friend Rufus Van Aldin." That line was retained in the television film, even though Death on the Nile was broadcast first. The novel features a Wagon Lit conductor called Pierre Michel which is the same name of another Wagon Lit conductor who appears in Murder on the Orient Express — it is never revealed whether these two characters are one and the same or different. The titular Blue Train appears again in Three Act Tragedy where Poirot boards the train with Sir Charles Cartwright to return to England. Adaptations Television The novel was televised in 2006 as a special episode of the series Agatha Christie's Poirot, and was aired by ITV on 1 January starring David Suchet as Poirot, Roger Lloyd-Pack as Inspector Caux, James D'Arcy as Derek Kettering, Lindsay Duncan as Lady Tamplin, Alice Eve as Lenox and Elliott Gould as Rufus Van Aldin. The television film includes several changes from the original novel. To tie in with the rest of the series, the setting is changed to the late 1930s. Additionally, Ruth's lover is travelling on the train with her, and they are both fleeing her husband. Lady Tamplin, Corky and her daughter Lenox also travel on the blue train. Ruth becomes friends with Katherine Grey. They switch train compartments, and when Ruth is bludgeoned to death, making her features unrecognisable, Poirot speculates that the intended victim may have been Katherine. Rufus, Ruth's father, has a wife in the film, who became insane after Ruth's birth, and Rufus has ensured her (his wife's) safekeeping at a convent, where she has become a nun. The character of Mirelle is changed to be Rufus's mistress, who visits Rufus's wife. She is mistaken by Rufus's wife to be her daughter Ruth. Additional changes in the film include Ada Mason trying to kill Katherine (because Knighton had fallen in love with Katherine and Ada was jealous). Katherine is saved by Lenox jumping on Mason and biting her on the neck. At the end of the film, the murderer, Major Richard Knighton, commits suicide by having himself run over by an oncoming train, instead of just being arrested by the French police as in the novel. The television film also shows Lady Tamplin's fourth husband (Corky by name) acquiring a ruby for her. In the book, Lady Tamplin's fourth husband is named "Chubby", and he has nothing to do with the ruby. In