Original Airdate: 20 January 1991 Written by: Rod Beacham Directed by: Andrew Piddington Recurring cast: Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp, Miss Lemon
Tropes:
Adaptation Deviation: In the original story, Halliday only contacts Poirot after his daughter Flossie is found dead on a train. Here, he contacts Poirot to tail Flossie and her old flame the Comte de la Rochefour.
Adaptation Expansion: The role of the Comte de la Rochefour is expanded on; in the original story he only had a minor, non-speaking role, while in the show he's part of a plot centered on stock market manipulation.
Adaptational Job Change: Halliday's interest changes from steel to mining in the adaptation.
Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. The Comte de la Rochefour was noted as a rather roguish fellow in the original story, to the point where Ebenezer Halliday disapproved of his daughter associating herself with the Comte. Here, we see why the Comte is regarded as an unsavory character: he's involved in an insider trading scheme.
Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: 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. As it turns out, however, neither Florence's husband nor her lover were guilty of murder.
Canon Foreigner: Red Narky's role in the story is supplanted by a character named McKenzie.
Dead Person Impersonation: Flossie's maid Jane Mason impersonates her dead mistress by wearing one of her blue dresses, and loudly calls a paper boy's attention to mislead investigators into thinking Flossie was still alive at that point.
Drowning My Sorrows: Poirot points out to Hastings 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.
Gold Digger: It turns out that both of Florence's lovers were more interested in her for her money than her actual personality. That being said, neither man is vile enough to stoop down to committing murder.
Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Inverted. The murder of a mining heiress reveals a scheme by her otherwise innocent paramour to low ball stocks in her father's company, then selling them as they appreciated.
White-Collar Crime: The Comte de la Rochefour is involved in a lowball trading scheme that involved manipulating his lover's father's mining company's shares.
