanish Chest.
• Deadly Distant Finale: Since Curtain takes place in 1949, it is also in that episode that the main character, Poirot, dies of a heart attack after many years of solving his cases.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Dr. John Grainger in Dumb Witness; in the original novel, it was Bella Tanios who killed herself instead of killing him by carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Joseph Mercado commits suicide in Murder in Mesopotamia, which turns out to be a Red Herring.
  • At the end of The Mystery of the Blue Train, Major Richard Knighton commits suicide by jumping in front of an incoming train. In the novel he was arrested.
  • Due to Dr. Theodore Gerard's Adaptational Villainy in Appointment with Death, he too kills himself alongside Lady Westholme.
  • Dead Man's Folly originally ended in the middle of the denouement before anyone can be arrested. In the series, Poirot allows Amy Folliat to kill her murderous son James in a Murder-Suicide.
• December–December Romance: Wilhelmina Lawson and Dr Grainger in Dumb Witness. Too bad Dr Grainger called the Tanios about the phosphorus.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: A given, considering that the time period is the 1930s, when sexism and xenophobia were more prevalent. A prominent example is The Case of the Missing Will, where sexism is a prominent theme throughout the episode; sexism and outright misogyny is well present within Cambridge, as shown in the debate at the beginning, and Andrew Marsh, the murder victim, exhibits chauvinist attitudes himself (though by the time of his death he's come to regret his opinions). Ingrained sexism also hinders the investigation, as it is taken as given by everyone that Marsh's illegitimate child and heir would be a man, as opposed to being a woman - which ultimately turns out to be the case, as his ward Violet Wilson is revealed to be his daughter. Likewise, it is automatically presumed that the murderer would be a man, as opposed to being a woman... which is ultimately revealed to be the case, as Poirot successfully outs Sarah Siddaway, the wife of Andrew Marsh's solicitor John Siddaway and mother of Violet's boyfriend Robert, as the culprit.
• Demoted to Extra: In One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Mr Albert Chapman, in the books, is a Secret Service agent whose insights on the political situation and whose theories about what happened to Moley helped Poirot reach the truth. In the TV series, he's just a random civilian whose name was borrowed by the killer in order to fabricate the persona of Mrs Sylvia Chadman.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • In Appointment with Death, Lady Boynton is injected with a sedative and then stabbed to death, as opposed to just being injected with poison. The murderer is also injected with poison in the end, instead of shooting themself.
  • Caroline Crale died in prison prior to the events of Five Little Pigs, but in the series she was executed by hanging.
  • At the end of The Hollow, the murderer deliberately kills themselves with cyanide poisoning. In the original novel, they accidentally drink a cup of poisoned tea meant for somebody else.
• Discouraging Concealment: In the series 3 episode How Does Your Garden Grow?, Henry Delafontaine hides his alcohol stash by labeling the bottle "Weed Killer" to prevent anyone else from drinking it. This ends up being crucial to the climax of the case after his wife Mary is revealed to be the murderer; she takes a drink from the bottle to poison herself rather than be arrested, but is disappointed when it's revealed to be a less toxic drink.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Hastings is prone to this, especially in The Veiled Lady.
  Hastings: What a stunning girl!
  Poirot: I sometimes think, mon ami, that you are too easily stunned.
• Distressed Dude: David MacAdam, the titular kidnapped Prime Minister of the story.
• Don't You Like It?: In The ABC Murders Hastings returns to London after several months of intrepid exploring in South America. He brings back 'Cedric' - a caiman he shot on the Orinoco - as a gift for Poirot, who tries his best to praise the thoughtful gift despite the fact that he clearly hates it.
  Hastings: (Disappointed) I mean, if you don't like it...
  Poirot: (Desperately backtracking) No, Hastings, it adds a certain... je ne sais quoi, do you not think?
  Hastings: Well, I thought so. ... For one awful moment, I thought you might not like old Cedric.
• Driven to Suicide: Imogen Daniels toward the end of The Kidnapped Prime Minister. Rupert Bleibner in The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb. Joseph Mercado in Murder in Mesopotamia. Gerda Christow in The Hollow. Major Richard Knighton in The Mystery of the Blue Train. Nanny Taylor in Appointment with Death. Lieutenant Morris in Murder on the Orient Express.
• Drives Like Crazy: Hastings delights in fast driving, and was more than ready to take a Bugatti around the test track in The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim. In The Incredible Theft, Poirot and Hastings borrows a cop car for a while to the surprise of an officer, and Hastings drives pretty darn fast at the steering wheel in pursuit of Mrs. Vanderlyn's car. Similarly in The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman Hastings sets off to pursue the murderer at top lick in an Italian sportscar. Typically, Poirot is not thrilled by his friend's speed demon tendencies.
  Poirot: One can always tell when the summer, it is arrived.
  Hastings: It's in the air, eh?
  Poirot: No, Hastings, it is in the speed of your driving!
  
• Drowning My Sorrows: Poirot points out to Hastings in The Plymouth Express that Florence Carrington can't have been murdered by her estranged husband Rupert due to this. If he had indeed murdered her and stolen her jewels, then he would have already paid off his creditors, rather than spend his time drinking in his club.
• Dying Clue: In The Clocks, before Fiona Harbury is killed, she manages to write a crescent moon followed by "M 61", which, when turned upside down, reads "19 W [crescent]" for 19 Wilbraham Crescent, where the blind spy Millicent Pebmarsh lives.

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