Luke Treadaway as Dr Calgary
In the novel Ordeal by Innocence, Dr Arthur Calgary is a geophysicist who gave a lift to Jacko Argyle two years earlier, and then was out of the country when Argyle was on trial for murder. Thus Calgary could not give his testimony, which would have backed up Argyle's statement. He does give it when he returns to England and learns what happened. He was a member of the Hayes Bentley expedition to the Antarctic.
Dr Calgary is thirty-eight years old, and has "slightly stooped shoulders", greyimg hair, and a "thin sensitive face".
Dr Calgary has some friends in Redquay, with whom he has lunch and tea, before going to Sunny Point to see the Argyles. By the time he is crossing the river in the ferry, it is late in the day, and he wonders if he had been subconsciously putting the moment off.
At Sunny Point, Dr Calgary tells the Argyles that he was the man who gave a lift to Jacko on the evening of Mrs Argyle's death, and so Jacko could not have killed her. He then explains why he was unable to testify to confirm Jacko's alibi to the police.
At that time, Dr Calgary had been staying in Drymouth for a few days, at a friend's flat. This friend had also lent Dr Calgary his car. On the day of Mrs Argyle's death, Dr Calgary had spent the day visiting an old nurse at Polgarth, and was to return to London by the evening train. From Polgarth, he drove to Redmyn to see Canon Peasmarsh.
On his way back to Drymouth, he picked up an unknown hitch-hiker. He dropped the hitch-hiker in Drymouth, put the car back in its lock-up, and went to the train station.
As Dr Calgary was crossing the road near the station, a lorry came round the corner and knocked him down. He got up, apparently uninjured, and boarded the train. However, when the train arrived at Paddington, he was found unconscious, and was taken to hospital. He was found to be suffering from concussion.
Because of this accident, Dr Calgary had no memory of having driven along the Redmyn-Drymouth road that evening, or of picking up the hitch-hiker. He was kept in hospital, with no access to newspapers, until he was to leave England to fly to Australia, and join up with the Hayes Bentley expedition.
After returning to England, Dr Calgary saw a reproduced photograph of Jacko in some old newspapers, and found his face familiar. After reading the paragraph in the newspaper, Dr Calgary remembered picking Jacko up that night, and giving him a lift to Drymouth. He then went to see Mr Marshall, and they later went to the police.
As Dr Calgary is leaving Sunny Point, Hester Argyle tells him that it is not the guilty who matter, it is the innocent. He does not understand her at first.
Dr Calgary goes to see Mr Marshall again, and learns that on the evening of the murder, the only people in the house were members of the family and household. The house was locked and shuttered, and any outsider must have been admitted by Mrs Argyle herself, or had their own key. He begins to understand that the family would rather that Jacko was guilty.
Dr Calgary also sees Dr MacMaster, and learns background information about the Argyles. He learns that while Mrs Argyle was alive, none of the family really belonged to themselves, and that the children had fought not to conform to the pattern she had arranged for them.
Hester Argyle later goes to see Dr Calgary in London, and asks him to help her. He tells her that he will help, and that he knows that she did not kill Mrs Argyle, because of what she had said about innocence.
While Hester is explaining how she felt about Mrs Argyle, Dr Calgary is reminded of himself and his friend, Porch, when they were nine years old. They had discussed what would be the best way to dispose of their form master, Mr Warborough.
Dr Calgary advises Hester to go and book herself a room at Curtis's, and tells her that he will come later and take her out to dinner. He also tells her not to worry, that they will think of something.
Dr Calgary goes to see Superintendent Huish, to find out more about Jacko. He learns that Jacko had been very good at getting money from women, and that he usually targeted middle-aged or elderly women, getting them to believe that he was passionately in love with them. Dr Calgary later visits one of the women from whom Jacko had gotten money.
At the end of the novel, Dr Calgary goes to Sunny Point again, to tell the family who really killed Mrs Argyle, as well as Philip Durrant. When Mary Durrant springs at the murderer to attack them for killing Philip, Dr Calgary helps to hold her back.
Dr Calgary tells Hester that she will be happy now, and will settle down and marry Dr Craig. Hester says that she wants to marry Dr Calgary instead, if he wants her. Dr Calgary tells her that he does want her.
Portrayals[]
Ordeal by Innocence (BBC 2018)[]
In the Ordeal by Innocence BBC miniseries, Dr Calgary was portrayed by Luke Treadaway. Here he claims to have gone to a trip to the Arctic but it turns out he is a patient of a mental hospital. He had escaped in the evening when Rachel Argyle was killed, and could give an alibi to Jacko Argyle. In this version Jacko isn't the murderer but it's his father Leo.
Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha[]
In Am Stram Gram, the France Télévisions adaptation of Ordeal by Innocence for the TV series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, the parallel character is Aristide Pépin.