MYSTERY!: AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT: PROBLEM AT SEA (TV)
Summary
One in this mystery anthology series of Agatha Christie mysteries featuring Belgian dandy and private detective, Hercule Poirot. In this episode, Poirot takes a cruise trip headed to Alexandria, and the passengers enjoy their leisure time as Captain Hastings makes plans for a clay-pigeon shooting championship. Mrs. Clapperton chats with Poirot, telling him about the hospital that she ran during the war, then finds her husband flirting with a young woman. A Mr. Forbes notes that Mrs. Clapperton is "poisonous," then gossiping to Ms. Henderson that Colonel Clapperton was in fact a music-hall performer before the war and met his wife in her hospital. At dinner, Mrs. Morgan sings for the group and Mrs. Clapperton makes disparaging comments about the performance, also adding that she has no interest in sightseeing in historic Alexandria. Some of the guests retire to play bridge, though Colonel Clapperton declines and is "kidnapped" by the two young women aboard, Kitty and Pamela. Poirot talks to Ms. Henderson and then attempts to set her up with the bachelor Hastings, though they fail to catch on. Colonel Clapperton performs a complicated card trick for the girls, but then leaves abruptly, seemingly nervous.
When the ship docks in Alexandria, Pamela and Kitty recruit Clapperton as their tour guide, but when he asks his wife through her locked door to join them, she refuses. Souvenir salesmen climb aboard and attempt to entice the passengers with jewelry, and Poirot and Henderson explore the city together. Henderson is disappointed to learn that Clapperton was seen leaving the ship with the young women, and when they come across the Tollivers, they learn that Forbes returned to the ship alone ahead of time. Hastings continues plotting his shooting tournament, and everyone returns to the ship for the evening. Clapperton then discovers that his wife's door is still locked, and when he gets inside, he finds her dead within. A string of beads on the floor suggests that one of the salesmen is the culprit, and Poirot begins to investigate, discovering that Mrs. Clapperton's cash and jewels are gone. Clapperton states that she had no enemies, and Poirot talks to Forbes, who reveals that he knew Mrs. Clapperton for many years and returned to the ship to speak privately with her, but found her door locked and got no response. Bates reveals that Mrs. Clapperton was stabbed to death, likely around 10:00 AM, and Poirot questions Pamela and a distressed Kitty, who reveals that Clapperton was with them all morning except for a brief interlude.
One of the ship's attendants, Skinner, is caught selling some of Mrs. Clapperton's jewelry, but he swears that he did not kill her. Poirot ponders the alibis offered by the passengers and concludes that Mrs. Clapperton must have let her killer into the room, as it was locked from the inside. Forbes seems the most likely suspect, but Poirot then borrows a doll from Mrs. Morgan's niece, Ismene, and "reconstructs" the crime scene, claiming that the doll is a "witness." The doll seems to speak from within a suitcase, and Mr. Clapperton panics and attempts to flee. Poirot then reveals that Clapperton killed his wife prior to docking and then imitated her voice at the door, having been a ventriloquist in the music-hall, not a conjurer, as he falsely implied with the card trick. Ms. Henderson notes sadly that he committed the murder because the presence of the young women made him long for freedom from his oppressive wife, but Poirot counters that murder is never an answer. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: February 19, 1989 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:30356
- GENRE: Mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Mystery/Suspense
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1989-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Nick Elliott … Executive Producer
- Linda Agran … Executive Producer
- Brian Eastman … Producer
- Renny Rye … Director
- Christopher Gunning … Music by
- Clive Exton … Dramatized by
- David Suchet … Cast, Hercule Poirot
- Hugh Fraser … Cast, Captain Hastings
- Melissa Greenwood … Cast, Kitty Mooney
- Victoria Mastead … Cast, Pamela Cregan
- Roger Hume … Cast, General Forbes
- Ben Aris … Cast, Captain Fowler
- Dorothea Phillips … Cast, Nelly Morgan
- Sheri Shepstone … Cast, Emily Morgan
- Louisa Janes … Cast, Ismene
- John Normington … Cast, Colonel John Clapperton
- Sheila Allen … Cast, Mrs. Clapperton
- Ann Firbank … Cast, Ellie Henderson
- James Ottaway … Cast, Mr. Russell
- Geoffrey Beevers … Cast, Mr. Tolliver
- Caroline John … Cast, Mrs. Tolliver
- Colin Higgins … Cast, Skinner
- Jack Chissick … Cast, Bates