Christie Talk
Previous David Suchet Interview! Next Murder on the Orient Express
5 replies
GKCfan on 21 Jul 2010 at 8:18 p.m. GMT
Yes, after Dumb Witness (1937), Hastings disappears from the Poirot stories, aside from a one-line flash-forward cameo in Evil Under the Sun (1941). He does not appear again until Curtain (1975). The last novel Inspector Japp last appears in is One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940), but he also appears in some of The Labours of Hercules (1947). Miss Lemon has a very small role in the original Christieverse. She appears in several of the late Christies, but she either has no lines at all or only one or two at most. The only novel where she plays a major role is Hickory Dickory Dock (1955), although she plays a small role in many short stories.
Lone_Wolf on 22 Jul 2010 at 7:01 a.m. GMT
Book Miss Lemon is an (intentionally) rather uninspired and tertiary character. The screenwriters gave the character more human warmth and more role in the plot. The result was successful, in the early, pre-paradigm-change Poirot films I enjoy Pauline Moran's role.
Tommy_A_Jones on 30 Jul 2010 at 5:06 p.m. GMT
I can't remember who it was (Clive Exton or Brian Eastman) but one of them had just worked on Jeeves and Wooster and didn't want to do something else with a Butler so persuaded the Christie Family to allow for Miss Lemon to be more Prominent) I am pleased as the Adaptations with George aren't as light but still enjoyable.
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I have a question about recurring characters in the Poirot stories. In the latest TV versions now showing in the US, Capt. Hastings, Miss Lemmon, and Inspector Japp do not appear. Did Christie, for a while, do without these wonderful characters in the writing of her novels? I can't envision a screenwriter being able to "erase" these roles without seriously alterring the basic story line. I do believe that Capt. Hastings appears in the last Poirot book.