Arthur Hastings of the short stories featuring Poirot, but appears in only eight of the novels, seven of which were written before 1940: Hastings is also the narrator of all stories in "Poirot Investigates" (1924), a collection of short stories. Hastings is also present in Christie's play "Black Coffee" (1930) and its novelisation alongside Poirot. Arthur Hastings Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" and appears as a character in
Ariadne Oliver Discontented Soldier", she was portrayed by Lally Bowers. A 1986 adaptation of "Dead Man's Folly" starred Jean Stapleton as Ariadne Oliver, opposite Peter Ustinov as Poirot. Zoë Wanamaker has played Ariadne Oliver in six television episodes of the series "Agatha Christie's Poirot", starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. In the last shot episode of the series (but not the finale), Mrs Oliver—a combination of Agatha Christie/Miss Marple—is helpful to Poirot in an adaptation of "Dead Man's Folly", which was filmed on the Christie Estate. In the BBC Radio 4 plays, Ariadne Oliver has been played by Stephanie Cole ("Cards on