Agatha Christie's Poirot Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Episode Guide
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Season 6
Episode Number: 47
Season Episode: 1
Originally aired: Sunday January 1, 1995
Writer:
Clive Exton, Agatha Christie
Director: Edward Bennett
Show Stars: Philip Jackson (Chief Inspector James Japp), David Suchet (Hercule
Poirot)
Guest Stars: Vernon Dobtcheff (Simeon Lee), Simon Roberts (Alfred Lee), Catherine
Rabett (Lydia Lee), Eric Carte (George Lee), Andrée Bernard (Magdalene
Lee), Brian Gwaspari (Harry Lee), Mark Tandy (Sugden), Olga
Lowe (Stella), Ayub Khan-Din (Horbury), John Horsley (Tressilian),
Scott Handy (Young Simeon), Liese Benjamin (Young Stella), Oscar
Pearce (Gerrit), Steve Delaney (Sergeant Coombes), Colin Meredith
(Shopkeeper), Peter Hughes (Charlton), Joanna Dickens (Cook),
Michael Keats (policeman), Christopher Webber (Steward on train),
Sasha Behar (Pilar Estravados)
Summary: Poirot’s Christmas is interrupted by Simeon Lee, who believes his life is
threatened. Simeon is soon killed and his diamonds stolen, and there
is no shortage of down-trodden Lees on hand who might have done the
deed.
It is Christmas Eve and everyone in the house hears
the crashing of furniture, followed by a wailing and
hideous scream. When they get to Simeon Lee’s room,
they find it locked and they have to break the door down.
When they finally get through the door, they find heavy
furniture overturned and Simeon Lee dead, his throat
slit, in a great pool of blood. Superintendent Sugden
notices Pilar Estravados pick up something from the
floor. She tries to conceal what she picked up, but when
pressed, opens her hand to show a small bit of rubber
and a small object made of wood.
Superintendent Sugden explains that he is in the
house by prior arrangement with the victim, who confided
to him the theft of a substantial quantity of uncut
diamonds from his safe. When Poirot is called in to
investigate, there are therefore several main problems:
who killed the victim? How was the victim killed inside a
locked room? Was the murder connected to the theft of
the diamonds? And what is the significance of the small
triangle of rubber and the peg that Sugden is able to
provide when reminded by Poirot of the clue that had
been picked up by Pilar?
Poirot’s investigation explores the nature of the victim
— a methodical and vengeful man — and the way that these characteristics come out in his
children. He seems focused on the idea that one of the immediate family is the murderer. When
the butler mentions his confusion about the identities of the house guests, Poirot realizes that
the four legitimate sons may not be the only heirs of Simeon’s temperament.
The final major clue is dropped by Pilar, who while playing with balloons lets slip that what
she found on the floor must also have been a balloon. She knows more than she realises, not
105