The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (消えた料理人 - Kieta Ryōrinin) 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 28 - 29 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Shinzô Fujita, directed chiefly by Naohito Takahashi and broadcast between 27 February 2005 and 6 March 2005. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie's short story The Adventure of the Clapham Cook.

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. In this story, Poirot, Hastings and Mabel are asked to find a cook who has disappeared.

Comparison with Original Story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Except for the inclusion of Mabel West and her pet duck Oliver, this adaptation is fairly faithful to the original plot except for a few investigative chores given to Mabel and Hastings. Miss Lemon is on vacation.
 * In this adaptation, Poirot is not exactly searching for a crime of "national importance" at the beginning. In fact the three of them are actually contemplating a vacation when Mrs Todd arrives. How she "forces" her case on Poirot is faithful to the original.
 * The early part of the investigation is close to the original. Annie talks about her theory about "white slavers" although in Japanese, this phrase is not used. She merely refers to an organisation which kidnaps people and transports them overseas. Eliza Dunn had arranged to have stewed apples rather than stewed peaches for supper with Annie.
 * Like in the original, Eliza comes to see Poirot in answer to the newspaper adverts, as opposed to Poirot going to the Lake District. Here, Eliza had apparently inherited a "mansion" in Cumberland, with an annuity of 600 pounds a year. The story Crochet tells her is similarly to the original, with an added condition that she must take possession of the Cumberland house by noon the next day, in order to explain her rush to leave without seeing Mrs Todd.
 * Poirot is dismissed with a cheque for 1 pound. But here he does not get as upset as in the original story. He merely tells Hastings and Mabel that he is intrigued by the case and intends to find Eliza on his own.
 * Poirot sends Mabel to Clapham again to interview the witnesses. Mrs Todd in particular is very happy to hear that Poirot is intending to continue. She knew about her husband dismissing Poirot and was planning to secretly ask him to carry on.
 * Hastings also has own set of chores. Besides placing adverts in the papers, he is sent to Cumberland to check on the conditions of Eliza's inheritance. He finds that the house has been rented only for one month and Simpson had paid out 300 pounds as the first part of the fake annuity. Eliza had told Poirot that she had been met at Cumberland by some lawyers who explained everything to her about the house and annuity. These therefore couldn't have been real lawyers ... perhaps confederates of Simpson.
 * Like in the original, and as distinct from the ITV adaptation, Poirot comes to his conclusion quite quickly after this. After meeting Eliza, which forms the first half of part 2, he summons Inspector Sharpe and they go down to Clapham. Here, they discover that Simpson had moved out suddenly two days previously. Poirot then moves into the denouement which occupies the rest of the second half of part 2.
 * Eliza's trunk had been collected and sent to a suburban station in London, not to Glasgow. Sharpe's men find the trunk with the body in it. Simpson is also arrested as he is about to board a liner for America. These scenes are depicted with Mabel providing a voiceover.
 * The episode ends differently and slightly more conclusively. Eliza comes back to work for the Todds who warmly welcome her back, saying it wasn't her fault. The Todds then invite Poirot and co. for a dinner where the sumptuious food cooked by Eliza is praised by Mrs Todd and Poirot. During the meal, the Todds announce to Eliza and Annie that they intend to give them a raise from the following month.

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
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel West
 * Hirofumi Nojima as Hastings
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel
 * Kôtarô Satomi as Hercule Poirot
 * Atsuko Tanaka as Miss Lemon
 * Yûsaku Yara as Inspector Sharpe
 * Harue Akagi as Mrs Todd
 * Chieko Matsuhara as Eliza Dunn