Samuel Naughton

Samuel Naughton was a non-canonical character who was created for the film adaptation of The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor in Series 3 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. He was the innkeeper of the Red Anchor inn at Marsdon Leigh. An amateur novelist, he had written a novel The Needle in the Haystack but have gotten into a tangle with the ending of his murder story because all his characters had perfect alibis. He wrote to Poirot for help. Poirot did not notice that Naughton was referring to a book and thought it was a real murder and so travelled to Marsdon Leigh to take up the case.

Naughton wrote his novel under the pen name "Clarissa Naughton". He told Poirot that using a woman's name seemed to help books sell better. Samuel Naughton is played by Desmond Barrit. This character does not occur in the original story.