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).

CHRONOLOGY: 1935

MAY: How Does Your Garden Grow?

A ticket says “Chelsea Show 1935, Vincent Square London SW1”, with the dates Wed 22^nd, Th 23^rd, Fr 24^th of May. Also, a banner outside the Chelsea Show states "The Chelsea Flower Show 1935". In other words: May 1935.

JUNE/JULY: Death in the Clouds

Poirot hands Japp a paper dated ‘Vendredi 5 Juillet 1935’. The same date is shown in the calendar of Inspector Fournier's office.

JULY: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook

The date July 11^th 1935 is given on the cheque from Mr. Ernest Todd. 

JULY: The Veiled Lady

The housekeeper of Mr. Lavington mentions that Fred Perry won again last year. That means it could be placed either in 1935 or 1936 (according to Wikipedia). I choose 1935 for chronology reasons. Month: July. Hastings states that “anyone might have used the fire”, to which Poirot answers: “In July? I don’t think so”.

AUGUST: The Lost Mine

The man pretending to be Mr. Wu Ling writes the date in the reception book (8/2/35). There is also a cheque dated "27th July 1935" (see below).

I had previously placed this in February, but as Michael very rightly points out in a comment to this post, the date is in August. I take the liberty of quoting him here:

The man checking into the hotel pretending to be Wu Ling uses the American format of placing the month first. This is clear from the date above which is written as '2nd Aug'. Poirot later comments on this, as the date format lets him know that the man checking-in had an American accent (he goes on to say Americans are a "very backward people"). So the episode takes place in August, which makes the cheque at the end of the episode dated 27 July 1935 consistent (Miss Lemon confirms it should have been paid in to Poirot's account 'ten days ago').

How I managed to overlook this I really don't know. But I am very grateful for being made aware of the mistake!

CHRONOLOGY: 1934

APRIL: The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan

No references. Mrs. Opalsen’s pearls are said to have been used in 1908 (in an actual clip from Oscar Wilde’s “Salome”), but there's no mention of how much time has elapsed. 

MAY: The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb

Poirot’s newspaper in the beginning of the episode reads June 1934 (possibly 1936). Hasting’s newspaper in New York reads January 1934 (possibly 1936). So the episode contradicts itself. Therefore, I choose to place it in early spring 1934, ignoring the references.

CHRONOLOGY: 1933

MAY: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Lord Edgware Dies seems to follow this episode. However, Mr. Ackroyd says of Poirot’s visit to the factory: “I can’t understand why you haven’t come here before. You’ve been here nearly a year now”. So it can’t possibly take place in 1936, his busiest year in the TV chronology. I’ve chosen to ignore the subtle retirement references in Lord Edgware Dies and place it here. This makes it possible for Poirot to be retired from July 1932 to May 1933, almost a year.

 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER: The ABC Murders

All the letters Poirot recieve are dated in August 1936, and the murders cover a period from 21^st August – 9^th September.  The problem with a 1936 setting is that Hastings returns from a holiday in the Amazon on the 22^nd (The ABC Murders), 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 (see 1936 post and 'Hastings Storyline'). There is also a rather curious incident taking place between Hastings and Poirot in the taxi:

Hastings: "How have you been these last six months? Busy?"
Poirot: "No. The little grey cells, I fear, they grow the rust. When the day approached for your return, I said to myself: NOW something will arise! We will hunt together, we two."

Considering that 1936 must have been TV-Poirot's busiest year ever, a 1936 setting is quite simply impossible. Also, Hastings can't possibly have been away for six months (see 1936 post). And dare I say, if the producers really were serious about placing all the episodes in 1936, how could they allow such a reference? Sigh.

The solution is to place it in August 1933, following Poirot's retirement in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (see 'Poirot Timeline'). This would also make the dialogue above seem somewhat less out of place, if we imagine that it's been about six months since Poirot and Hastings saw each other last (and considering his retirement, that is more than likely). The fact that he complains of a lack of cases can hardly be taken literally, as Poirot is always complaining that he has too much leisure time.

OCTOBER: The Kidnapped Prime Minister

The spy plot in the original short story is replaced by an Irish independence storyline (‘Erin go bragh’). The Treaty of Versailles (Paris) in the original short story is replaced by a League of Nations Disarmament Conference (supposedly still in Paris – the historical event of the conference actually took place in Geneva). The PM needs to be present to stop Germany from rearming. Since Hitler withdrew Germany from the League in October 1933, this story could supposedly be set then. 

CHRONOLOGY: 1932

JANUARY: Problem at Sea

No references, except a character mentions not having met another character in seventeen years, “not since the war”. If we assume that a meeting took place in the middle of the war, 1915, this story would be set in 1932. Since Poirot often travels to warm places in winter, January is possible.

FEBRUARY: The Adventure of the Western Star

No references. Poirot is established in Whitehaven Mansions. Looks like winter/early spring.

© ITV

JULY: Dumb Witness

There's no mention of Bella or the Argentine, so it could be set before Murder on the Links.  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 (according to 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.

CHRONOLOGY: 1931

SEPTEMBER: The Third Floor Flat

No references. Poirot has a cold. Probably early autumn. The song they are singing in the stair case, "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries", was released in early 1931, so I suggest an autumn 1931 placement of the episode. Also, the marriage certificate is dated in 1930 (as Poirot points out). Of course, the marriage might have been much longer than a year, but for the sake of a fairly even distribution of episode along the timeline, I think we can safely place the episode here, especially since it is not specified how much time is supposed to have passed between now and the marriage.