BOOK TO SERIES: TOTAL RETELLING

 Wow! So you might know that I am doing this series of posts for the current run of Miss Marple stories being shown on PBS ... 

Well, I've been watching "Agatha Christie's Poirot" for a while now too ... so I thought I'd give a review comparing the audiobooks (I find them on YouTube at no cost) and the BBC television series ... they usually run two a week, so that was a bit of a draw back ... but I've decided to give it a go ...

This week's episodes were "The Italian Nobleman" which I have not listened to yet so that one is still upcoming ... and

The Chocolate Box

Okay . first, the series opens with Inspecter Japp being given some big award in Belgium, Captain Hastings and Hercule Poirot go along to support him (apparently Japp's wife couldn't make it)

In the book, Japp isn't even mentioned!  It begins with Hastings and Poirot sitting by a fire, sipping a Hot Toddy (Hastings) and a cup of Hot Chocolate (Poirot) .... Hastings makes a remark about how Poirot has never made a mistake .. and boom the whole story begins.

In the series, the initial murder happens on a flight of stairs ... as it does in the book ...

SPOILER ALERT

Really if you haven't read/heard the story or seen the show ... this is going to talk about the witness statement of how the death was supposed to have happened ...

Okay - you've been warned

In the series, the man runs behind the lady and pulls the rug out from beneath her, and she tumbles down the stairs.
In the book, he runs up behind her and pushes her down the stairs.

I'm sorry but while both are ... horrid to do ... one is definately more calculated than the other!

Then in the series, Poirot notices the different colored lid and bottom of the candy box right away ... in the series, he doesn't notice it for quite sometime.

In both, the murderer is in fact the murderer ... but the way it is revealed is different

In the series, it turns out that Poirot promised not to say anything until after the murderer died...
In the book, he didn't reveal the murderer even after their death because it would have done no good.

Oh - and it is NOT the death of the woman who fell down the stairs ... yup, body count is 2 by murder, 1 by nature causes.

In the series, Poirot reveals the murderer simply to clear his record ...
In the book, Poirot reveals the murderer to someone who he knows he can trust NOT to share the information.

It was like they were two completely different stories!!!

The characters were the same ... the main plot line was basically the same ... but they were two different stories.

It felt like I was watching "Goblet of FIre" .... if you haven't seen the movie - you will NEED to read the book to fill in all the massive HOLES that are in the storyline, if you can get over the rearrangement of who-did-what ... I found it quite annoying!
But it was great for conversation with my husband's best friend's son who saw it with us ... he too was upset with all the rearrangements ...
But that's a different book set ...

Its NOT a bad episode - on its own, its very good .... but then so is the book!  It just felt like its different from the original.

Kind of like all the re-do's they've been doing for movies & television shows ... its been tweaked by just enough to make you go ... hmmm.