CHRONOLOGY: 1936 (July-December)

JULY: Murder on the Links
 
A poster is advertising the 1936 Deauville cycling contest and a calendar in Giraud’s office reads “Mercredi 18 Mai”. “Mercredi 18 Mai” is actually inaccurate, because Mercredi (Wednesday) was not the 18^th of May in 1936. 1932 is the closest fit. On the other hand, the Deauville cycling contest is in 1936, so we have to ignore one of them. My suggestion is to skip the date and keep the year, since May 1936 is already crowded (see this post). By moving Hastings's meeting with Bella forward a couple of months, we also solve some of the quirks in the 'Hastings Storyline'.

JULY: After the Funeral

The crucial evidence here is the painting of the Polflexan Pier. According to Susannah Henderson (the missionary), Cora copied:

“I’m sure aunt Cora did copy. I didn’t want to press it with Ms. Gilchrist here. –And why are you sure, mademoiselle? –Well, her paintings are mostly seaside scenes, and there is one of Polflexan, the lighthouse and the pier. But that pier burnt down five years ago. I remember reading about it, and her painting is dated last year. Oh yes, and then in her bedroom I found a postcard of Polflexan, with the pier still in place”.

Later in the episode, Cora’s picture is clearly dated ‘1935’.

Neither George nor the new apartment is mentioned, so the adaptation could be placed in 1936 (before Poirot changes apartments).

AUGUST: Evil Under the Sun

Captain Hastings’s invitation to his Argentinean restaurant (see 'Hastings Storyline') gives the date as “Saturday the 3^rd 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 difficulty here is that a telegram to Arlena Stuart during her stay at the hotel is clearly shown on the screen and is dated 12/08/36. The telegram is read by Hastings during the first day of investigation (the same day as the murder took place). He explains that the telegram is "dated two days ago", meaning that the murder supposedly took place on the 14^th. Counting the number of days of this case tells us that Evil Under the Sun takes place between August 3^rd and (possibly) August 18^th. However, Hastings supposedly returns from a trip to the Amazon in The ABC Murders on August 22^nd, and he has been away for about six months. If we are to take the references in both episodes seriously, he'll have had about four days to travel back and forth, and that is completely impossible (consider the journey from Europe to South America).


My solution is to ignore the year of The ABC Murders and move that particular episode to August 1933, thus solving any time issue in this episode.

CHRONOLOGY: 1936 (January-June)

JANUARY: Death on the Nile

January 1936 is clearly shown on Pennington’s travel ticket for the SS ‘Normandie’.

FEBRUARY: The Dream

No definite references, but Mr. Farley states “In 1935, we sold more pies than ever in our history”, so the story has to take place the following year. Looks like early spring, could be February.

MARCH: Dead Man’s Mirror 
 
The date of the second will says '23^rd March, 1936' (the first will is dated 25th of April, 1935).

APRIL: Hickory Dickory Dock

Mrs. Hubbard puts up a notice advertising Poirot’s lecture that says “Thursday 5^th April”. The closest fit is 1934, but the Jarrow March (mentioned in the episode) took place in 1936, admittedly in October. Since the producers have clearly attempted to set the episode in 1936, even if they've made a major mistake by keeping the date from the novel (I presume), I suggest the date could be April 1936 instead, thus keeping the important 1936 Jarrow March  reference almost in place. Another possibility would be to ignore the Jarrow March setting and place it in April 1934, I guess, but since the Jarrow March is so well known as a 1936 event, I think the date is more likely to be an error than the march itself.

MAY: The Million Dollar Bond Robbery

First of all, Hastings and Miss Lemon mention the case of The Lost Mine, set in 1935:

Miss Lemon: Mr. Poirot had some problems with his bank last year. Its chairman was arrested.
Hastings: Yes, I remember. It was Poirot who put the man behind bars.

Secondly, the Queen Mary (ocean liner) is mentioned. Hastings reads aloud from an article in the Times about the “maiden voyage”, and Poirot and Hastings both take the boat in the same episode. Wikipedia says this maiden voyage was the 27^th of May 1936, which gives us a date. That would give us a problem with Murder on the Links (18^th of May 1936) and The Mystery of the Blue Train (17^th of May 1936), see this post. Also, Hastings fancies one of the culprits, so he can’t have met Bella Duveen yet… My solution (see July 1936) is to keep this episode in May and ignore the date and month in Murder on the Links. As earlier mentioned, The Mystery of the Blue Train has already been moved (see 1937 post).

1936 - A Spot of Bother

1936 is the year in which most of the Poirot episodes have been set by the script writers and producers. Consequently, it’s the year that has given me the most trouble. It’s definitely the busiest year in TV-Poirot’s life. How can I possibly make it fit, with cases/episodes following each other almost nonstop – some even overlapping or taking place at the same time! My solution has been to follow the references of the producers as far as possible, and make some drastic changes to the chronology when needed. I hope you agree with my decisions – I have at least tried to make choices that correspond in the best possible way with both Christie’s stories and the television series.

The main “clashes”

The Mystery of the Blue Train:

Mirelle Milesi’s ticket for The Blue Train is dated “17 MAY 1936”. The story also has to take place before Murder on the Orient Express (see 1938 post).

Murder on the Links: 

There are specific references to the 1936 Deauville cycling contest, and a calendar in Giraud’s office is dated “Mercredi 18 Mai” (Wednesday 18^th May). May 18^th, however, was not a Wednesday in 1936. The closest fit is 1932. Also, it clashes with The Mystery of the Blue Train, set at EXACTLY the same time.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd:  

Lord Edgware Dies (placed in late June/early July 1936 by the script writers, see below) seems to follow this one in the series. But Poirot has been in King’s Abbot “nearly a year now”, according to Mr. Ackroyd. How could he possibly have been retired in the busiest year of his life?

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery:

Poirot and Hastings travel with the Queen Mary on its maiden voyage, which according to Wikipedia was May 27^th 1936. This is really close to Mystery of the Blue Train (May 18^th) and Murder on the Links (May 17^th). In addition, Hastings fancies one of the culprits, so he can’t have met Bella Duveen yet. 

Lord Edgware Dies: 
Carlotta’s letter is dated June 29^th 1936, and Poirot is moving in again, having been retired in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (probably set more or less directly before this episode). In addition, Hastings returns from the Argentine, having lost the farm in financial difficulties. How could he have had time to move to the Argentine in the first place, having met Bella Duveen only a month earlier, in Murder on the Links? And how could he have been with Poirot in The Case of the Missing Will (June 15^th) and The Underdog (June 23^rd) if he's been living in the Argentine?

Death in the Clouds/The Adventure of the Clapham Cook: 

Again, there's a time and date difficulty. A newspaper in Death in the Clouds reads "5 Juillett 1935" (5 July 1935) and a cheque in The Adventure of the Clapham Cook is dated July 11^th 1935. But I guess this is just about plausible, so I won't make any changes here.

The ABC Murders/Evil under the Sun:

The letters Poirot receives (The ABC Murders) are dated between August 13^th and September 9^th 1936. Hastings returns from a journey to the Amazon on August 22^nd, the same day as the second letter. The difficulty here is Evil under the Sun. An invitation to Hastings's Argentinean restaurant is dated August 3^rd 1936. Poirot ends up in hospital, and he soon travels with Hastings to the health resort - Miss Lemon has booked him "a room for two weeks". How could Hastings have had time to open a restaurant while at the same time exploring the Amazon? Also, Hastings asks Poirot in The ABC Murders "how have you been this last six months?", a frankly impossible question since he has been with Poirot throughout spring 1936!

Yellow Iris:
Hastings is supposed to have had a ranch in the Argentine two years earlier than he actually does! Or, at least, he was apparently there for some time in 1934, judging by Poirot's story. (see 1934 post).

Cards on the Table/Third Girl:
Here, the issue is simply a weather problem (looks like summer/spring). In order to make it fit, it has to be autumn ("Christmas is coming" in Cards on the Table, and Third Girl has to follow that episode, since the former includes the first appearance of Mrs. Oliver).


As you read the following posts, you will see how I've tried to solve these clashes. Interestingly, what causes the most problems are really three episodes, all produced after the five year hiatus in the late 1990s: Lord Edgware Dies (2000), Evil under the Sun (2001) and Mystery of the Blue Train (2006).  I can sort of understand why these errors have been made. The producers were probably delighted to be back after the hiatus, and they clearly attempted to make the hiatus fit in to the chronology of episodes, hence starting off with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I love the fact that we see Poirot visit his hold flat, and then moving in again in Lord Edgware Dies, as Hastings returns and they visit the health resort in Evil under the Sun. I only wish they had paid attention to the 1936 setting they were trying to create. Anyway. As to the date in The Mystery of the Blue Train, I would excuse that as a simple continuity errror, probably not intentional at all (it's hardly noticeable on screen), and more to be blamed on the production crew than on the script writers.