Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
9 mistakes
Starring: David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, Pauline Moran, Philip Jackson
Hercule 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.")
Continuity mistake: The story as presented would be impossible. In the story, Poirot tells his audience that the victim was dead at a time which is earlier than the time that he later tells his audience the victim was killed.
Factual error: The prologue shows the dubbing of a newsreel by a narrator. Ten years later it's 1936. But in 1926 Hollywood was still experimenting with sound film, and a UK news reel would've been silent. (It was 1929 before any sound films were made in Europe).
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".
Factual 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.
Factual 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.
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.
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.
Other mistake: The closing credits on the DVD are for another episode, "The Kidnapped Prime Minister."
