AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT: PERIL AT END HOUSE (TV)
Summary
One in this series of Agatha Christie mysteries featuring Belgian dandy and private detective, Hercule Poirot. In part one of this episode, Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are in Cornwall on vacation where they meet a local woman, Nick Buckley, who says she's experienced a series of near-fatal accidents. Suspecting these accidents were actually attempts on the young woman's life, Poirot and Hastings embark on an investigation to catch the would-be assassin before he or she achieves his or her deadly goal. Poirot questions Buckley's friends and associates -- including her cousin and lawyer, Charles Vyse; her friend Freddie Rice; her groundskeepers Mr. and Mrs. Croft; and her companion, Commander George Challenger -- each of whom exhibits behavior that causes Poirot to doubt their professed guilelessness. When Buckley's cousin Maggie -- wearing Buckley's shawl -- is shot, it seems that the would-be assassin has finally committed murder. In part two, Poirot places Buckley in a nursing home for safe-keeping while he and Hastings -- joined by Chief Inspector Japp -- search for the assassin before he or she makes another attempt on Buckley's life. When it comes to light that just-deceased millionaire aviator Michael Seaton and Buckley were secretly engaged, and that he has left his fortune to Buckley, who herself had recently written a will, the assassin's motive seems clear, though his or her identity is still unknown.
In part three, Poirot and Hastings question Vyse, who insists he never received the will Buckley insists she posted to him. Miss Lemon arrives in Cornwall to join Poirot, Captain Hastings, and Chief Inspector Japp in their investigation. Lemon has news about a strange clinic run by Commander Challenger's uncle in London, and Japp has information about financial hardships suffered by Buckley's friend Jim Lazarus. When Buckley is poisoned by contaminated chocolates sent to her at the nursing home and pronounced dead, Poirot questions Lazarus, who delivered the chocolates, and Rice, who ordered them. Vyse receives Buckley's will in the mail -- several months after she posted it, but only hours after her death. In part four, Vyse reads Buckley's will to her friends and associates. The will leaves Buckley's newly inherited fortune to Mrs. Croft. When Mrs. Croft expresses a wish to thank the deceased Buckley, Poirot suggests a seance. The seance brings to light the poisoner's identity, and leads to revelations that shock all but Poirot.
Details
- NETWORK: ITV (United Kingdom)
- DATE: January 7, 1990 Sunday
- RUNNING TIME: 1:39:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:20430
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; International Collection - United Kingdom
- SERIES RUN: ITV (United Kingdom) - TV, 1990
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Nick Elliott … Executive Producer
- Brian Eastman … Producer
- Renny Rye … Director
- Agatha Christie … Writer
- Clive Exton … Writer
- Christopher Gunning … Music by
- Richard Hewson … Music by
- Christopher Baines … Cast, Charles Vyse
- Hugh Fraser … Cast, Captain Hastings
- Paul Geoffrey … Cast, Jim Lazarus
- John Harding … Cast, Commander George Challenger
- Elizabeth Downes … Cast, Maggie Buckley
- Philip Jackson … Cast, Chief Inspector Japp
- Pauline Moran … Cast, Miss Lemon
- Alison Sterling … Cast, Freddie Rice
- David Suchet … Cast, Hercule Poirot
- Polly Walker … Cast, Nick Buckley
- Jeremy Young … Cast, Bert Croft
- Carol Macready … Cast, Millie Croft
- Mary Cunningham … Cast, Ellen Wilson
- Geoffrey Greenmill … Cast, Wilson
- Joe Bates … Cast, Alfred
- Godfrey James … Cast, Inspector
- John Crocker … Cast, Dr. Graham
- Jenny Funnell … Cast, Nurse Andrews
- Fergus McLarnon … Cast, Hood
- Jane Paton … Cast, Hotel Receptionist
- Janice Cramer … Cast, Maid
- Edward Pinner … Cast, Pageboy