The Plymouth Express (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

The Plymouth Express (プリマス行き急行列車 - Purimasu-yuki Kyūkō-ressha) 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 25 - 26 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Shôji Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, directed chiefly by Naohito Takahashi and broadcast between 6 February 2005 and 13 February 2005. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie's short story The Plymouth Express.

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 investigate the murder of a woman whose body was found on the Plymouth Express.

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 details inserted, it seems, for added drama and to give Mabel and Oliver a larger role.
 * The story opens with the body of Flossie Carrington being found by a Naval officer. The name of the officer, Lieutenant Alec Simpson, is not mentioned.
 * Poirot's interview with Halliday and Mason (who is renamed Louise here) is faithfully depicted and accurate in all details.
 * Leaving Halliday, it is Hastings who appears to be having a cold and not Poirot. But Poirot asks Hastings to stay in London and he stays with him. Meanwhile, he asks Mabel to accompany Sharpe to visit the crime scene. In the original, Japp goes on his own.
 * As in the original, Mabel and Sharpe comes across a news vendor who remembers Flossie. She gave him 30 pence (same as half a crown in the original).
 * Along the tracks from Weston to Taunton, it is Oliver who discovers the knife. Blood tests show it matches Flossie Carrington's blood.
 * It is Mabel (after all night on her crime scene report) who delivers the findings to Poirot and it is her who is surprised that Poirot seems to have anticipated everything. In the original it was Japp who brought the results. Poirot then gets a call from Sharpe telling him about Red Narky's arrest.
 * The scene where Red Narky tries to sell the jewels and how he is arrested is dramatised.
 * Poirot, Hastings, Mabel and Sharpe proceed to Halliday's mansion. Here, Poirot finds a suitcase under the maid Louise's bed. In this adaptation, it is Hastings and not Poirot who picks the locks. He apparently has a lock pick in his hat. Inside, they find the blue dress and other paraphenalia.
 * Here the plot diverges for dramatic reasons. According to the butler, Louise had not been seen since the morning. Sharpe sends out a call for her arrest and learns that his men had found a ticket for a ship to Greece, scheduled to depart that afternoon.
 * Louise is likely to be heading for the ship so they all rush for the port. Along the way, Poirot explains how he reached his conclusions, which are the same as in the original story.
 * At the port, Sharpe's men mingle among the passengers waiting to board the ship. Mabel has an insight. In Louise's suitcase, there had been a blonde wig (same colour as Flossie's hair). But Mabel had also found a strand of black hair. She tells Poirot that the normally red-headed Louise might be wearing a black wig.
 * Armed with this knowledge, Sharpe's men confront a likely suspect. She protests at first but then Oliver flies up and pulls the black wig off, revealing red hair underneath. Louise is arrested. Mabel gives the credit for the case to Oliver and Poirot decides that Oliver should have a reward.

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
 * Lieutenant Alec Simpson
 * Ebenezer Halliday
 * Rupert Carrington
 * Mrs Flossie Carrington
 * Count Armand de la Rochefour
 * Louise
 * Red Narky