The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (クリスマスプディングの冒険 - Kurisumasu Pudingu no Bōken) was a Japanese anime television story produced by Oriental Light and Magic for NHK television. The story was broadcast in two episodes and formed Episodes 19 - 20 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, directed chiefly by Naohito Takahashi and broadcast on 5 December 2004 and 12 December 2004. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie's short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.

Production Details
The story arc is narrated and broadcast in 2 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. Like in the original story, here Poirot is asked to help recover a ruby for a foreign prince.

Comparison with Original Story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Except for the participation of Hastings and Mabel West, the plot follows the original story very faithfully. There are a few minor details which have been changed:
 * The Jesmond-type character who accompanies the Prince to meet Poirot at the beginning is not named. Here he is not a British civil servant but appears to be a minister of the foreign prince. He makes the same appeal, including the attraction of central heating and hot water at King's Lacey.
 * Poirot goes to King's Lacey with Hastings and Mabel. Their conversation with Em (here she is renamed Barbara Lacey) is abbreviated but covers the same points about Sarah.
 * When Colin, Michael and Bridget go out to play, Mabel, Hastings and Oliver go along. In this case they go skating on the frozen lake. In the original they couldn't skate because the ice was too thin.
 * Poirot actually attends the Christmas midnight mass, with Hastings and Mabel. In the original he turns in early.
 * Annie carries the christmas pudding in at dinner time. The character of Peveril is not present.
 * The hidden presents found by the diners in the pudding are the same in the book, except that Mabel is the one who finds the coin, in this case a gold coin.
 * After dinner, Poirot actually helps the children build a snowman.
 * Lee-Wortley does pass Poirot a cup of drugged coffee. There is a scene showing Poirot looking at the surface of the coffee, indicating that he notices something amiss. There is no indication of him switching coffees with David Welwyn. Poirot pretends to sleep while an intruder searches his room for the ruby.
 * During the mock death scene, Bridget is not wearing red pajamas but white.
 * Most of the second part is occupied by the denouement. Like in the original story, Poirot asks Lee-Wortley to feel Bridget's pulse. He takes the ruby. Poirot then mentions that the footprints match Lee-Wortley's shoes. Colin also contributes the additional clue that he saw Lee-Wortley in the corridor at 1 a.m. during the night.
 * Poirot takes everyone into the dining room and continues the denouement. Lee-Wortley protests his innocence and dashes off, saying he is going to fetch the police.
 * Poirot then narrates the background of the theft of the ruby. The only difference here is that the ruby was set in a ring. The prince met the woman ("Miss Lee-Wortley") at a party and allowed her to wear it for the night, then she disappeared after going to the dressing room.
 * After the denouement, Poirot challenges the children to guess where the real ruby is. Mabel guesses correctly that it is in the snowman--this explains why Poirot helped build it the day before!
 * Miss Lee-Wortley comes downstairs and Poirot allows her to go, asking Hastings to call a taxi for her. He explains that it's better to avoid the political scandal of a public prosecution.
 * Annie offers the explanation for the note on Poirot's bed, just like in the original.
 * In the last part of show, Mrs Lacey tells Poirot Sarah is still shocked and has locked herself in her room. But she is most likely "off" Lee-Wortley. David Welwyn and Diana are in the show but there is no mention of Mrs Lacey's effort to pair them off.

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
 * Masako Jô as Oliver
 * Hirofumi Nojima as Hastings
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel
 * Kôtarô Satomi as Hercule Poirot
 * Nami Tamaki as Bridget
 * Yuriko Hoshi as Barbara Lacey
 * Prince Ali
 * Desmond Lee-Wortley
 * Miss Lee-Wortley
 * Colonel Horace Lacey
 * Sarah Lacey
 * Colin Lacey
 * Michael
 * David Welwyn
 * Edwina Morecambe
 * Diana Middleton
 * Mrs Ross
 * Annie Bates