The Ambassador's Boots (Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime episode)

The Ambassador's Boots is the sixth episode of the television series Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime. It was first broadcast on 4 December 1983. The episode was adapted and directed by Paul Annett. It is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie short story of the same name.

Synopsis
The American ambassador hires the Beresfords to investigate a mystery: while disembarking after ocean voyage, someone switched his kitbag for another, identical one. A short time later, the mistake is apparently rectified when someone returns his kitbag and retrieves the other one.

Comparison with the original story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) The plot of the original story is extended by having Tommy and Tuppence meet Randolph Wilmot at a US Embassy garden party where the actress Virma La Strange (whom they had just solved a case for) introduced them. There is also an additional scene where the ambassador takes Tuppence for a dance at a night club.

The story was also changed to have Wilmot's valet, Richards, implicated as an accomplice of the drug smuggling gang. He commits suicide when it appears that the whole scheme would shortly be exposed by the Beresfords. At the climax of the story, Tommy is saved at the Beauty Parlour by Tuppence and three friends who were her colleagues in the VAD during World War I, instead of by Tuppence and the police.

The plot element of Albert and his lasso is faithfully depicted. Here, Albert has a girlfriend whom he practices surveillance on. Albert also turns up at the Beauty Parlour as part of the rescue team.

The policeman heading the police contingent is series regular Inspector Marriott rather than Inspector Grace in the original. </div

Cast

 * Francesca Annis as Tuppence Beresford
 * James Warwick as Tommy Beresford
 * Reece Dinsdale as Albert Batt
 * Moira Brooker as Tilly
 * Michael Carter as Rodriguez
 * Arthur Cox as Inspector Marriott
 * Tricia George as Poppy St Albans
 * Jennie Linden as Cicely March
 * T.P. McKenna as Randolph Wilmot
 * Clive Merrison as Richards
 * Jo Ross as Gwen Foster
 * Catherine Schell as Virma La Strange
 * Norma West as Estelle Blaney
 * Vera Jakob as Manners
 * Anna Sharkey as Madame Beatrice
 * Judy Gridley as Nightclub Dancer
 * Linda Sands as Girl on Bridge
 * Stephen Rashbrook as Boy on Bridge
 * Uncredited actor as Ralph Westerham