Agatha Christie's Poirot Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Episode Guide
The Lost Mine
Season 2
Episode Number: 14
Season Episode: 4
Originally aired: Sunday January 21, 1990
Writer:
Agatha Christie, Michael Baker, David Renwick
Director: Edward Bennett
Show Stars: Hugh Fraser (Captain Arthur Hastings), Philip Jackson (Chief Inspector
James Japp), Pauline Moran (Miss Felicity Lemon), David Suchet
(Hercule Poirot)
Guest Stars: Ian Boo Khoo (Chinese Street Boy), Lee Richards (Car Surveillance
Policewoman), Richard Albrecht (Lobby Clerk), Barbara Barnes (Mrs
Lester), Peter Barnes (Wilkins), Anthony Bate (Lord Pearson), Hi Ching
(Chow Feng), Gloria Connell (Miss Devenish), John Cording (Sergeant
Jameson), Julian Firth (Bank Teller), Joe Frazer (Second Officer), Daryl
Kwan (Oriental Gentleman), Susan Leong (Chinese Tart), James Saxon
(Reggie Dyer), Colin Stinton (Charles Lester), Christopher Walker (First
Officer), Vincent Wong (Chinaman), Ozzie Yue (Restaurant Manager)
Summary: Hastings and Poirot are playing the board game Monopoly when they
are interrupted by Lord Pearson, the elegant Chairman of the London
and Shanghai Bank. The banker asks them to investigate the
disappearance of a Mr Ling - a highly-valued customer who, before
he went missing, had arranged to sell Lord Pearson a map showing
where to find a long-lost silver mine. Then Ling is found murdered, a
young stockbroker is suspected, and Poirot has to untangle a devilishly
mixed-up mystery.
Poirot and Hastings are discussing investments and Poirot informs Hastings that he has no
thing of that kind except for fourteen thousand shares in Burma Mines Ltd which were given
to him as a gift for services rendered. He offers to tell the story of what service he provided and
Hastings gladly listens...
The mines in question were originally silver mines, discovered by the Chinese in the fifteenth
century. The silver was all worked out but plenty of lead remained, not considered being of value
at the time but definitely worthy of exploitation at the time of the story. The mine itself was lost,
the only clue to its location being old papers in the hands of a Chinese family. The head of the
family, Wu Ling, agreed to negotiate a sale of the papers and travelled to England to complete
the transaction. Wu Ling was supposed to be met by one of the syndicate company directors, Mr.
Pearson, in Southampton but his train there was delayed with the result that Wu Ling made his
own way to London where he booked into the Hotel Russell Square and telephoned the company
to say that he would see them the next day. He failed to appear at the meeting and the hotel was
contacted. They said Wu Ling had gone out earlier with a friend. He still failed to appear at the
offices throughout the day. The police were contacted and the next evening the Chinaman’s body
was found floating in the Thames.
Poirot was called in and immediately started to investigate people who shared the voyage to
England with Wu Ling. He was able to ascertain that one of them, a young bank clerk called
Charles Lester, was the man who called for Wu Ling at his hotel on the morning of the disappearance.
Mr. Lester was quickly tracked down and told a story of having been asked by Wu Ling
to call for him at 10.30am. Instead his servant appeared and asked him to accompany him to
where Wu Ling now was. Their taxi took them to Limehouse where Lester started to get nervous
and got out of the taxi before they reached their destination and that was the end of his supposed
connection with the affair.
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