Sleeping Murder (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

Sleeping Murder (スリーピング·マーダー Surīpingu Mādā) is a Japanese anime television story produced by Oriental Light and Magic for NHK television. The story was broadcast in four episodes and formed Episodes 30 - 33 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Shôji Yonemura and directed by Naohito Takahashi with Yoshitaka Makino, Joji Shimura, Katsutoshi Sasaki and Masahiko Watanabe. It is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.

Production Details
The story arc is narrated and broadcast in 4 episodes as follows:

Synopsis
As with the other episodes in this series, the main protagonist is Mabel West, the daughter of Raymond West who spends her time alternating between working for Poirot in London and spending time with her great aunt in St. Mary Mead. This allows her to be involved in cases investigated by both of them.

The story is fairly faithful to the original plot with the exception of the involvement of Mabel and other series regulars.

Comparison with Original Story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)
 * The main plot begins much more quickly than in the original. Mabel, Miss Marple and Raymond West attend a performance of the Duchess of Malfi. There Raymond introduces them to Gwenda, who is the wife of his cousin Giles. Gwenda's reaction to the play is much as described.
 * After the play, Gwenda tells the others about how she had just bought a house at Dillmouth called Hillside (the agents are Bergman and Cooper and not Galbraith and Penderley). Gwenda describes the various uncanny experiences she had there, culminating in the memory of looking through the bannisters and seeing someone killed. Miss Marple and Mabel join Gwenda at Hillside to help solve the mystery.
 * Thereafter the events take place much as in the novel. They meet many people but these are not named. Many of the voice talents behind the characters are thus not credited. Many of the investigative insights and suggestions come from Mabel instead of Miss Marple.
 * After seeing Galbraith, they call the "registry office" (Somerset House is not mentioned) in London and get confirmation that Kelvin Halliday was married to Helen.
 * They then advertise (Mabel's idea) and get a response and the two meetings with Kennedy take place just like in the original. Mabel and Gwenda see Penrose at the sanatorium. They also get Halliday's diary. Meanwhile Miss Marple gets background on Edith and Walter Fane from a shopkeeper. The same gingerbread recipe tactic is used as a conversation starter.
 * The meetings with Edith and Walter Fane take place much as in the novel. From Edith they get background on "Captain Erskine" who stayed at the Royal Clarence. Edith's account of the night of Helen's disappearance is faithfully depicted, and includes Leonie and Lily. The observation about the wrong clothes being taken is also mentioned. One piece of information that is unique is that Helen had told Edith in secret that she had bought a house in Northumberland where Erskine lives. In the novel it was in Norfolk.
 * The interview with Erskine is fairly faithful to the original except that Erskine's encounter with Helen on the ship to India is dramatised in some detail. The Hallidays later encounter the Erskines at Dillmouth. There is a scene of the Hallidays inviting the Erskines for tea at Hillside. Erskine's wife has a smaller role and fewer lines here.
 * Manning's lines in the original are given to Foster. He mentions the shredded tennis net but the episode about Helen's injured foot.
 * The meeting with Afflick is also faithfully depicted. His company is called "Afflick Bus Company" here and not "Daffodil Coaches". However he does have a yellow "posh" car.
 * The manner in which Lily is misled and then killed is the same as in the original.
 * There is no Inspector Last--Inspector Primer is in charge from the beginning. He said he knew Miss Marple from Sir Henry Clithering. Primer's men find Helen's body at the place at the end of the terrace where the new steps were.
 * Kennedy turns up to try to kill Gwenda as in the original and Miss Marple intervenes in the same way.
 * In this adaptation Kelvin has a grave in Dillmouth. Gwenda goes there with Miss Marple and Mabel to pay her respects. Most of the second half of the 4th episode is then spent reconstructing the Kelvin and Helen's story. There is a scene of her meeting the child Gwenda and her father on the ship. There is another scene of them getting married in London and then moving to Dillmouth.
 * The plot element of the poisoned brandy and the fake messages to Walter Fane and Afflick to come to Hillside are not featured. In the original, the fake messages were to make them suspects for the poisoning of the brandy.
 * Leonie is killed in a different way. After she returns to Switzerland, Kennedy goes there and kills her and buries her in a forest.
 * Giles only turns up at the end. It is also revealed that Gwenda is pregnant.

Characters/Voice Talents
Note not every voice talent is credited. It is also possible that some of the voice talents supplied the voice of more than one character Not credited Appears but not named
 * Masako Joh as Oliver
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel West
 * Kaoru Yachigusa as Miss Marple
 * Masaya Katô as Raymond West
 * Misato Tanaka as Gwenda Reed
 * Leo Morimoto as Captain Erskine
 * Li Lixian as Mrs Eleanor Fane
 * Giles Reed
 * Alison Danby
 * Dr James Kennedy
 * Lily Kimble
 * Jim Kimble
 * Foster
 * Walter Fane
 * Edith Paget - known as Edith
 * Leonie
 * Jackie Afflick
 * Inspector Primer
 * Mrs Cocker
 * Kelvin Halliday
 * Mrs Erskine
 * Mr Sims - not named
 * Mr Galbraith - not named
 * Dr Penrose - not named