The Theft of the Royal Ruby
- Episode aired Feb 24, 1991
- TV-14
- 50m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
Poirot reluctantly agrees to help an Egyptian prince recover a valuable royal ruby that was brazenly stolen from him during the Christmas holidays.Poirot reluctantly agrees to help an Egyptian prince recover a valuable royal ruby that was brazenly stolen from him during the Christmas holidays.Poirot reluctantly agrees to help an Egyptian prince recover a valuable royal ruby that was brazenly stolen from him during the Christmas holidays.
Antony Zaki
- Prince Farouk
- (as Tariq Alibai)
Jonathan R. Scott
- Colin
- (as Jonathan S. Bancroft)
- Director
- Writers
- Anthony Horowitz
- Clive Exton
- Agatha Christie(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDavid Suchet was a guest at a lunch with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. When Suchet chose a mango from a fruit bowl but didn't know the proper way to peel it, the Duke demonstrated. Suchet later asked the scriptwriters to include the incident. On screen, Poirot peels the mango, and says, 'A duke taught me'."
- GoofsThe characters are seen stirring Christmas puddings on Christmas eve. Traditionally, Christmas puddings are made around 5 weeks before Christmas, which allows their flavour to develop and intensify. This day is known as Stir-up Sunday - when everybody takes a turn to stir the pudding for luck. While it is possible that the family in this episode completely abandoned these traditions, it would be highly unlikely in the social context and era.
- Quotes
Jesmond: I must apologize for the prince, Monsieur Poirot. He is, uh...
Hercule Poirot: Young? One is never too young to learn the manners!
Jesmond: Indeed, indeed. Unfortunately, the prince has never seen any reason to do so.
- SoundtracksO Come, All Ye Faithful
(uncredited)
Lyrics (English translation from Latin) by Frederick Oakeley
Lyrics and Music by John Francis Wade
Featured review
Mostly good fun
For the most part, this is an entertaining episode. There were not too many extra frills necessary to fill this out, but I did appreciate the way they used Egyptology to connect Poirot to King's Lacey, (although, the prince being from Egypt, I don't see why they couldn't have made more of a connection there). I enjoyed Poirot's playfulness here, from his initial reaction to the Belgian chocolates, to his mango cutting demonstration, to his willingness to play along with the little "show" the kids were putting on for him, to the gracious way he treated the maid who tried to warn him. (Annie Bates? Didn't the maid from the Adventure of the Clapham Cook also have that name? And didn't she also get similar treatment from Poirot? Coincidence?) In the original story, the villain was shown to be a very unpleasant fellow, I wish they had spent a little more time with that here. But mostly, I was unhappy with the way they portrayed the prince as such a childish brat. That was unnecessary, I thought.
helpful•21
- kaberi-893-642316
- Jun 12, 2016
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Filming locations
- Joldwynds, Surrey, UK(Kings Lacey)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime50 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content