Factual error: Florence Carrington is killed on the train while she is leaving London for the weekend. When Poirot and Hastings examine the newspapers she could have been looking the day she was killed, the headline of "The evening news" in Poirot's hand announces the world record set by Malcolm Campbell at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, which happened on 3 September 1935, a Tuesday. (00:27:40)
Continuity mistake: Hastings buys a large scotch for Rupert Carrington. You can see in the wide shot Hugh Fraser with his right hand raised to give the coins to the bartender. But in the next shot, Hastings' hand is not in frame yet, and he even ends up paying with the left hand instead. (00:30:00)
Revealing mistake: When Japp points at the news on the paper about the mine stocks going up, in the close-up you can see easily that only the title and the enlarged text of the first 3 lines talk about the mine. The rest is sports talk. (00:33:55)
Factual error: At the end of the episode, Hastings is reading a sports newspaper. The episode is set in 1935, and a weekend, but what he is reading there announces the jockey Billy Parvin substituting Fawcus riding Galdennis, and Golden Miller and the ticket for the sweeps, making the newspaper a March of 1933 one. (00:50:55)
Wasps' Nest - S3-E5
Factual error: When we see the cover of Vogue magazine where Molly Deane appears, the recreation is not bad (the lettering used is not a classic Vogue one but something very similar was used for instance in August of the same year as portrayed), but the bar at the bottom gets the date wrong, putting it down as September 10th 1935, when Vogue always had 1st and 15th of the month as date of the release, no matter the day of the week. Also, it completely omits for instance the price. Would be a pretty difficult magazine to sell without that, real Vogue covers have that detail prominently displayed. (00:03:20)
Wasps' Nest - S3-E5
Factual error: When John Harrison check out of the organizer, the days of the week are wrong for a 1935 setting (September 24th is a Monday, etc), looks like a 1934 one. (00:12:00)
Wasps' Nest - S3-E5
Continuity mistake: Poirot is examining the photos taken by Hastings at the party. Depending on the camera angle, the pictures and their reciprocal distance change across the whole sequence. (00:15:30 - 00:16:05)
Wasps' Nest - S3-E5
Continuity mistake: Having received Japp's phone call, Poirot puts down the picture of the mysterious man. The photo sits on top of the other pictures in a different spot at the cut. (00:35:35)
Wasps' Nest - S3-E5
Plot hole: There are some additions to the original short story in this dramatization, but they create a little problem since Hastings does not come with Poirot for the finale, and in fact is told to stay home in a rather demeaning way. Without Hastings, it's hard to imagine Poirot could break into Langdon's house, since Capaldi when is not playing creepy clown is a sculptor working at home; Poirot would need an accomplice to create a diversion. And, even sillier, Poirot tells Hastings to go buy him some washing soda, but he needs the soda to pull off the switch. Hastings should have joined him at least to give him the soda once Poirot has visited the doctor.
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Continuity mistake: The car with Poirot and Hastings enters the village. Right as the camera begins to pan to the left, notice a woman with a maroon tailleur and a powder blue hat. She walks in the same direction of the car but turns around a moment later. Several seconds after, when we see the two protagonists in the car, the same woman can be seen amongst the passersby through the back window. (00:04:15)
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Continuity mistake: When Mr. "Clarrisa" Naughton produces the manuscript to the unsuspecting Poirot, the open side of the folder is to his own right, but it ends up on the concierge desk turned the opposite way. (00:05:15)
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Continuity mistake: The morning after his arrival at the village, Poirot sits with Hastings for breakfast (prime minister Baldwin is mentioned on the radio). Hastings is holding the newspaper with his left hand and the right is on his knee. New shot and both hands are on the table. It keeps happening during the scene. (00:14:25)
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Continuity mistake: Poirot slams the newspaper on the breakfast table when Naughton asks him if the accomodation "was all right." But it is turned in opposite directions at every cut. (00:14:55)
The 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)
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Continuity mistake: Poirot and Hastings are in front of the corpse at Marsdon Manor. When Miss Rawlinson makes her comment about him taking advice, she is almost with her back against Hastings and in a dramatic light totally different from what shown in establishing shot. (00:17:45)
The 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)
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Continuity mistake: Poirot holds the widow's painting for Hasting and asks "You do not see?" In the reverse angle with Hastings (obviously) not seeing a thing, Poirot's hand in frame is holding the painting differently. (00:39:15)
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - S3-E6
Revealing mistake: In the reveal at the end of the episode we see a prolonged close-up of the newspaper "Nairobi Daily Press." Not only the fateful article linked to the murder is written in a font different and larger from the one used in the rest of the first page, but you can also see where the fake part abruptly ends, resuming mid-sentence the article of a real (or realistic) newspaper used as base for the prop, back to the right font and consistent style. (00:50:30)
The 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.
The 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).
