In the episode “The Third-Floor Flat” of the TV show “Agatha Christie’s Poirot,” Hercule Poirot suffers from a lingering cold. His secretary, Miss Lemon, forces him to breathe in the vapors from a steaming bowl, with a towel covering his head, for a period of time that seems unendurable to Poirot. He hungers for a case, something upon which to focus his “little grey cells.” But, as with the preceding days, no appeals for help arrive via the mail or the front door.
The Mailbox outside Poirot's flat in Whitehaven Mansion |
During the intermission, Poirot concludes that the only person capable of poisoning the sherry, and therefore murdering the woman, was the butler. As he and Hastings talk, Poirot notices his beautiful young neighbor Patricia from the flat below him. Then they return to the play, in which a police inspector reveals that the murderer was not, in fact, the butler.
Poirot returns to Whitehaven Mansion |
As he walks up the steps of Whitehaven Mansions, Chief Inspector Japp warns his men that this is where the famous Hercule Poirot lives. Despite his fondness for the Belgian, he knows that the detective will question his findings. Indeed, when Japp determines that the killer was named John Fraser, and Poirot asks if he can visit the third-floor flat once more, Japp tells him that there is nothing to investigate this time. But at the pleading in the Belgian’s eyes, Japp gives in, knowing that in handing Poirot the key, he risks the man overturning his conclusions.
When Ms. Lemon tells me of Poirot's cold, I agree to visit another time. |
The TV dramatization focuses just as much upon Poirot’s personal difficulties, and upon the role his friends play in helping him through them, as it does upon the plot of the murdered woman. In so doing, Poirot becomes a real person. In repeatedly showing how Poirot helps his friends, and how they in turn help him, we sees the little Belgian as so much more than just another detective who unravels the most complex puzzles. He is someone who cares for others, and hence someone whom we can care about.
Whether they belong to the police, function as private consultants, or work in some other capacity, Literature and TV are replete with characters who spend their lives solving puzzles. Most will be forgotten; a few endure. But for me, the diminutive Belgian detective stands head and shoulders above all others. As this story demonstrates, he cares about those who are hurt by the actions of the heartless. Perhaps that is why Ms. Lemon and Captain Hastings care for him and treat him like a member of their family. Perhaps that is why production of “Agatha Christie’s Poirot,” begun in 1989, continues to the present day.
Perhaps that is why Agatha Christie is the top-selling author in the English language of all time.
“Agatha Christie’s Poirot” is available on DVD from the BBC.
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