Inspector Japp
Scotland Yard detective and occasional partner to Hercule Poirot.
Inspector James Japp, later Chief Inspector, is a Scotland Yard detective in several Agatha Christie novels featuring Hercule Poirot. He acts as Poirot's police counterpart, contrasting with him in methods and temperament.
Quick Facts
- First
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles
- Creator
- Agatha Christie
- Portrayed by
- Melville Cooper
- John Turnbull
- Maurice Denham
- David Suchet
- Philip Jackson
- Kevin McNally
- Occupation
- Chief inspector of Scotland Yard
- Nationality
- British
Facts from the source article.
Appearances
Japp appears in seven novels by Christie, all featuring Hercule Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), The Big Four (1927), Peril at End House (1932), Lord Edgware Dies (1933), Death in the Clouds (1935), The A.B.C. Murders (1936), and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940). His last novel appearance is in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, though he is briefly mentioned in two later works. He also appears in the short story "The Flock of Geryon" from The Labours of Hercules.
In most of these appearances Japp is a minor character with limited interaction with Poirot, but he becomes a major character and partner to Poirot in Lord Edgware Dies, a role he continues in Death in the Clouds and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe before being written out of the series. In number of appearances, Japp is comparable to Arthur Hastings, who appears in eight Poirot novels. Japp is also briefly mentioned in the Tommy and Tuppence novel The Secret Adversary (1922), where his card is brought to Julius Hersheimmer.
In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), a police superintendent mentions Japp to Poirot. Poirot mentions Japp in Death on the Nile (1937), and Colonel Weston mentions him in Evil Under the Sun (1941). Superintendent Spence mentions Japp in Taken at the Flood (1948). Japp appears in Christie's stage play Black Coffee (1929), where he remarks to Poirot that it has been a "long time" since they last met, referring to an unidentified "Welsh case". He also appears in Charles Osborne's novelisation of Black Coffee.
Portrayals
Philip Jackson portrays Japp in the British TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, where David Suchet plays Poirot. Before Suchet took the role of Poirot, he himself played Japp in the 1985 film Thirteen at Dinner, with Peter Ustinov as Poirot. Jackson's portrayal depicts Japp as working-class and 'thoroughly British', not very intelligent but diligent, canny, and active, with a dry sense of humour that serves as a foil to Poirot's serious, elegant nature.
In the series, Japp is already a Chief Inspector in the first episode, his full name is James Harold Japp according to the episode "The Chocolate Box", and he is promoted to Assistant Commissioner by the episode "The Big Four". Jackson also played Japp in BBC Radio adaptations of Poirot stories alongside John Moffatt as Poirot; other radio portrayals include Norman Jones in Lord Edgware Dies (1992) and Bryan Pringle in Peril at End House (2000). Melville Cooper played Japp in the 1931 film adaptation of Black Coffee.
In the Japanese anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple, Japp was renamed Inspector Sharp because his name is pronounced like the ethnic slur Jap. In the Professor Layton puzzle video games, Scotland Yard chief inspector Chelmey appears as a comically incompetent caricature of Jackson's Japp. Kevin McNally plays a retired Japp in The ABC Murders (2018), where Japp dies of a heart attack early in the series.
More in Characters & Cast
Elsewhere in Hercule Poirot
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