Will Miss Marple Original Series Be on Tv Again
| Miss Marple | |
|---|---|
 Title bill of fare | |
| Starring | Joan Hickson David Horovitch Ian Brimble John Castle Gwen Watford Barbara Hicks Christopher Good Various Others |
| Country of origin | Great britain |
| Original language | English language |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC 1 |
| Picture format | 4:3 xvi mm film Color[1] |
| Audio format | Mono (1984–89) Stereo (1991–92) |
| Original release | 26 December 1984 (1984-12-26) – 27 Dec 1992 (1992-12-27) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Agatha Christie'due south Marple |
Miss Marple is a British telly serial based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels past Agatha Christie, starring Joan Hickson in the title role. It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 Dec 1992 on BBC One. All 12 original Miss Marple Christie novels were dramatised. The adaptations were written by T. R. Bowen, Julia Jones, Alan Plater, Ken Taylor and Jill Hyem, and the serial was produced by George Gallaccio. In add-on to its availability on VHS and DVD, the series began to be released on Blu-ray Disc in October 2014, marking its 30th ceremony.
Background [edit]
Agatha Christie had never been very happy with about filmed adaptations of her works, and according to her grandson Mathew Pritchard, who handled her estate after her decease, she "did not intendance much for television", either. Producer Pat Sandys of LWT first approached Pritchard and the Christie estate with a researched, detailed programme to flick the novels Why Didn't They Inquire Evans? and The Seven Dials Mystery in the early on 1980s. Although indifferently treated by critics, the projects were popular with audiences and led to the filming of a number of curt stories and the Tommy and Tuppence Beresford stories including The Underground Adversary and in the subsequent series Agatha Christie's Partners in Criminal offence. With the success of that series, the BBC received approval to produce the stories of one of Christie's near famous detectives.[2]
Joan Hickson as Miss Marple
When the BBC was granted the screen rights to all 12 Miss Marple novels, the rights to three already co-existed and were set to expire at the finish of 1988. The Mirror Cleft'd From Side to Side had already been filmed and theatrically released in 1980 with Angela Lansbury in the role, and the aforementioned production company was in the process of filming A Caribbean Mystery and They Practise Information technology With Mirrors with Helen Hayes for television broadcast. Thus these three titles were the terminal to be dramatised under the BBC'due south understanding.
The adaptations are mainly truthful to the original novels. Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple, was an octogenarian herself during about of the series' production. Decades before, she had appeared in a pocket-sized role in Murder, She Said, in which Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple. Hickson had too appeared in a stage adaptation of the novel Appointment with Expiry in 1946, after which Christie sent Hickson a notation that read, "I promise one day you will play my dear Miss Marple."[3]
Characters [edit]
Regular characters [edit]
In addition to Miss Marple, in that location are two semi-regular characters in the series. The first is Inspector (later Superintendent) Slack, played by David Horovitch; the second is Constable (later Sergeant) Lake, played by Ian Brimble. Slack and Lake announced in five episodes: "The Body in the Library", "The Murder at the Vicarage", "4.l From Paddington", "They Do It with Mirrors" and "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side". They are the official detectives and both (particularly Slack) originally dislike and are exasperated past Miss Marple, her interference and her methods, but they eventually come to respect (and indeed, in the instance of Lake, like) her.
- Inspector/Superintendent Slack (David Horovitch) – Slack is the senior officeholder in charge of many cases. He has been described equally a homo who has never striven more than to contradict his proper name. Miss Marple describes him as having the same personality as that of a diesel engine, well-nigh unappealing, just efficient. When Slack showtime met Miss Marple, her strange personality and her quirky methods acquired him to call back she was batty, and thus took no notice of her. Slack especially disliked the fact that his superiors think highly of Miss Marple and consult her for advice (although he later on ends upwards doing the aforementioned). Usually, Slack passes over Miss Marple's beliefs and dislikes her interfering, although he afterwards comes to value her advice. In his concluding advent, it is revealed that Slack has been promoted to Superintendent and appears to have grown wiser, even telling an officeholder to consult Miss Marple. In "They Do It with Mirrors" it is revealed that Slack has a hole-and-corner passion for magic tricks, and secretly practises. Slack is featured in the novels The Murder at the Vicarage and The Body in the Library.
- Lawman/Sergeant Lake (Ian Brimble) – Lake is Slack'due south colleague and often works with him. He is also very bemused by Miss Marple, her quirky means, her unusual methods and her claims of solving the cases based on trivial stories from her past. However, the difference was whilst Miss Marple annoyed Slack, Lake found her quite funny. By the time of They Do It With Mirrors, Lake is on friendly terms with Miss Marple and besides reveals he has a young son chosen Adam. When Slack is promoted, Lake gets more roles in the fine art of criminal investigation but stays a Sergeant. Lake is featured in the novel They Practice It with Mirrors.
Recurring characters [edit]
There are other recurring characters in Miss Marple:
- John Castle appears as Inspector Dermot Eric Craddock in "A Murder Is Announced" and "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side". Craddock was unknown to Miss Marple in the former story, but had become her nephew by the latter.
- Gwen Watford appears every bit Mrs Dolly Bantry in "The Body in the Library" and "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side".
- Barbara Hicks and Christopher Adept both announced as Miss Amanda Hartnell and Christopher Hawes in "The Murder at the Vicarage" and "The Mirror Scissure'd from Side to Side" respectively.
- Rhoda Lewis is hamlet shopkeeper and postmistress Mrs Brogan in "A Pocketful of Rye", "4.fifty from Paddington" and "The Mirror Cleft'd from Side to Side".
- Miss Marple'south nephew Raymond West appears in "Sleeping Murder" played by David McAlister and in A Caribbean Mystery and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side played by Trevor Bowen.
- Jason Rafiel appears in "Nemesis" played past Frank Gatliff and "A Caribbean Mystery" played by Donald Pleasence (although the ii episode are set in the contrary order to which they aired).
Episodes [edit]
| # | Title | Airdate | Guest cast and synopsis | IMDb link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Body in the Library" | 26, 27, 28 Dec 1984 | Gwen Watford, Moray Watson, Trudie Styler, Jess Conrad, Ciaran Madden, Keith Drinkel, Debbie Arnold, Frederick Jaeger, Valentine Dyall, Raymond Francis, David Horovitch, Anthony Smee, Andrew Cruickshank, Hugh Walters, Arthur Bostrom, Stephen Churchett, John Moffatt | [4] |
| Miss Marple assists her neighbours the Bantrys when a lovely young girl is found dead in their library. The girl is traced to a seaside resort and the drastic family of a wealthy old human. | ||||
| two | "The Moving Finger" | 21, 22 Feb 1985 | Michael Culver, Elizabeth Counsell, Richard Pearson, Sabina Franklyn, Andrew Bicknell, Hilary Bricklayer, Dilys Hamlett, John Arnatt, Sandra Payne, Geoffrey Davion, Victor Maddern, Gordon Rollings, Patsy Smart, Gerald Sim | [5] |
| Poison pen letters are being sent to everyone in boondocks. It seems like a vulgar joke until a letter is constitute side by side to a suicide victim. The village vicar'due south married woman happens to be a personal friend of Miss Marple and asks her to come and discover the culprit. So another body is found, this fourth dimension clearly murder. | ||||
| 3 | "A Murder Is Announced" | 28 Feb, 1, 2 March 1985 | Ursula Howells, Renée Asherson, Joan Sims, John Castle, Sylvia Syms, Ralph Michael, Paola Dionisotti, Samantha Bail, Simon Shepherd, Mary Kerridge, David Collings, Elaine Ives-Cameron, Joyce Carey, Kevin Whately, Liz Crowther | [6] |
| A party game goes wrong and a young Swiss homo is dead. Friends and neighbours start to turn on each other, and Inspector Craddock is stumped. Fortunately, Miss Marple is in boondocks visiting her niece and helps solve the crime. | ||||
| 4 | "A Pocketful of Rye" | vii, eight March 1985 | Peter Davison, Timothy West, Stacy Dorning, Annette Badland, Fabia Drake, Clive Merrison, Rachel Bell, Selina Cadell, Tom Wilkinson, Susan Gilmore, Frank Mills, Louis Mahoney | [7] |
| The members of a wealthy banking family start dropping like flies, and Miss Marple is reminded of the former plant nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence and vows to find the villainous "blackbird" behind the crimes. | ||||
| 5 | "The Murder at the Vicarage" | 25 December 1986 | Paul Eddington, Cheryl Campbell, Robert Lang, Polly Adams, James Hazeldine, Jack Galloway, Rosalie Crutchley, Norma West, Christopher Adept | [8] |
| Decease is merely steps from Miss Marple when odious magistrate Colonel Lucius Protheroe is murdered in her idyllic village of St. Mary Mead—in the vicar'southward study, no less. | ||||
| 6 | "Sleeping Murder" | eleven January; 18 Jan 1987 | Geraldine Alexander, John Moulder-Brownish, Jean Anderson, Terrence Hardiman, Frederick Treves, John Bennett, Geraldine Newman, Jack Watson, Jean Heywood, Amanda Boxer, John Ringham, David McAlister, Kenneth Cope, Gary Watson, Donald Burton, Sheila Raynor | [9] |
| A immature wife, Gwenda, believes her house is haunted. With Miss Marple's guidance, she comes to realize she witnessed the murder of her stepmother there 20 years ago, as a child. Despite Miss Marple's advice to let sleeping murder prevarication, the newlyweds make up one's mind to investigate the crime, putting Gwenda's own life at risk past stirring a sleeping murderer in the procedure. | ||||
| vii | "At Bertram'due south Hotel" | 25 January, i Feb 1987 | Caroline Blakiston, Joan Greenwood, George Baker, James Cossins, Helena Michell, Irene Sutcliffe, Preston Lockwood, Edward Burnham, Donald Burton, Peter Baldwin | [10] |
| False identities, larceny, and a offense band are only the tip of the tentacle when Miss Marple stays in a posh London hotel (modeled after Brown's Hotel) where nothing is what information technology seems. Murder naturally follows, leading to a thrilling hunt subsequently the culprit. | ||||
| 8 | "Nemesis" | 8, 15 February 1987 | Margaret Tyzack, John Horsley, Anna Cropper, Valerie Lush, Helen Cherry, Peter Tilbury, Liz Fraser, Bruce Payne, Joanna Hole, Jane Booker, Frank Gatliff, Peter Copley, Roger Hammond | [11] |
| Miss Marple is sent on a mission from across the grave to articulate a dead homo'south son. Vowing to discover out the truth, she links him to a expressionless daughter, Verity Hunt, and a family of weird sisters. She discovers love, likewise as detest, can be a reason for murder. | ||||
| 9 | "4.l from Paddington" | 25 December 1987 | Maurice Denham, Joanna David, Jill Meager, Andrew Burt, Jean Boht, John Hallam, David Waller | [12] |
| Miss Marple'due south friend witnesses a murder in a railway carriage running parallel to her own, so Miss Marple engages a resourceful young woman to investigate. The search leads to a decrepit estate, where they doubtable the body was dumped. But the seemingly innocent family who live there accept secrets of their own. | ||||
| x | "A Caribbean Mystery" | 25 December 1989 | Donald Pleasence, Sophie Ward, Adrian Lukis, T. P. McKenna, Frank Middlemass, Sue Lloyd, Michael Banquet, Sheila Ruskin, Joseph Mydell | [13] |
| While holidaying in Barbados, Miss Marple hears a lot of stories past a dotty Major who tells tall tales of knowing a murderer. But when the Major turns up dead, the wild beauty of the island can't hibernate the trail of a manipulative and ruthless killer. | ||||
| xi | "They Do It with Mirrors" | 29 Dec 1991 | Jean Simmons, Joss Ackland, Faith Brook, Holly Aird, Christopher Villiers, Brenda Cowling | [14] |
| At an estate turned reformatory school, Miss Marple visits her sometime schoolhouse chum Carrie Louise. When Carrie Louise's love stepson is killed, the discontent family is only the beginning as there are literally hundreds of suspects! | ||||
| 12 | "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side" | 27 December 1992 | Claire Flower, Barry Newman, Gwen Watford, John Castle, Elizabeth Garvie, Judy Cornwell, Glynis Hairdresser, Christopher Hancock, Rose Keegan, Amanda Elwes, Christopher Practiced, Margaret Courtenay | [xv] |
| Hollywood comes to St. Mary Mead when faded movie star Marina Gregg takes upward residence for a local film shoot. But when she narrowly escapes an effort on her life and a local woman dies instead, Miss Marple sorts the gossip-rag chatter from the facts to uncover a tragedy. |
Production [edit]
BBC producer Guy Slater bandage Joan Hickson equally Miss Marple. The serial was filmed first in 1983 in areas including Norfolk, Devon, Oxfordshire and Barbados. The boondocks of Under Wallop in Hampshire doubled as Miss Marple'southward abode village of St. Mary Mead. Slater was replaced past producer George Gallaccio starting with the quaternary film. The closing credits refer to the films being "A BBC-tv production in clan with The Arts and Amusement Network, USA and The Seven Network, Commonwealth of australia".
The first series consisted of four books adapted into ten episodes, each approximately 55-60 minutes in length and were broadcast between December 1984 and March 1985. The 2d serial featured another four books, adapted every bit viii episodes, only the first two were combined into a 100-minute feature length episode shown on Christmas Day 1986, followed by the remaining half-dozen episodes at 50 minutes in length each in January and February 1987. The remaining iv stories were broadcast equally stand lonely, 120 minute characteristic length episodes in the Christmas periods of 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992. Eventually, with multiple repeats, all twelve stories were broadcast as both stand lone, characteristic length stories and broken into 50-55 minute single episodes.
Hickson vowed not to do another film after 1989's "A Caribbean Mystery", but was persuaded to render for the final ii films in 1991 and 1992. "A Caribbean Mystery" was shot on location at the Coral Reef Hotel in Barbados, where Christie had stayed in her visit to the land, and which had been the inspiration for the setting of the novel. Owners Budge and Cynthia O'Hara, who yet owned the hotel 30 years afterward, were the inspirations for the characters in the novel and were able to share a treasure trove of Christie memorabilia with the cast.[3]
The evocative theme tune for the Tv set series was composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The series opening titles featured paintings by renowned illustrator Paul Birkbeck of seemingly pleasant village life, darkened by suspicious looking characters and the shot of a murder victim behind a cricket sight screen. Gossipy women were fabricated to look like they were hiding secrets, whilst the vicar appeared to be hiding in the shadows. For the first four episodes, these paintings were black and white, only from "The Murder at the Vicarage" onwards, new colour drawings replaced these. The serial closing credits featured a contemplative portrait of Hickson every bit Miss Marple in her trademark straw lid.
Adaptations of the books A Caribbean Mystery (1964) and Nemesis (1971) were filmed out of order. "Nemesis" was produced in February 1987 and "A Caribbean Mystery" in Dec 1989. The significance of this is the character Jason Rafiel, who is introduced in A Caribbean Mystery and in Nemesis has died and made a request of Miss Marple to solve a years-old mystery. Considering the two episodes were filmed out of order, viewers of "Nemesis" are clueless every bit to what part Jason Rafiel played in Miss Marple'south life until they watch "A Caribbean Mystery". Rafiel was portrayed past Frank Gatliff in "Nemesis", and by Donald Pleasence in "A Caribbean Mystery".
The grapheme of Inspector Craddock presents some other inconsistency in the series. The character is conspicuously unknown to Miss Marple in "A Murder is Announced" but in his second advent in "The Mirror Cleft'd from Side to Side", Craddock is Miss Marple's nephew.
All of the episodes take place in the 1950s. "The Murder at the Vicarage" is set in 1954, according to a sign about coin beingness raised for the church fund. This takes place afterwards the events of "The Body in the Library", which Miss Marple relates briefly when describing how she get-go came across Inspector Slack. "Nemesis" is set in 1955 or 1956 as it is said to exist vii or eight years after the murder of the story which happened in 1948, according to the dates on the victim's gravestone. "A Caribbean Mystery" is fix prior to this. "At Bertram's Hotel" is ready relatively shortly later the launch of ITV (in September 1955), and then probably in 1956 (though it as well shows the London Hilton completed, which suggests the early on 1960s), and "4.l from Paddington" is set in 1957, during the launch of Sputnik.
Reception [edit]
The start episode was enthusiastically received by critics. The Times said "once hooked, y'all won't be able to turn off", and The Sun said information technology was a series "with pulling power and real course". For episode ii, "The Moving Finger", The Daily Telegraph stated "Once more Guy Slater's production is built effectually the vivid performance of Joan Hickson, backside whose faded blue eyes and spinsterish sibilants, the wheels of detective intelligence can be seen positively whirring around. The enterprise is impeccably cast, beautifully ordered, lovingly photographed." Reviews for subsequent films were equally positive.[iii]
Alan McKee, of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, reviews the series as "a good example of a 'heritage' production", pop in the 1980s. It combines new Victorianism in moral standards and a sanitised version of England'south past. More often than not ready in a rural past, English architecture and country mansion houses are featured. Similar many BBC programmes, product values are impeccable and costumes, houses and decor, cars, hairstyles and make-upwards could all be described every bit "sumptuous".[sixteen]
McKee also praises the serial for "beingness as faithful as possible to the source cloth. Miss Marple does non chase the villains herself as Margaret Rutherford does in her film series, nor are the titles of the books contradistinct to brand them more than sensational."[16]
Equally for Hickson personally, she is oft described every bit the "definitive" Miss Marple as Christie would have pictured her, and Hickson personally credited in big part the bestowal of an OBE laurels to the role, equally Queen Elizabeth II was a fan of the series and Hickson's performance.[3]
Other countries [edit]
All 12 episodes were shown in the United states on the PBS Mystery! series. Miss Marple was also seen in over thirty countries, including Spain, the quondam Soviet Union and People's republic of china.
Dwelling house media [edit]
Miss Marple was offset released in DVD in the UK (Region 2) in 2000. A complete box prepare of all 12 stories was released in 2005 past ii Entertain Video. In N America (Region 1), episodes were showtime released in 2001.
In summer 2009, the Sunday edition of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini was offer to its readers DVDs (i per week) of the serial.
In January 2010, the Daily Mail service offered half dozen DVDs (from ii Entertain Video) each with a consummate episode from serial. The episodes in the DVD giveaway offer were "The Murder at the Vicarage", "Sleeping Murder", "At Bertram'due south Hotel", "Nemesis", "A Caribbean area Mystery", and "They Do It with Mirrors".
To mark the 30th anniversary of the serial, BBC Dwelling house Entertainment fully remastered the series for release on DVD and, for the starting time time, on Blu-ray Disc.[1] The series was released in iii volumes. Miss Marple: Book One, released on 28 October 2014, included the episodes "The Trunk in the Library", "A Murder Is Announced", "The Moving Finger," and "Murder at the Vicarage" and the first role of the iii-function documentary special, "A Very British Murder, Part 1: A New Taste for Blood".[17] Miss Marple: Volume Two, released on 31 March 2015, included the episodes "They Practise Information technology with Mirrors", "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side", "4.50 from Paddington", and "A Pocketful of Rye" along with the bonus textile "A Very British Murder, Part 2: Detection Near Ingenious".[xviii] Miss Marple: Book Three, released on 9 June 2015, included the episodes "A Caribbean Mystery", "At Bertram'south Hotel", " Sleeping Murder", and "Nemesis" forth with the bonus material "A Very British Murder, Part 3: The Golden Age".[19]
References [edit]
- ^ a b "Restoring classic BBC murder mystery Agatha Christie'south Miss Marple". BBC Studios and Post Production, October 2014. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved xv August 2015.
- ^ The New Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Agatha Christie, Edited by Dick Riley and Pam McAllister. Ungar Publishing, New York 1979, rev 1986. "Christie on the BBC" Tennenbaum, Michael, p 339 ISBN 0-8044-5803-0
- ^ a b c d Agatha Christie: Murder in Iv Acts, Haining, Peter, Virgin Books, London, 1990. ISBN one-85227-273-2
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Body in the Library". 26 December 1984. Retrieved three Jan 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Moving Finger". 21 February 1985. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie'south Miss Marple: A Murder Is Appear". 28 February 1985. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye". seven March 1985. Retrieved 3 Jan 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage". 25 December 1986. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder". 11 January 1987. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie'due south Miss Marple: At Bertram's Hotel". 25 Jan 1987. Retrieved 3 Jan 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie'due south Miss Marple: Nemesis". 8 February 1987. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie'southward Miss Marple: 4:50 from Paddington". 25 February 1987. Retrieved iii Jan 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery". 25 Dec 1989. Retrieved 3 Jan 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie'southward Miss Marple: They Practice Information technology with Mirrors". 29 December 1991. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Mirror Crevice'd from Side to Side". 27 Dec 1992. Retrieved 3 January 2017 – via IMDb.
- ^ a b "Museum of Circulate Communications". Museum.tv. Archived from the original on 15 February 2002. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
- ^ "Miss Marple: Book One". BBC Home Entertainment. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
- ^ "Miss Marple: Book Ii". BBC Abode Amusement. Retrieved xv August 2015.
- ^ "Miss Marple: Volume Three". BBC Home Entertainment. Retrieved fifteen August 2015.
External links [edit]
- Miss Marple at the British Film Constitute Screen Online
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Marple_%28TV_series%29
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