I think you'd better come along with us sir

Watching Poirot again, it amazes me how Chief Inspector Japp of the Metropolitan Police turns up all over the country in other independent constabularies which presumably have their own independent chains of command and starts giving out orders as if he hasn't crossed boundary lines.  If I was a policeman living in the West Country in the 1930s I might be a bit annoyed by having a nosey Belgian poking round but bloody Inspector Japp turning up and giving out illegal orders would give me the right hump.

Seriously though early Agatha Christie's Poirot is so cool.  With Clive Exton and Brian Eastman polishing the scripts and top writers like David Renwick and Anthony Horowitz and fantastic production design and 1930s detail it's such a beautiful creation.  The cubist/art deco/futurist titles alone as a masterpiece - years ahead of their time and deploying a mixture or rotoscoping and live action that must have been hugely labour intensive.

Episodes with huge location budgets are offset with episodes sometimes entirely set in single locations or Whitehaven Mansions/ Florin Court.  It's mind blowing too to think that at the same time as this Exton & Eastman were simultaneously producing Jeeves & Wooster who inhabit a similar 1930s timeline replete with 1930s art deco titles.  One could very easily imagine characters moving from one series to the other as they seem to exist in the same pre war Universe... I say, it's not inconceivable that the idle rich upper class twit Arthur Hastings could've also been a member of the drones club with Bertie Wooster and Pongo Twistleton.  What do you think?

Perhaps, Mon Ami, the attention to detail is enhanced by Mr Exton having grown up himself in the 1930s.  This would explain their interest in the rise of Mister Hitler and Mister Mussolini which are common threads throughout both pieces and also their ability to faithfully recreate the period, n'est-ce pas?

One of the questions that has vexed me over the years is whether Arthur Hastings is in a business relationship with Poirot or he simply has nothing better to do?  I think both are true. Poirot refers to Hastings as his associate and both Hastings and Miss Lemon are seen to handle his money.  In the Mysterious Adventure at Styles, Hastings explains his ambition to become a detective having encountered Poirot before and in "The Double Clue' Hastings and Felicity Lemon first cogitate on what they will do when and if their partnership breaks up.  Miss Lemon "doesn't want to talk about it".  It is clear Miss Lemon has some kind of unrequited love thing going on and Philip Jackson is on record as saying he played Japp as not quite approving of the strange relationships going on between them.  Whether or not there are any sexual dimensions to these relationships it is clear that both Hastings and Lemon adore Poirot which gives much of the series it's charm and warmth.  I also find it fascinating how Poirot in his own universe has achieved such a level of fame that it actually drives some of the plots - for example a waxwork of him gives him an idea of how to solve a crime.  Indeed, Hastings & Lemon themselves are part of his fan club.  Much comic relief comes from the situations that arise where due to Poirot's  seeming indisposition Hastings has to try and solve a case or part of it on his own...  Poirot is very rarely genuinely indisposed but he uses Hastings sometimes as Holmes uses Dr Watson to lower people's guard.  Poirot can pretend to be stupid but you can't beat the deployment of actual stupidity to ... Despite the format of the whodunnit  it's also fairly easy to identify who the murderer or criminal (not all Poirot's cases are murder) is if we use the psychology, Mon Ami ... as this is often clearly signposted in other ways so the emotional engagement largely comes from relationships between the regulars... which means it's very comforting to watch when one does not want to over-exert the little grey cells ...