Judith Butler

Judith Butler is a major protagonist of in Agatha Christie's 1969 Hercule Poirot novel, Hallowe'en Party, and the triangonist in its 2010 television film adaptation from Agatha Christie's Poirot.
Judith Butler is the best friend of Mrs. Ariadne Oliver. She is the mother of Miranda Butler and the former lover of Michael Garfield, and moved to Woodleigh Common for years in order to stay away from her former lover that turned out to be an obssessive psychopath. She did not inform anyone that Michael Garfield is Miranda's biological father.
In Agatha Christie's Poirot, she was portrayed by Amelia Bullmore.
==Biography==
Judith Butler had been living in Woodleigh Common for years after leaving her former lover, Michael Garfield, due to being afraid of his psychopathy and obssession over beauty and all of his creations. She left with pregnancy, but she never informed him about Miranda. As her own compensation for her daughter, she also fabricated that her husband was a pilot who was died in an accident even before Miranda was born.
It all changed two years before the story started, when Michael Garfield had arrived in the community of Woodleigh Common. Judith believed he would soon be gone, but he stayed and became the gardener for Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe. Judith also hardly ever noticed that Miranda often went to Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe's garden and became friends to Michael Garfield.
A year before the story started, Judith met Ariadne Oliver on an Altaltic cruise and rescued her from falling into the sea. This made them best friends since then. Mrs. Butler later took part in the Halloween Party in Mrs. Rowena Drake's house, albeit without Miranda due to the latter was suffering from a cold.
After the murder of Joyce Reynolds, Hercule Poirot arrived in Woodleigh Common under Mrs. Oliver's request, and was welcomed by Judith and Miranda when he arrived in their house. During the investigation, Poirot slowly discovered the hdiden past of Judith Butler, as well as her former romance with Michael Garfield. In the 2010 film adaptation, it was shown that he discovered no sigh of Judith's self-proclaimed husband on any photo inside their house, plus Miranda's close relationship and similarity to Michael Garfield.
Before the finale, Judith never discovered that it was Miranda who happened to see a murder, with the victim was the long-disappeared Olga Seminoff, until Poirot made his crucial discovery and saved Miranda from Garfield. After Poirot's denouement, Judith eventually admitted her past to him and was grateful with Poirot's efforts with helping her and saving her daughter's life.
==Trivia==
*In Agatha Christie's Poirot, Judith took over some of the role from Superintendent Spence, Nicholas Ransom and Desmond Holland in the novels to serve as the adaptation's triangonist as well as its secondary ally to Poirot.
**In addition, Poirot deduced the relationship between Judith and Garfield after finding no trace of Judith's (fabricated) husband in her family photos, whilst in the novel there was no explanation to this.
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