Hallowe'en Party is the second episode of series 12 of the ITV British television drama series Agatha Christie's Poirot featuring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, first broadcast on 27 October 2010 in the UK. The episode is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name and was directed by Charles Palmer with dramatisation by Mark Gatiss.
Synopsis[]
Joyce Reynolds, a girl who claims to have witnessed a murder, is found drowned at a children's Halloween party. Ariadne Oliver and Poirot set out to investigate.
Comparison with Original Novel[]
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)
- Some changes in characters are made but the plot is fairly faithful to the original.
- Omitted from the adaptation are the characters of Ann Reynolds, Superintendent Spence, Alfred Richmond, Elspeth McKay, Miss Emlyn, Harriet Leaman, Dr Ferguson, Mr Goby, Nicholas Ransom, and Desmond Holland, along with the location of The Elms School, and the investigation into Charlotte Benfield's death.
- Frances and Edmund Drake are new characters to the story. Frances and Edmund are Rowena's children, with Frances having been involved in a relationship with Leslie Ferrier.
- Mrs Goodbody and the Vicar Rev Cottrell have larger roles in the plot.
- Mrs Goodbody is consulted by Poirot over deaths that happened over the past few years, that could have been murders witnessed by Joyce (what was done by Elspeth McKay and Superintendent Spence in the original).
- Rev Cottrell ran a program that supplied foreign au pairs to families. One case was Olga. The scheme went downhill when Olga disappeared;
- Some locations are changed. There is no Quarry House. The Drakes stay in the house inherited from Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe. This is where the halloween party was held. In the book Rowena lives at Apple Trees. Quarry House was inherited by Garfield who then sold it off.
- The garden in the novel was in an abandoned quarry. Here it is a manicured topiary garden in the French style, although it is still open to the public.
- Certain events and clues and who is involved are changed:
- Joyce's appropriation of stories is revealed by Cottrell.
- Ariadne Oliver is the one who witnesses Rowena purposely dropping the vase of water near the library. In the original this was Miss Whittaker.
- Ariadne Oliver is bedridden for most of the episode. Judith Butler is the one who accompanies Poirot around.
- The fake codicil is revealed by Mr Fullerton, and later shown to Poirot by Raglan. Poirot finds the real codicil in a picture frame among Lesley's possession; in the original, the existence of a real codicil is not so definitively known.
- Leopold's body (here he is older than Joyce) is found by Elizabeth Whittaker. This detail is not supplied in the original.
- Rowena comes to Poirot twice, before and after Leopold's murder, to give false reasons for her dropping the vase and where he was during the party.
- Janet White's first name is changed to Beatrice, and her death was a result of suicide by drowning, due to personal issues–-she could not deal with people commenting about her sexuality, and so decided to end it all, leaving a note to Whittaker, who had loved her. Whittaker hid the note to prevent Janet being given an unconsecrated grave. In the original, Janet White was strangled. This unexplained killing was not resolved in the novel.
- A major number of changes were made for the final scene, including the denouement:
- Judith and Miranda are not taken away by Poirot, but Miranda sneaks out of her mother's home to meet Garfield. In the book, Miranda sneaked out of an inn "The Black Boy" on the way to London and got into Garfield's car.
- Garfield is caught by Poirot, Judith, Ariadne and the police while trying to kill Miranda. He is arrested and does not kill himself with poison as in the book. In the book the police are not involved. Poirot employed Nicholas Ransom and Desmond Holland to tail Garfield, and they intervened.
- This attempted "pagan sacrifice" is held in the garden which Garfield tended and not at Kilterbury Ring.
- The discovery of Olga's body only takes place after the arrest of Garfield and Rowena. There is no well or knife found with it. In the book, the body is found earlier before Garfield attempts his "sacrifice" of Miranda.
- The motive for the various murders is modified but recognisably similar:
- It is more strongly suggested that Rowena and Garfield ran down Mr Drake. Here Garfield was having an affair with Rowena. There is a flashback scene of Garfield in a sports car. Poirot suggests that the police might find Rowena and Garfield's alibi for the time of the accident to be shaky.
- In this adaptation, Garfield was not Olga's lover. Olga suspected the affair between Garfield and Rowena and told Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe, who then wrote out the codicil.
- In this adaptation, Ferrier is the one who tells Mrs Drake about the codicil. He then offers to make a forged one to discredit it. In the book, Poirot speculates that Mrs Drake paid Ferrier to make a forged codicil.
- In this adaptation, Poirot also suggests that Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe was murdered by Rowena. In the book her death was mentioned as sudden but accepted as natural. Poirot does not conclude one way or another. After Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe died, Olga confronted Rowena about the "fake" codicil--Olga knew she must have had it switched for a fake one. Rowena stabbed her there and then. Her body was buried by Garfield alone, witnessed by Miranda who was visiting the garden at the time.
- Garfield stabbed Ferrier. Rowena drowned Joyce and Garfield drowned Leopold.
- Rowena learns from Garfield the truth, in that he was only interested in the money and making a new garden, never loving her. The idea of buying a Greek island is his alone in this adaptation. Rowena had been firmly denying Poirot's reconstruction until this point but Garfield's revelation makes her break down.
Cast[]
- David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
- Amelia Bullmore as Judith Butler
- Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver
- Deborah Findlay as Rowena Drake
- Mary Higgins as Miranda Butler
- Sophie Thompson as Mrs Reynolds
- Georgia King as Frances Drake
- Ian Hallard as Edmund Drake
- Timothy West as Reverend Cottrell
- Fenella Woolgar as Miss Whittaker
- Macy Nyman as Joyce Reynolds
- Richard Breislin as Leopold Reynolds
- David Yelland as George
- Paola Dionisotti as Mrs Goodbody
- Julian Rhind-Tutt as Michael Garfield
- Paul Thornley as Inspector Raglan
- Vera Graziadei (credited as Vera Filatova) as Olga Seminoff
- Phyllida Law as Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe
- Eric Sykes as Mr Fullerton
Tropes and Themes[]
- Old sins cast long shadows - Poirot says this exact phrase when Judith Butler asks him why he is investigating old crimes when he should be looking at Joyce's death.
Filming Locations[]
- Beckley Park, Oxfordshire - topiary garden of Rowena Drake's house
- Tangley Mere, New Road, Chilworth, Guildford - exteriors and interiors of Rowena Drake's house
- Old Hatfield, Hertfordshire - Woodleigh Common scenes
- St Ethelreda's Church, Old Hatfield - church at Woodleigh Common
- House at 5 Church St - Miss Whittaker is seen walking past it on the way to church. In another scene, after a service, some of the women can be seen standing in front of it.
- Church lane - as Poirot is driven to the church, the car can be seen proceeding on Church Lane to the church
- Fore Street, Old Hatfield - as the office of Fullerton, Harrison & Leadbetter Solicitors. It is hard to find the actual house number. It is two doors down from 3 Fore Street and opposite 26 Fore Street.
- Cottage on the Great North Road? - according to a Hatfield website[1], a cottage on the Great North Road was used for filming some exteriors.
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