User Reviews

This story was never among my favourites in Christie's works so I was pleasantly surprised to quite enjoy this adaptation. The mouse motif was effective if a little overdone, the bones of the story are there although more emphasis is placed on the 'crime in the past' subplot. The students were all pretty much as I imagined them although its a pity they weren't a more cosmopolitan bunch - perhaps the revised thirties setting didn't allow for that! I thought some very daring risks were taken with the filming; perhaps its because I've not long re-read the book but it seemed pretty obvious to me who the murderer was from their appearance in some reveal shots quite early on.

Humour was much more prevalent in these early Poirots. Sometimes it works but I found a lot of it rather heavy handed in this episode (though I did smile at the 'Lemon sole' throwaway line). Altogether though, a solid entry in the series though not one of the best.

Well you've certainly heard of me, the mouse that ran up the clock and ran back down when it struck the time. But what you surely haven't heard...the part the nursery rhyme leaves out...is that the reason I ran up that clock was to get a better view of Hercule Poirot taking credit for a murder reveal that wa actually all of my own making! Why, if I hadn't run up Miss Lemon's leg when I did...

this is what someone watching this so called adaptation might well expect to be the novel's first paragraph. But, no, the mouse of the nursery rhyme fame i not actually a character in the book, let alone the central one. For some reason, making this murder mystery actually the story of a meddling rat that is actually a meddling rat literally may have been intended to be a comic touch, but it completely stole any gravity the story was meant to carry.

The mystery itself, second fiddle to the mouse's story, totally gives its murderer away long before the customary room gatthering. And in the novel what works out to be a nice motiff of the "red herring really wasn't a red herring after all", is bereft of its sleight of hand by redirecting the acquisition of the posion to another character altogether.

Not a strong entry in the early parthenon of Poirot. See any of the surrounding episoeds in the season for much richer fare, with no rodents serving as primary investigators.

Hercule Poirot agrees to investigate a series of petty thefts from a London students hostel on behalf of his secretary's sister, Mrs Hubbard, who is employed as the housekeeper there. The culprit is quickly identified as the shy chemistry student Celia Austin who pretended to be a kleptomaniac in order to attract the attentions of psychology student Colin McNabb whom she fancies. Yet, while Miss Lemon and her sister are relieved that it is all over, Poirot fears that something far more sinister is about to unravel. And his fears are proven when Celia is murdered by someone who switched her sleeping draught for a lethal dose of morphine. Chief Inspector Japp arrests McNabb after a phial containing morphine is found in his room, but after two more murders occur, Poirot links the case to a diamond smuggling operation in which the hostel acts as a legitimate front and a well respected Labour politician, Sir Arthur Stanley, who recently died from ill health and, several years before, Japp suspected him of poisoning his wife. Are one of the students behind the smuggling ring and is he or she connected to Sir Arthur in some way that they felt the need to kill in order to keep that connection a secret?

The film makers' decision to switch the setting of Agatha Christie's classic novel from the 1950's to the 30's is something of a disappointment, but apart from that this is yet another winner from ITV's celebrated series. It was by far the best ever adaptations of Christie's works to be put on the screen (it was a pity it never made it on to the big screen - it wasn't as if they were short of suitable material) and David Suchet made the part of the eccentric, but highly intelligent Belgian detective with the egg-shaped head Hercule Poirot his own. His performances were the highlights of each episode, but there were many others including first rate dramatization, rich period detail, excellent supporting casts and intriguing and absorbing storylines. Director Andrew Grieve succeeds in creating a spooky atmosphere in the murder scenes. For instance, there is a clever play on the old Hickory Dickory Dock nursery rhyme in which a mouse literally runs up the grandfather clock in the hall of the hostel as it strikes the midnight hour accompanied by a deathly sounding orchestra and choir chanting "Hickory Dickory". The said mouse also appears as a "dumb witness" in every murder scene too and it startles Poirot's audience of suspects as he presents the solution to the case enabling the killer to attempt a getaway. There is some amusing chemisty and light comedy here between Suchet's Poirot and Philip Jackson's Chief Inspector Japp in which the latter is home alone as a result of his wife being away on holiday. Poirot invites him to stay with him at his flat and, while the two men are very close friends, Japp cannot adapt to Poirot's lifestyle which is rather eccentric to say the least. Anthony Horowitz's dramatization is first class and his attention to period detail is brilliant. He relocates the story to the time of the Jarrow march (an important time in the labour movement's calendar), which adds both interest and a hint of realism to the story. Although I would liked to have seen Poirot in the fifties (check out the original novel for that), what the film makers do to justify their change of setting to the thirties makes that decision forgivable.

All in all, and I repeatedly say this about most of the Poirot episodes - so, please forgive me if I sound a little repetitive - Hickory Dickory Dock is another top notch entry in the series and fans of high quality TV drama and rattlingly good whodunits should by no accounts miss it.

I like almost all of the Poirots by David Suchet but this one is one of the weakest. Unlike other people here, I found the mouse cute in a way similar to Dumb Witness, and I didn't mind the story taking place in 1930s nor Miss Lemon getting less screen time than our rodent friend. I quite liked the cozy atmosphere of this episode and the cooking scenes were hilarious.

What I didn't like however is how primitive the story was. Smuggling diamonds without their carriers knowing is just stupid. Like how would they find the people, the place and time abroad to put the diamonds in without anybody noticing?

It starts snowballing from there. Why did the murderer unscrew the lightbulbs, ie. How did he know he would need to remain unseen exactly at the moment when the policeman would enter? Why are we pretty clearly shown the guy who cut the backpack right at the start, which is made worse by seeing the photographs and even himself before the truth is revealed by Poirot, instead of keeping us guessing? Why was Patricia killed? Just because she had seen the photograph doesn't mean she knew who's the killer. And wasn't killing off half of the house a bit too conspicuous?

I still like this episode but it's quality doesn't live up to the standard of Poirot.

Twenty years before Eli Roth's Hostel, we had Hickory Dickory Dock which is set in a hostel with murders big time to keep Hercule Poirot and Inspector Japp on their toes, with backup from Felicity Lemon, whose sister runs the hostel.

Anyway, Hickory Dickory Dock guest stars Damian Lewis before he became a massive Hollywood superstar in Homeland, and upon reflection, with due respect to Damian, he really does have a tiny mouth.

The final scene with Poirot and Japp was full of double entendres, well even triple entendres to make even the most devoted fan of Carry On movies blush big time init for sure.

The annoying mouse and lullaby really got to me and really had nothing to do with the story...It's something I would have done my 1st year in film school. Very sad. Additionally, the story just seemed to drag on for no apparent reason...there were too many things just thrown in there that had nothing to do with the story, which makes me feel that the creative team didn't really know what they were doing, or just that it should have been shorter...which would have been a blessing, not a crime. As I have just watched all of the episodes up to this point over the past week...I'd have to say that this was by far the worst, and I just wanted to warn others not to start with this one.