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Poirot TV chronology

AndThenThereWereToon 14 Feb 10 at 9:07 p.m. GMT

Thought I'd start a separate post for this.

I've now rewatched a number of episodes (for science!), and although there isn't a clash between The ABC Murders and Hickory Dickory Dock - firstly because they compressed the whole ABC story into just one month, and secondly because Hickory appears not to take place in October after all - there is a clash between ABC and Evil Under The Sun.

Anyway, notwithstanding any clashes, it ought to be possible for us to work out a chronological order that covers most, if not all, of the episodes.  I'm only using dates given on newspapers, letters, calendars etc that are clearly visible on screen.

Here's what I've got so far:

Hickory Dickory Dock - April 1936 (Ma Hubbard puts up a notice advertising Poirot's lecture that says "Thursday 5th April"; the Jarrow March took place in 1936, although in a different month in reality.)

Murder On The Links - May 1936 (poster advertising the 1936 Deauville cycling contest; calendar in Giraud's office reads "Mercredi 18 Mai".)

Evil Under The Sun - August 1936 (Hastings' invitation to Poirot to his Argentinian restaurant gives the date as "Saturday the 3rd of August 1936"; he and Poirot then spend a couple of weeks at the health resort waiting for Poirot's medical results to come through.)

The ABC Murders - August/September 1936 (letters all dated August 1936, murders cover 21st August - 9th September.  The problem being that Hastings returns from a holiday in the Amazon on the 21st, and if he was with Poirot throughout Evil Under The Sun, he'll have had four days to get out there, bag a cayman and get back.)

More may follow, if there's an interest.

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24 replies

Reverse order

HickoryDickory 14 Feb 11 at 3:36 p.m. GMT

Thank you! :) It's been quite a lot of fun - but at times also quite frustrating! Anyway, I hope you agree with most of my findings and don't find too many errors (I find something new to add to the findings almost every time I watch an episode!).

go_leafs_nation 14 Feb 11 at 1:18 p.m. GMT

Congratulations! All done in the name of science!

HickoryDickory 11 Feb 11 at 4:10 p.m. GMT

I've recently completed my little project of creating a complete chronology of the episodes - at least a chronology I find reasonable! I've used your comments as a starting point (in fact, I got the whole idea from here, so thank you!).

For those of you interested, take a look at my blog; www.poirotchronology.blogspot.com. I suggest you read the blog from the first to the last post (it makes more sense then).

Any feedback, comments etc. are most welcome! :)

Lone_Wolf 02 Nov 10 at 1:44 p.m. GMT

I find it interesting that the chronology isn't aligned with the episodes' real-time production much. Mеsopotаmiа is a pre-2003 episode that cuts though post-2003 ones, and the reverse holds for Dеаth оn thе Nilе. 

AndThenThereWereToon 31 Oct 10 at 8:35 a.m. GMT

Wow, you guys are really keeping the Poirot chronology flame alive!  Haven't been able to keep up recently, and now that I live in New Zealand I'm finding it difficult to catch sight of the four recent adaptations.  But I'm hardly needed any more!

geoffas 21 Oct 10 at 3:15 p.m. GMT

"The Clocks" is set after 30/09/38. Chamberlain's Peace in Our Time is refered to. He signed the agreement with Hitler on that date. Looking at the weather in the film and because people are wearing coats it could be spring 1939 or autumn 1938.

"Hallowe'en Party" maybe set in 1937, there is a brief snippet from the news on the wireless and Rooservelt is mentioned. He gave an important speech on 31/10/37

HickoryDickory 23 Jul 10 at 11:57 a.m. GMT

January sounds like the most reasonable setting, I agree. I'm happy to hear that it's actually a definite 1938-setting! Gives me hope that they might place Curtain directly after WW2 (or at least early 40s)...

As to incorrect dates, it would certainly not be the first time. In The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, for example, Poirot's newspaper in London is dated June 1934 (possibly 1936), while Hasting's newspaper in New York is dated January 1934. And in Taken at the Flood, the newspapers Poirot has asked for are both dated Friday July 6, 1934, as if Robert Underhay's death and the explosion in Mayfair took place on the very same day...

In cases like these, I guess we have to ignore the dates the filmmakers have added and choose the most likely setting.

shanty_sleuth 22 Jul 10 at 11 p.m. GMT

I think there is an error in MOTOE. It's definitely set in 1938, but the actual month is either September or January. Poirot receives a telegram from London while at the hotel in Istanbul, and it is clearly dated 26/9/38. However, a closeup of Ratchett's note telling him to drop the ransom money off at Calais reads January. I think January is correct, but how the filmmakers could be so careless as to show a closeup of an incorrectly-dated telegram is beyond me.

HickoryDickory 22 Jul 10 at 11:18 a.m. GMT

Great!

Well, Third Girl definitely takes place in 1937. We're told that Norma was five in 1917 and is "soon to reach her 25th birthday". In the denouement, Poirot discusses the year Meadowfield was founded (1919) and reveals that "it was only established since it is now 18 years ago". All adds up to 1937.

As to time of year: It has to come after Cards, since that was the first story with Mrs. Oliver. Poirot mentions Christmas in Cards, so that story can't possibly be placed any earlier than say October 37. In other words, Third Girl must be in Oct or Nov. The only problem is that both adaptions have a very spring/summer-ish look. So they aren't really likely to take place in late autumn...But I guess we have to take some liberties.

AWD is a certain 1937 bet. The on-screen caption gives "Syria 1937". My guess would be January, simply because Death on the Nile was placed in January 1936 (and I find it likely that Poirot would escape the English winter for a warmer climate, e.g. his obsession with central heating).

MOTOE - sadly - I haven't seen yet (I'm not from the U.S.). But I think I read somewhere, either here or on the IMDB forum, that it has been placed in 1938. Which I guess would make sense, if they're trying to move the series onwards. If it's correct, my guess would be January or February 1938, directly after Mesopotamia (which I would place in Jan.). That would at least make sense when Christie's novels are concerned: Nurse Leatheran writes in Mesopotamia that "M. Poirot went back to Syria, and about a week later he went home on the Orient Express and got himself mixed up in another murder". Anyhow, MOTOE has to come after Blue Train. In the adaption, Poirot actually expalins to Katherine Grey that he has not yet travelled on the Orient Express ("but I must!").

GKCfan 21 Jul 10 at 8:09 p.m. GMT

I'm interested!  I wonder where we place the new MOTOE, 3rd Girl, and Appointment with Death!

HickoryDickory 21 Jul 10 at 2:42 p.m. GMT

Is there still any interest in this topic? I'm new to the board (as a member, that is), but I've been reading posts on here for ages. So please bear with me if I step on anyone's toes or irritate you in any way.Reading this thread in February, I decided to conduct my own little investigation: I've re-watched nearly all the Poirot adaptions (once again, for science!) and tried to work out a close-to-reasonable chronology.

I'm nearly done now, and - surprisingly enough - the clashes are fewer than I'd expected. The main problem is of course 1936, where I guess Poirot couldn't have had much time to even catch his breath...The most crucial clashes are in May 1936. As you guys have already discovered, Mystey of the Blue Train and Links both take place in late May. And if the attempt of the producers to place Ackroyd and Edgware directly after each other is anything to go by, Ackroyd has to fit in as well.

On top of this, The Million Dollar Bond Robbery centres on RMS Queen Mary. Indeed, Poirot and Hastings take the liner on its "maiden voyage", as Hastings states. According to Wikipedia, this voyage took place on May 27th 1936... Again, I guess wild speculation is called for.

To look on the bright side, most of the other adaptions have fitted in rather nicely (though I'm still struggling with some. Could use some help!). For instance, quite a few of the short stories very definitely take place in 1935 and 1934.

I could post a list if there's still an interest.

AndThenThereWereToon 07 Mar 10 at 7:50 a.m. GMT

Yes, yes, that's very true and an excellent point.  I'd registered the "new flat" scene but hadn't thought to work it in.  You whizz, GKCfan!

Funnily enough, the exterior of his new apartment building looks uncannily like the exterior of his old apartment building.  But then again, the exterior of Mr Shaitana's place is a dead ringer for Lord Edgware's residence.  Perhaps the Edgware children sold it on after the murder?  Or perhaps Mr Shaitana just liked the look.

GKCfan 07 Mar 10 at 4:16 a.m. GMT

This is great work!  Thank you! 

Don't forget, Cards on the Table must be set after the last episode with Poirot's old flat- he mentions that he's moved, probably to a bigger place in the same building.  Since we last see his old apartment in Aug/Sept 1936 (ABC Murders) according to your chronology, Cards must be set after that.

AndThenThereWereToon 06 Mar 10 at 9:55 p.m. GMT

Here it is, our first honest-to-goodness direct clash:

Mystery of the Blue Train: Mirelle Milesi's ticket for the LTB is dated "17 MAY 1936".  And Giraud's calendar after the murder in Links, you may remember, was dated 18th May 1936.   So Poirot's down south in Nice at exactly the same time as he's up north in Deauville with Hastings, at the completely opposite end of France.  Wild speculation is called for, I fancy.

Cards on the Table: nothing.  All we can say with reasonable certainty is that Christmas is coming (as Poirot tells Anne Meredith) and that this precedes any other adventures with Ariadne Oliver.

AndThenThereWereToon 01 Mar 10 at 1:03 a.m. GMT

The story so far...

Dumb Witness - Jul 1932 (??)

Hickory Dickory Dock - Apr 1934 (?)

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Aug 1934 (?)

Death in the Clouds - Jul 1935

Death on the Nile - Jan 1936

Murder on the Links - May 1936

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Jun 1936 (?)

Lord Edgware Dies - Jun 1936

Evil under the Sun - Aug 1936

The ABC Murders - Aug/Sep 1936

Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Dec 1936

Five Little Pigs - Jun 1937 (?)

Sad Cypress - Sep 1937

Murder in Mesopotamia - 1938 (?)

The Hollow - Sep 1938

AndThenThereWereToon 01 Mar 10 at 12:50 a.m. GMT

Dumb Witness: nothing, dammit.  There's no mention of Mrs Hastings or the Argentine, so it could be set before Links if we wanted.  Charles Arundell is attempting the world water speed record, which wasn't officially established as a record category until 1928, so it's probably after that (thanks, Wikipedia!).  Wikipedia also says the last serious UK challenge of the 1930s was made in July 1932 by Kaye Don, so this might be the Poirot universe's version of that, but it's an enormous stretch.  But there's nothing else to go on.

Death in the Clouds: July 1935.  Poirot hands Japp a paper dated Vendredi 5 Juillet 1935, thank gawd.

Next week, I retire to the countryside to cultivate vegetable marrows.

AndThenThereWereToon 01 Mar 10 at 12:49 a.m. GMT

Here comes more:

Five Little Pigs: a long shot here.  I can't see the year on Lucy Crale's letter to Poirot, but it's dated 7th June which gives us a time of year to work with.  Now then.  The murder's said to have happened 14 years earlier, and the archive newspaper Poirot looks at is dated "Thursday, May 3".  Off I go to the calendar website.  If we start by assuming another late 1930s setting for "the present day", we find that the best fit for Thursday 3rd May is 1923.  So I reckon the story itself is set in June 1937.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: not a lot.  The murder happens on 6th August, and the British Union of Fascists (1932-1940) is in evidence, but that's about it.  The early stuff in India is dated 1925, but I can't see any indication of how much time is supposed to have elapsed since.  The peak of the BUF's career was the Olympia rally in London in 1934, which ended in violence and lost the BUF a lot of support; it'd be tempting to say Frank Carter is about to take part in this rally when Poirot catches him in uniform, but it happened in June.  Still, for the sake of argument I'd tentatively put this in August 1934 (I mean, if Hickory Dickory Dock can include the Jarrow March in the wrong month of the wrong year...).

Hercule Poirot's Christmas: Christmas, obviously.  The on-screen captions give "South Africa 1896" and "London 40 years later", so it's as good as given that it's Christmas 1936.  The inclusion of the Spanish Civil War fits that, too.  Isn't that nice?

More shortly.

GKCfan 23 Feb 10 at 6:09 a.m. GMT

Great work!  Yes, "Lord Edgware Dies" seems to come directly after "Murder of Roger Ackroyd" because Poirot has moved to the country in "Ackroyd," but we see Miss Lemon helping him move back in at the start of "Lord Edgware."  Maybe Poirot decided to retire after Hastings got married and moved to Argentina.

AndThenThereWereToon 22 Feb 10 at 11:55 p.m. GMT

Latest "research":

Lord Edgware Dies: Carlotta Adams' letter is dated June 29th 1936.  Nice and easy.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: nothing to really go on here.  The mysterious wedding ring is inscribed "March 13th", but we've no idea how recent that was and there's no year given anywhere.  If Lord Edgware Dies actually follows on from this (and it *seems* to), we might place it between Links (April 1936) and Edgware (June 1936), while Hastings is out of the country with Mrs Hastings.

Murder in Mesopotamia: nothing definite, but several hints.  Frederick Bosner's execution is reported in a newspaper dated November 1918, and that was "nearly twenty years ago".  Hastings says he's been married "a few years". which is pushing it considering when the production crew decided to set Links, but it might reasonably be 1938.  So this looks like being the latest TV adap yet in chronological terms.  Then again...

The Hollow: the dinner invitation Lady Angkatell sends Poirot is dated Saturday 17th September.  1938 fits this date.

Dot, dot, dot.

AndThenThereWereToon 15 Feb 10 at 10 p.m. GMT

Ha!  Yes, perhaps I could accept the Nobel Thought That Counts Prize in anticipation of work promised but not yet done.  Then I could enter the If Wishes Were Horses Derby with my thoroughbred wish-stallion.  Heigh-ho.

Thanks for your encouragement, folks.  I can now reveal - for science! - that the TV Sad Cypress is set in September 1937.  Alongside "Gershwin Dies", the obituary section of Poirot's newspaper gives Aunt Laura's date of death as September 16th 1937.  And Death On The Nile - this may come as a surprise - is January 1936, as clearly shown on Pennington's travel ticket for the 'Normandy'.

So what we've got so far is Hickory Dickory Dock (probably April 1934), Death On The Nile, Murder On The Links, Evil Under The Sun, The ABC Murders, Sad Cypress.  And After The Funeral some time in 1936.  Only another 16 novel adaps and all the short stories to go!