Agatha Christie's Poirot Episode Guide - inaf iasf bologna

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Episode Guide
The ABC Murders (2)
Season 4
Episode Number: 34
Season Episode: 2
Originally aired: Sunday January 5, 1992
Writer:
Agatha Christie, Clive Exton
Director: Andrew Grieve
Show Stars: Hugh Fraser (Captain Arthur Hastings), Philip Jackson (Chief Inspector
James Japp), David Suchet (Hercule Poirot)
Guest Stars: Ann Windsor (Miss Merrion), Donald Sumpter (Alexander Bonaparte
Cust), Gordon Salkilld (Comissionaire), Clifford Milner (Constable),
Michael Mellinger (Franz Ascher), Nina Marc (Thora Grey), Alex Knight
(Andover Sergeant), Jeremy Hawk (Deveril), Pippa Guard (Megan
Barnard), Nicholas Farrell (Donald Fraser), Donald Douglas (Franklin
Clarke), Claude Close (Doncaster Sergeant), Vivienne Burgess (Lady
Clarke), Cathryn Bradshaw (Mary Drower), Jane Birdsall (Nurse),
John Breslin (Barnard), Allan Mitchell (Dr Kerr), Norman McDonald
(Strange), Miranda Forbes (Mrs Turton), Lucinda Curtis (Mrs Marbury),
Peter Penry-Jones (Detective Superintendant Carter), Philip Anthony
(II) (Doctor)
Summary: Poirot continues his investigation of the murders as the killer strikes
a fourth time, and a neurotic man is finally arrested. Incriminating
evidence is found in his room, but Poirot thinks he is being framed.
It is clear that ABC is actually a perfectly sane man
trying to hide a murder as a part of serial killings. Based
on the tone of letters, ABC has a disdain for foreigners
like Poirot. This was one of the reasons ABC wrote
the letters to him. Poirot tells that the Churston murder
could have been easily avoided if the 3rd letter arrived
on time. On this, Hastings exclaims that the letter was
meant to go astray. Poirot reminds him that he had said
the same thing earlier too, but no one took him seriously,
though, ironically this apparently simple explanation
was correct. ABC deliberately misspelled Poirot’s
address so that police came after Carmichael was murdered.
A letter sent to a private detective could easily go
astray, not one sent to police or a newspaper. This was
another reason why Poirot received the letters.
Now Poirot accuses Franklin of being ABC. Poirot
points out that Franklin has an apparent hatred for
Thora, also a foreigner. Although Thora considered
Carmichael a father figure, it was quite likely that the
two would end up marrying after Lady Clarke’s death, as
usually happens with widowers. In that case, Franklin
stood to lose the estate, as Thora would surely bear
Carmichael’s children. So, he had to kill Carmichael. After
seeing Cust in a bar & learning his pompous name,
Franklin thought about ABC. He prepared all the plans & hired Cust as the firm, directing him
to the murder scenes. After killing Carmichael, Franklin had to kill atleast one more person to
prevent the fingers to point towards him. He killed George, wiped the blood on Cust’s sleeve,
dropped the knife in Cust’s pocket & framed him. The whole case was quite self-explanatory.
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