Continuity mistake: Poirot is holding up a letter in an envelope. He turns it to show the front to Lady Mayfield. The flap of the envelope appears to be tucked in. The shot cuts to a close-up, but now the back of the envelope is facing Lady Mayfield and the flap is sealed. He then turns the envelope to show her the front. (00:44:20)
paologHercule Poirot's Christmas - S6-E1
Character mistake: After Japp's arrival, when Poirot walks up the stairs with the two male detectives, at one point he says "Mais no madame." ("But no mylady.")
Other mistake: Mrs Vanderlyn holds a letter out of the car window and calls to the chauffeur to take it. She calls him "Dixon" but the subtitles read "Gibson". (00:37:05)
paologFactual error: Throughout the episode there are sections of dialogue in Greek, which are deliberately left untranslated. The subtitles frequently transcribe the Greek inaccurately. For example, the Greek girl who assists Poirot and Lyall in finding out about the poison says "Elate!" to them, which means "Come!" said to more than one person, but this is transcribed in the subtitles as "Ella!", the form used to a single person. Later on, the girl's grandmother says "Ohi enas Anglos anthras. Mia Anglitha yineka. San esena" ("Not an Englishman. An Englishwoman. Like you"), but this is given in the subtitles as "Ohi enas Anglos anthras, che yenika. Son ethena", which doesn't make sense. (00:40:45)
paologFactual error: Poirot and Lyall speak to people in the street of Rhodes, looking for someone who can tell them about the poison. The people they speak to all shake their heads, but Greeks do not do this to say "no" - they tip their heads back. (00:39:40)
paologFactual error: At the end of the report on the findings of the crime scene, the "Italian" inspector tells to his subordinates what literally would translate as "Removes this meddler from here, no more access to the prisoner, that you understand?", which is just wrong in accent, cadence and construct. (00:36:30)
Sammo
Revealing mistake: Poirot is sitting reading the paper with the front page visible to the viewer. A breeze ruffles the pages and reveals that the interior pages are blank. (00:14:10)
paologThe Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Factual error: It is well established that the episode takes place in 1935 (Nairobi Daily Press dated Saturday July 27 1935, the poster in town advertises the meeting for "Today, Wednesday September 4th", day of the week consistent with the year), but Poirot and Hastings are stopped on their way to the train station by a Wolseley Series II - 14/56, a model that entered production in mid 1936. (00:17:00)
SammoPlot hole: Since the Countess was the only person to be at every dinner when the jewelry thief was in action, it takes a very special kind of idiot to not identify her as the culprit. Japp here did not need at all Poirot's acumen, but simple due diligence cross-checking the guest lists, something there is absolutely no reason he wouldn't do, and yet she is never treated as a special suspect. Also, Japp's job is described as being in jeopardy after the first 3 thefts, a 4th happens, he does not quite solve it (but retrieves at least the necklace), but he's off the hook despite the thief being unidentified, at large and with still the jewelry stolen from the first 3.
SammoFactual error: At the party, Marcus Hardman tells Bernard that the Countess recently arrived from Russia, and she describes herself as being in exile. Which made sense in the source material, set right after the Russian Revolution, but less sense in this adaptation, set in the mid 1930s. If she stayed in Russia that long, she would have spent 15-20 years with zero privileges from her rank at that point, and nothing from her old wealth, seized by the communist government.
SammoThe Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Plot hole: The murderer is in possession of chloroform from the doctor's cabinet, but there's no realistic timeframe when they could have done it, nor any explanation why the doctor notices it completely at random when Poirot visits, just approaching the medicine cabinet, something he routinely opens and looks through during the day.
SammoThe Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Other mistake: Investigating Poirot's investigation, the clumsy constable crushes a tiny egg under his foot. Poirot crawls to him and points with his cane at the other eggs in the bush. But he points practically at his shoe, and the eggs are in a different spot to the left. (00:20:10)
SammoThe Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Plot hole: The murderer planned everything making it seems accidental. They perfectly managed to fool the coroner and need only to be alone at the mansion to get rid of the murder weapon. So what they do is...they go through great risks to make everyone know someone tried to murder the wife too, making it obvious that there is a killer at large, which only makes the investigation more stringent and most importantly, keeps the police on the premises for surveillance preventing them from disposing of the weapon (like almost everything in this episode's plot it is not a flaw of the original story, but of the dramatization, who added practically every minor character).
SammoContinuity mistake: The Countess arrives at the hotel at the beginning of the episode. In the overhead shot she reaches the top of the stairs with nobody close to her, just the porters behind her, but in the next shot there are other people in the lobby, who at the next cut are even closer to her to fit in frame. (00:02:10)
SammoThe Mystery of the Spanish Chest - S3-E8
Continuity mistake: When Poirot pulls out of the drill hidden in the handle, he holds it triumphantly in his right hand. In the next shot he mounts it on the handle starting the motion with the drill already in the left hand and the rest of the gimlet in the right. (00:40:00)
SammoThe Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Plot hole: It is revealed towards the end of the episode that the painting Mrs. Maltravers did when the murder took place was not painted that day and that time of the day, because it had the wrong shadows. But we actually saw what was on the canvas when the secretary was leaving to go to the bank, and it was that exact painting in an early state. She also came up with the idea for the murder the night before, making even more unbelievable that she'd just have the alibi painting ready and waiting the morning after. That without mentioning the fact that the murder itself as described is not something that would have required an amount of time needed to make a whole painting, and that she could have finished it later anyway (she gave it to Hastings a day later, after all).
SammoContinuity mistake: At the end of the 'lovely day' with the Countess, Poirot stops a cab and opens the door for her. Just before the cut, notice a woman with a white dress and a brown hat crossing the street in front of the taxi. The extra crosses the street again in the same direction when he says "Oui" in the following shot. (00:28:50)
SammoContinuity mistake: During the exhibition of the much acclaimed contralto, at one point it is shown that Lady Runcorn is going upstairs and is looking at the smoking person. Back to the host who is on his own at his table. At the first cut, suddenly there are more people standing in attendance in the background (pretty much everyone was seated earlier) and his glass has also refilled. (00:10:15)
SammoThe Mystery of the Spanish Chest - S3-E8
Continuity mistake: During the party, the colonel expresses to Poirot his disappointment for the jazz record being played, music "from the inferior races." He puts a tart in his mouth, closing his lips past the piece of fruit. Cut to the wider shot, and he is still holding a tart that sports the strawberry he just chewed on. (00:19:00)
SammoFactual error: Poirot is visiting an art exhibition with the Countess, and expresses his admiration for a painting by Marc Chagall. Amazingly enough, that painting is "Les Plumes en Fleurs", something Chagall will create in 1943, years after the time when this pre-WW2 episode takes place. (00:24:50)
Sammo
