The Labours of Hercules

The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947 and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50

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An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star on 6 December 1947 wrote,

Hercule Poirot... here emulates his Olympian namesake, Hercules... As the old-timer tackled the 12 classical labors... so Mrs. Christie turns her dapper sleuth loose on 12 modern counterparts in the detection-mystery line. A tricky task, neatly done.

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Robert Barnard, in A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie, wrote:

Probably the best single short-story collection, because more varied in its problems and lighter in its touch than usual. Lots of tricks from her novels, and other people's used very skilfully. But the mention of the goblet made by Cellini for Alexander VI (before the age of three?) is a good example of Christie slapdash, almost amounting to philistinism or contempt for her audience.

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Adaptation

The Labours of Hercules was adapted into a TV film by Guy Andrews with David Suchet as Poirot as part of the final series of Agatha Christie's Poirot. The adaptation combined "The Arcadian Deer", "The Erymanthian Boar", "The Stymphalean Birds", "The Girdle of Hippolyta" and "The Capture of Cerberus" into one mystery, with "Boar" being the central one. The plots of "Deer" and "Birds" are included fairly faithfully, while only elements from the others are present. "The Lemesurier Inheritance'", the only Poirot short story not previously adapted by the series, was also referenced in this adaptation. It was first broadcast on ITV on 6 November 2013 and then on the Acorn TV website on 18 August 2014.

Unlike in the novel, the titular Labours are not undertaken by Poirot as cases, but rather refer to a series of paintings that are stolen by Marrascaud, the main villain. The title is also symbolic of Poirot's path to redemption after his plan to snare Marrascaud leads to the senseless murder of an innocent girl, Lucinda LeMesurier. The most significant departure from the source material is the change in Marrascaud's identity. In the book it is Gustave who is Marrascaud, but in the adaptation it is Alice Cunningham (who is Rossakoff's daughter, not her daughter-in-law), with Gustave being her accomplice, along with Dr Lutz.

The adaptation marks the second and final appearance of Countess Vera Rossakoff in this series, played here by Orla Brady. The previous appearance was broadcast in 1991, in the episode "The Double Clue", where Kika Markham played Rossakoff.

Filming for this episode took place in April and May 2013 and was directed by Andy Wilson, who also directed Death on the Nile and Taken at the Flood for the series. Wilson described this adaptation as "a journey of restoration and redemption for Poirot".

The location in this adaptation, a Swiss hotel called "Hotel Olympos", was shot in Halton House in Aylesbury; however, the bedrooms were built at Pinewood studios.