In Poirot: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, why did Dr. Sheppard help Poirot with the investigation? He seems to have a rather extreme interest in seeing Poirot fail,so why bother helping at all?
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3It's better to ask on Literature SE (because it's an adaptation of the novel). To those who didn't read the novel and didn't see the film: DO NOT READ the wikipedia article before having read the novel unless you want to spoil the pleasure.– MouvierCommented Aug 2, 2018 at 6:54
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I suppose this is a way to have more dramatic events, since in the end the viewer is not used to suspecting one of the people accompanying Poirot. But if you look more closely, the doctor only speaks with Poirot about the murder, he never really helps him– totalMongotCommented Aug 20, 2022 at 20:55
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1 Answer
SPOILER ALERT for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The doctor never gives Poirot hindsight about how he could have managed to bypass the classic "testimonies". The main trick of the doctor's plan is to kill Roger Ackroyd and then manage to turn everyone into thinking that he is still alive during the time when the doctor goes back to his place, so that he could have an alibi.
By being close to Poirot, the reader is tricked as putting him out of the suspects, and this could be considered also a strategy by the doctor to mislead Poirot.
