Miss Marple (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Miss Marple is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 series based on the Miss Marple
Miss Marple
Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...

 murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...

. It starred Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...

 in the title role, and aired from 1984 to 1992. All twelve original Miss Marple Christie novels have been dramatised. The screenplays were written by T. R. Bowen
Trevor Bowen
Trevor Bowen , is an English actor and screenwriter who has appeared frequently in United Kingdom television dramas since the mid 1960s.-Early life:...

, Julia Jones
Julia Jones (screen writer)
Julia Jones is a British screen writer whose works include Quiet as a Nun and the BBC's Miss Marple TV series.-References:...

, Alan Plater
Alan Plater
Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...

, Kenneth Taylor and Jill Hyem
Jill Hyem
Formerly an actress, Jill Hyem became a successful British radio and television writer.Her radio plays include "The Ropewalk" , "Remember Me" and "Now She Laughs, Now She Cries"....

, and it was produced by George Gallaccio
George Gallaccio
George Gallaccio is a British television producer, whose most prominent work was as producer of the BBC programme Miss Marple, based on the novels by Agatha Christie....

.

Background

Christie had never been very happy with most filmed adaptations of her works, and according to her grandson Mathew Pritchard, who handled her estate after her death, "did not care much for television" either. Producer Pat Sandys of LWT first approached Pritchard and the Christie estate with a researched, detailed plan to film the novels Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in September 1934 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1935 under the title of The Boomerang Clue.The UK edition retailed at seven shillings...

and The Seven Dials Mystery
The Seven Dials Mystery
The Seven Dials Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons on January 24, 1929 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...

in the early 1980s. Although indifferently treated by critics, the projects were popular with audiences and led to the filming of a number of short stories and the Tommy and Tuppence Beresford stories in the series Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime is a 1983 British television series based on the short stories of the same name by Agatha Christie. It was directed by John A. Davis and Tony Wharmby, and starred James Warwick and Francesca Annis in the leading roles of husband and wife sleuths Tommy and...

. With the success of that series, the BBC got the approval to produce the stories of one of Christie's most famous detectives.

Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...

, who played Miss Marple, was an octogenarian herself during most of the series' production. Decades before, she had appeared in a minor role in Murder, She Said
Murder, She Said
Murder, She Said is a murder mystery film directed by George Pollock, loosely based on the novel 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie...

, in which Margaret Rutherford
Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...

 played Miss Marple. The adaptations are mainly true to the original novels. Hickson had also appeared in a stage adaptation of the novel Appointment with Death
Appointment with Death
Appointment with Death is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on May 2, 1938 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...

in 1946, after which Christie sent Hickson a note "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple."

There were three other semi-regular characters in Miss Marple. The first was Detective Inspector Slack (later Detective Superintendent), played by David Horovitch
David Horovitch
David Horovitch is an English actor best known for playing the character of Inspector Slack in Miss Marple.-Life and career:...

, the second Detective Inspector Craddock played by John Castle
John Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...

 and Detective Constable (later Detective Sergeant) Lake, played by Ian Brimble. Detective Inspector/Superintendent Slack and Detective Constable/Sergeant Lake appeared in five episodes, The Body in the Library, The Murder at the Vicarage, 4.50 From Paddington, They Do It with Mirrors and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. Detective Inspector Craddock appeared in A Murder is Announced and The Mirror Crack'd. Gwen Watford
Gwen Watford
Gwendoline "Gwen" Watford was an English film, stage, and television actress. She married actor Richard Bebb in 1952....

 also appeared in two episodes as Miss Marple's friend and neighbour, Dolly Bantry.

Episodes

Title Airdate Guest Cast and Synopsis IMDb link
The Body in the Library
The Body in the Library (1984 TV film)
The Body in the Library is a 1984 television film adaption of Agatha Christie's 1942 detective novel The Body in the Library which was co-produced by the BBC and the A&E Network. The film uses an adapted screenplay by T. R. Bowen and was directed by Silvio Narizzano...

26, 27, 28 December 1984 Gwen Watford
Gwen Watford
Gwendoline "Gwen" Watford was an English film, stage, and television actress. She married actor Richard Bebb in 1952....

, Moray Watson
Moray Watson
Moray Watson is an English actor.Watson's father was killed in Belgium in World War II. He was educated at Eton College and made his first appearance on stage whilst still a student at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art at a matinee performance in memory of Ellen Terry at Hythe, Kent...

, Trudie Styler
Trudie Styler
Trudie Styler is an English actress and producer. She is the second wife of the musician Sting.-Life and career:Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. She attended North Bromsgrove High School, where one of her teachers was Clifford T. Ward...

, Jess Conrad
Jess Conrad
Jess Conrad OBE is an actor and singer from England.-Career:Having started his career as a repertory actor and film extra, Jess Conrad was cast in a television play "Bye, Bye Barney" as a pop singer...

, Ciaran Madden
Ciaran Madden
Ciaran Madden is a British stage, film, and television actress. She is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and is an Associate Member of the academy...

, Keith Drinkel
Keith Drinkel
Keith Drinkel is a British actor, born in York on 14 November 1944. He was educated at St Michael's College, Leeds and is now based in Brighton....

, Debbie Arnold
Debbie Arnold
Jeanette Debbie Arnold is an English actress and voice artiste. She is best known for her work on British television, although she is also a veteran stage actress. She is one of the top voiceover artistes in England.-Career:Arnold was born into showbusiness...

, Frederick Jaeger
Frederick Jaeger
Frederick Jaeger was a German-born actor who found success working in British television.Jaeger was born in Berlin, but moved to England following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1948, and became a British citizen two years later...

, Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...

, Raymond Francis
Raymond Francis
Raymond Francis was an English actor best known for his role as Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart in the Associated-Rediffusion detective series Murder Bag, Crime Sheet and No Hiding Place...

, David Horovitch
David Horovitch
David Horovitch is an English actor best known for playing the character of Inspector Slack in Miss Marple.-Life and career:...

, Ian Brimble, Anthony Smee
Anthony Smee
Anthony Smee is an English theater producer, writer, and actor who has worked in radio, theatre, television, and film since 1972.-Partial filmography:*You're the Stranger Here *Hilary and Jackie *Parting Shots...

, Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank was a Scottish supporting actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series, Dr Finlay's Casebook, which ran for 191 episodes from 1962 until 1971.-Life and career:Andrew Cruickshank was born to Andrew and Mary...

, Hugh Walters, Arthur Bostrom
Arthur Bostrom
Arthur Bostrom is an English actor, most famous for his role as Officer Crabtree, in the long-running BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!.-Biography:...

, Martyn Read, Stephen Churchett
Stephen Churchett
Stephen Churchett is a British actor and writer.One of his most notable roles was as solicitor Marcus Christie in EastEnders, on and off from 1990 to 2004....

, Astra Sheridan, John Moffatt
John Moffatt (actor)
John Moffatt is an English actor and playwright, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088833/
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 desperate family of a wealthy old man.
The Moving Finger
The Moving Finger
The Moving Finger is detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence...

21, 22 February 1985 Michael Culver
Michael Culver
Michael Culver is an English actor.He was born in Hampstead, London, the son of actor Roland Culver and casting director Daphne Rye...

, Elizabeth Counsell, Richard Pearson
Richard Pearson (actor)
Richard de Pearsall Pearson was a Welsh actor. Notable films of his career included Brian Desmond Hurst's Scrooge as well as a brief appearance in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday and cameo roles in three films by Roman Polanski: Macbeth , Tess and Pirates...

, Sabina Franklyn
Sabina Franklyn
Sabina Franklyn is an English actress, and the daughter of William Franklyn and Margo Johns.Franklyn attended the independent Queen's Gate School and acted on stage with repertory theatres before her television appearances....

, Andrew Bicknell
Andrew Bicknell
-Career:Bicknell has appeared in a large range of British and American film and television work. He has also become known for playing the likeness of James Bond in the 2001 video game of Agent Under Fire as James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan had not renewed his contract to appear as the Bond likeness...

, Hilary Mason
Hilary Mason
Hilary Mason was an English character actress who appeared in a wide variety of roles, mainly on UK television....

, Dilys Hamlett
Dilys Hamlett
Dilys Hamlett was a British actress.-Early life:Dilys Hamlett was born on 31 March 1928 in Tidworth, Hampshire and developed an early interest in literature and theatre...

, Deborah Appleby, John Arnatt
John Arnatt
- Biography :John Arnatt was born in Petrograd on 9 May 1917. His parents were Francis Arnatt and Ethel Marion Arnatt . He attended Epworth College. Arnatt trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...

, Sandra Payne
Sandra Payne
Sandra Payne is an English actress best known for her roles as Christine Harris in the British television series Triangle and as Marion Ballard in Waiting for God....

, Martin Fisk, Imogen Bickford-Smith, Geoffrey Davion
Geoffrey Davion
Geoffrey Davion was an English television and Shakespearean stage actor, notably starring alongside Alun Armstrong in the popular series The Stars Look Down...

, Roger Ostime, Victor Maddern
Victor Maddern
Victor Jack Maddern was an English actor.Born in Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex, Maddern was one of large group of dependable supporting actors that British film produced over the years....

, Gordon Rollings
Gordon Rollings
Gordon Charles Rollings was a British actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in Batley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England and started his career in radio in Israel...

, Patsy Smart
Patsy Smart
Patsy Smart was an English actress who is best remembered for her performance as Miss Roberts in the 1970s ITV television drama Upstairs, Downstairs....

, Penelope Lee, Gerald Sim
Gerald Sim
Gerald Grant Sim is an English actor who is perhaps best known for playing the Rector in To the Manor Born. He is the younger brother of actress Sheila Sim and brother-in-law of actor/director Lord Attenborough.- Career :...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087749/
Poison pen letter
Poison pen letter
A poison pen letter is a letter or note containing unpleasant, abusive or malicious statements or accusations about the recipient or a third party. It is usually sent anonymously. Poison pen letters are usually composed and sent to upset the recipient...

s are being sent to everyone in town. It seems like a vulgar joke until a letter is found next to a suicide victim. Then another body is found, and another...
A Murder is Announced
A Murder is Announced
A Murder is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the same month...

28 February, 1, 2 March 1985 Ursula Howells
Ursula Howells
Ursula Howells was an English actress whose elegant presence kept her much in demand for roles in film and television....

, Renée Asherson
Renee Asherson
Renée Asherson , born Dorothy Renée Ascherson, is an English actress of stage, film and television.Much of Asherson's theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpool Playhouse and the Westminster Theatre...

, Joan Sims
Joan Sims
Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...

, John Castle
John Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...

, Sylvia Syms
Sylvia Syms
Sylvia M. L. Syms OBE is a British actress. She is probably best known for her roles in the films Woman in a Dressing Gown , Ice-Cold in Alex , No Trees in the Street , Victim and The Tamarind Seed...

, Ralph Michael
Ralph Michael
Ralph Michael was an English actor. He was born in London, United Kingdom.His film appearances include: A Night to Remember, Children of the Damned, Khartoum, Grand Prix, The Assassination Bureau, and Empire of the Sun.Television credits include: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Dixon of Dock Green,...

, Paola Dionisotti, Samantha Bond, Simon Shepherd
Simon Shepherd
Simon Shepherd is a British actor. He is well known to TV audiences from many appearances, including Dr Will Preston in five series of ITV's Peak Practice....

, Nicola King, Matthew Solon, Mary Kerridge
Mary Kerridge
Mary Kerridge was an English actress, married to John Counsell, the managing director of the Theatre Royal, Windsor, with whom she worked at the theatre for many years. Their daughter is actress Elizabeth Counsell....

, Vivienne Moore, David Collings
David Collings
David Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....

, Elaine Ives-Cameron
Elaine Ives-Cameron
Elaine Ives-Cameron was an American-born British actress.Her film credits include: The Night Digger, Terror, Murder by Decree and Supergirl....

, Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey, OBE was a British actress, best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noël Coward. Her stage career lasted from 1916 until 1984, and she was performing on television in her nineties. Though never a star, she was a familiar face both on stage and screen...

, Kevin Whately
Kevin Whately
Kevin Whately is an English actor.Whately is known for his starring role as Neville Hope in the British television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, his role as Dr Jack Kerruish in the drama series Peak Practice, and as Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the crime dramas Inspector Morse and...

, Liz Crowther
Liz Crowther
Elizabeth Ann 'Liz' Crowther is an English television actress. She is the daughter of comedian Leslie Crowther....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087756/
A party game goes wrong and a young Swiss man is dead. Friends and neighbours start to turn on each other, and Inspector Craddock is stumped. Fortunately, Miss Marple is in town visiting her niece and helps solve the crime.
A Pocketful of Rye
A Pocketful of Rye
A Pocketful of Rye is a 1969 novel by A. J. Cronin about a young Scottish doctor, Carroll, and his life in Switzerland. It is a sequel to A Song of Sixpence....

7, 8 March 1985 Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...

, Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...

, Stacy Dorning
Stacy Dorning
Stacy Dorning is an English actress, best known for appearing in the second series of The Adventures of Black Beauty . She also appeared in Just William and Keep It in the Family . She is the elder daughter of actors Robert Dorning and Honor Shepherd, and older sister of actress Kate...

, Annette Badland
Annette Badland
Annette Badland is an English actress best known for her work in children's television.-Biography:Her training took place at East 15 Acting School, London...

, Fabia Drake
Fabia Drake
Fabia Drake OBE was an English actress whose professional career spanned almost 73 years during the 20th century.Drake was born in Herne Bay, Kent...

, Clive Merrison
Clive Merrison
Clive Merrison is a Welsh actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College.- Television :...

, Rachel Bell
Rachel Bell
Rachel B. Bell is a British actress.Bell has many television credits to her name and has been associated as a long-running character with three series: Margaret Holmes in Grange Hill ; Edith Pilchester in The Darling Buds of May ; and Louise, the overbearing chair of the divorcee support group in...

, Selina Cadell
Selina Cadell
Selina Cadell is an English actress. She is the sister of the late actor Simon Cadell and granddaughter of the actress Jean Cadell.....

, Tom Wilkinson
Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...

, Frances Low, Susan Gilmore
Susan Gilmore
Susan Gilmore is an English actress with a number of prominent television credits to her name, including Elizabeth Fitt in the BBC hospital drama Angels and Avril Rolfe in Howards' Way. She was also a leading cast member in the cult thriller serial Maelstrom...

, Frank Mills, Louis Mahoney
Louis Mahoney
Louis Mahoney is a Gambian-born British actor.He has been seen most frequently on television in series such as: Danger Man, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, The Troubleshooters, Menace, Special Branch, Doctor Who , Quiller, Fawlty Towers Louis Mahoney (born 8 September 1938) is a Gambian-born British...

, Rhoda Lewis, Charles Pemberton
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087924/
When the members of a wealthy banking family start dropping like flies, Miss Marple is reminded of the old nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a Song of Sixpence is a well-known English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is also listed in the Roud folk song index as number 13191.-Lyrics:...

and vows to find the villainous "blackbird" behind the crimes.
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Murder at the Vicarage is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...

25 December 1986 Paul Eddington
Paul Eddington
Paul Eddington CBE was an English actor best known for his appearances in popular television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s: The Good Life, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:...

, Cheryl Campbell
Cheryl Campbell
Cheryl Campbell is an English actor of stage, film and television.-Early years:Cheryl Campbell was educated at Francis Bacon Grammar School, St Albans; London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art...

, Robert Lang
Robert Lang (actor)
Robert Lang was an English actor of stage and television. Laurence Olivier invited him to join the new National Theatre Company, at the Old Vic, Robert Lang was already earning high praise as an actor. From 1971 until his death he was married to Ann Bell, best known for her portrayal of Marion...

, Polly Adams
Polly Adams
Polly Adams is an English actress best known for her work on the stage both in England and in the United States, and for her portrayal of Mrs. Brown on the television series Just William. She made her Broadway debut in the critically acclaimed 1975 revival of London Assurance as Grace Harkaway...

, James Hazeldine
James Hazeldine
James Hazeldine was a British film, stage and television actor. He was born in Salford, Lancashire.James started his career in repertory theatre, firstly in weekly rep, then at the Manchester Library theatre and on to the Royal Court Theatre in London's Sloane Square, where he appeared in the...

, Jack Galloway
Jack Galloway
Jack Galloway is a British actor.His television credits include: Thriller, Mackenzie, Codename Icarus, Doctor Who , Three Up, Two Down, Bergerac, The Mistress, Maigret, The Paradise Club, Boudica and Casualty.-External links:...

, Rosalie Crutchley
Rosalie Crutchley
Rosalie Crutchley was an English actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Crutchley was best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in the theatre and in films, making her stage debut at least as early as 1932 and her screen debut in 1947...

, Norma West
Norma West
Norma West is a British actress, born 19 November 1943 in Cape Town, South Africa.Her most prolific television appearance was as Queen Elizabeth of York in the 1972 BBC series The Shadow of the Tower. Other TV roles include Ace of Wands, A Touch of Frost, Lovejoy, The Murder at the Vicarage...

, Christopher Good
Christopher Good
Christopher Good is a British actor best known for his work on television.Good has made many one-off or short-lived appearances in drama and comedy programmes, with Murder Most Horrid, Rumpole Of The Bailey, Danger UXB, The Choir and Pie In The Sky being among them...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170266/
Death is only steps from Miss Marple when odious Col. Prothero is murdered in her idyllic village of St. Mary Mead. And in the Vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

's study, no less!
Sleeping Murder
Sleeping Murder
Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1976 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for £3.50 and the US edition for $7.95...

11, 18 January 1987 Geraldine Alexander, John Moulder-Brown, Jean Anderson
Jean Anderson
Jean Anderson was an English actress born in Eastbourne, Sussex. She is best remembered for her television roles as hard-faced matriarch Mary Hammond in the 1970s BBC drama The Brothers and as rebellious aristocrat Lady Jocelyn "Joss" Holbrook in the 1980s Second World War series Tenko .She is...

, Terrence Hardiman, Frederick Treves
Frederick Treves (actor)
Frederick William Treves BEM, is an English character actor with an extensive repertoire, specialising in avuncular military and titled types....

, John Bennett
John Bennett (actor)
John Bennett was an English actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he was educated at Bradfield College in Berkshire, then trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, followed by a wide Rep experience including Bromley, Bristol Old Vic, Dundee, Edinburgh Festival and Watford before going to...

, Geraldine Newman
Geraldine Newman
Geraldine Newman is an English film and television actress who has acted in more than 30 television programmes and films.Her most notable television performance was on the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.-Biography:...

, Jack Watson
Jack Watson (actor)
Jack Watson , was an English actor who appeared in many British films and television dramas from the 1950s onwards....

, Jean Heywood
Jean Heywood
Jean Heywood is a British actress, appearing in films such as Billy Elliot and Our Day Out as well as TV series When the Boat Comes In, All Creatures Great and Small, Boys from the Blackstuff, Family Affairs, The Bill and Casualty.In 2010, Heywood made a guest appearance in the ITV series Married...

, Amanda Boxer
Amanda Boxer
Amanda Boxer is an English actress who is best known for her television work and her performance in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida Theatre and The Painter by Rebecca Lenkiewicz at the Arcola Theatre....

, John Ringham
John Ringham
John Henry Ringham was a British character actor of both television and stage who appeared in over a hundred screen appearances in a wide variety of roles....

, David McAlister, Kenneth Cope
Kenneth Cope
Kenneth Cope is an English actor. He is most famous for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk , Jed Stone in Coronation Street and Ray Hilton in Brookside.- Career :...

, Gary Watson
Gary Watson
Gary Watson is a retired British television actor who started out as a stage actor most notably acting in Friedrich Hebbel's 1962 play Judith at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, England with Sean Connery...

, Donald Burton
Donald Burton
Donald Burton was an English theatre and television actor. Burton was the husband of actress Carroll Baker....

, Sheila Raynor
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091970/
A young wife believes her house is haunted. She comes to realize she witnessed the murder of her stepmother there 20 years ago as a child. To help the newlyweds, Miss Marple risks her life solving the crime, stirring a sleeping murderer in the process.
At Bertram's Hotel
At Bertram's Hotel
At Bertram's Hotel is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 15 November 1965 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings and the US edition at $4.50...

25 January, Feb 1 1987 Caroline Blakiston
Caroline Blakiston
Caroline Blakiston is an English actress who has appeared predominantly in television roles, notably in the series Brass. She also appeared as Mon Mothma in the science fiction film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...

, Joan Greenwood
Joan Greenwood
Joan Greenwood was an English actress. Born in Chelsea, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark...

, George Baker
George Baker (actor)
George Baker, MBE was an English actor and writer. He was best-known for portraying Tiberius in I, Claudius, and Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries.-Personal life:...

, James Cossins
James Cossins
James Cossins was an English character actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he became widely recognised as the abrupt, bewildered Mr. Walt in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Hotel Inspectors"...

, Helena Mitchell, Irene Sutcliffe
Irene Sutcliffe
Irene Sutcliffe is an English actress. She is best known for playing Maggie Clegg in ITV's Coronation Street, a role she played from 1968 until 1975...

, Preston Lockwood
Preston Lockwood
Preston Lockwood was an English actor.He is best known for his television credits, including the role of Butterfield the butler in several episodes of Jeeves and Wooster...

, Edward Burnham, Donald Burton
Donald Burton
Donald Burton was an English theatre and television actor. Burton was the husband of actress Carroll Baker....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090669/
False identities, larceny, and a crime ring are only the tip of the tentacle when Miss Marple stays in a posh London hotel (modelled after Brown's Hotel
Brown's Hotel
Brown's Hotel is a luxury 5-star hotel in London, United Kingdom. Opening its doors in 1837, it has been owned by The Rocco Forte Collection since 3 July 2003 and is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World....

) where nothing is what it seems. Murder naturally follows, leading to a thrilling chase after the vibrant Lady Sedgewick.
Nemesis 8, 15 February 1987 Margaret Tyzack
Margaret Tyzack
Margaret Maud Tyzack, CBE was a British actress.-Early life:Tyzack was born in Essex, England, the daughter of Doris and Thomas Edward Tyzack. She grew up in West Ham...

, John Horsley
John Horsley (actor)
John L. Horsley is an English actor. He was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England.He made his acting debut at the Theatre Royal in Bournemouth. His early career saw him playing a succession of doctors and policemen, the former on film in Hell Drivers , the latter on television in Big...

, Anna Cropper
Anna Cropper
Anna Cropper was a British stage and television actress.-Career:Cropper studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She made her television debut as Chrysalis in "The Insect Play" in 1960, based on the 1921 play by Czechs Josef and Karel Capek...

, Valerie Lush, Helen Cherry
Helen Cherry
Helen Cherry was an English stage and film actress.-Career:Helen Mary Cherry was born at Thurgarton, Worsley, Lancashire, the daughter of John William Cherry, a works manager then serving as a captain in the 45th Provisional Battalion, and his wife, Annie Nall.Educated in Harrogate, Helen Cherry...

, Peter Tilbury
Peter Tilbury
Peter Tilbury born 20 October 1945 in Redruth, Cornwall in England is a British actor and writer.As an actor Tilbury's television appearances include Dixon of Dock Green , It Takes a Worried Man , Miss Marple , Fortunes of War Casualty , The Bill , Birds of a Feather , and Chef! .As a television...

, Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...

, Bruce Payne
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...

, Joanna Hole
Joanna Hole
Joanna Hole is a British actress, possibly best known for her role as Sally Markham in the 1980s BBC television drama series Tenko.Other credits include: A Very Peculiar Practice, Miss Marple, The Upper Hand, Judge John Deed, Holby City and The Bill.-External links:...

, Jane Booker, Alison Skilbeck, Frank Gatliff, Peter Copley
Peter Copley
Peter Copley was a British television, film and stage actor.-Biography:Copley was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, son of the printmakers, John Copley and Ethel Gabain....

, Roger Hammond
Roger Hammond (actor)
Roger Hammond is an English character actor who has appeared in many films and television series.Hammond attended Cambridge University, and appeared extensively in their drama program, alongside actors such as Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, and John Wood. Following that, he attended the Royal Academy...

, David Blake Kelly, Cy Town
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091618/
Miss Marple is sent on a mission from beyond the grave to clear a dead man's son. Vowing to find out the truth, she links him to a dead girl, Verity Hunt, and a family of weird sisters. She discovers love, as well as hate, can be a reason for murder.
4.50 From Paddington
4.50 From Paddington
4.50 from PaddingtonThe article time reads: Four-fifty from Paddington. In the United Kingdom's time notation, hours and minutes may be separated by a dot rather than a colon sign...

25 December 1987 Maurice Denham
Maurice Denham
Maurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:...

, Joanna David
Joanna David
Joanna David is a British actress, best known for her television work.She was born in Lancaster, England. Her first major television role was as Elinor Dashwood in the BBC's 1971 dramatisation of Sense and Sensibility followed a year later in War and Peace, in which she played Sonya...

, Jill Meager
Jill Meager
Jill Meager is an English actress.She studied Modern Languages at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where her contemporaries included Tom Conti. She dropped out to pursue an acting career, and worked as a Management Consultant before becoming an actress....

, Andrew Burt
Andrew Burt
Andrew Burt is an English actor, who has appeared in many British TV drama series from the 1970s to the present day...

, Jean Boht
Jean Boht
Jean Boht is an English actress.She is most famous for the role of Nellie Boswell in Carla Lane's comedy Bread....

, John Hallam
John Hallam
John William Francis Hallam was a Northern Irish character actor.- Career :He appeared in many film and television roles including Nicholas and Alexandra , Murphy's War , The Pallisers , The Mallens , Flash Gordon , Dragonslayer , the BBC television adaptations of Prince Caspian...

, Mona Bruce, Rhoda Lewis
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/
After Miss Marple's friend witnesses a murder in a railway carriage running parallel to her own, Miss Marple engages a resourceful young woman to investigate. The search leads to a decrepit estate, where they suspect the body was dumped. But the seemingly innocent family who live there have secrets of their own.
A Caribbean Mystery
A Caribbean Mystery
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 16, 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings and the US edition at $4.50...

25 December 1989 Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...

, Sophie Ward
Sophie Ward
Sophie Ward , is an English actress and the daughter of actor, Simon Ward.-Career:One of Ward's early film roles was in the film Young Sherlock Holmes. Other early films included Return to Oz, Little Dorrit and A Summer Story, and she also portrayed the unattainable love object in the video of Roxy...

, Adrian Lukis
Adrian Lukis
Adrian Lukis, born in 1958 in Birmingham, is an actor who has appeared regularly in British television drama since the late 1980s. He trained at Drama Studio London...

, T. P. McKenna
T. P. McKenna
Thomas Patrick McKenna , known professionally as T. P. McKenna, was an Irish actor who worked on stage, in film and television in Ireland and the UK from the 1950s.- Film and television :...

, Frank Middlemass
Frank Middlemass
Francis George Middlemass was an English actor, who even in his early career played older roles. He is best remembered for his television roles as Rocky Hardcastle in As Time Goes By, Algy Herries in To Serve Them All My Days and Dr. Alex Ferrenby in Heartbeat...

, Sue Lloyd
Sue Lloyd
Sue Lloyd was an English model turned actress with numerous film and television credits.-Biography:...

, Robert Swan, Michael Feast, Sheila Ruskin
Sheila Ruskin
Sheila Ruskin is an English actress.She is possibly best known for playing Vipsania in the 1976 BBC adaptation of I, Claudius but is also remembered by fans of Doctor Who for her performance as Kassia in the 1981 serial The Keeper of Traken, and by Blake's 7 fans as Alta 1 in the 1979 episode...

, Joseph Mydell, Barbara Barnes, Valerie Buchanan
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097015/
While holidaying in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

, Miss Marple is bored to tears by 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 hide the trail of a manipulative and ruthless killer.
They Do It with Mirrors
They Do It with Mirrors
They Do It With Mirrors is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1952 under the title of Murder with Mirrors and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 17 in the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition...

29 December 1991 Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

, Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...

, Faith Brook
Faith Brook
Faith Brook is an English actress who has appeared on stage, in films and on television.Her father was the actor Clive Brook, and her brother Lyndon Brook was also an actor. Her first credited film appearance was The Jungle Book in 1942...

, Holly Aird, Christopher Villiers
Christopher Villiers
Christopher Francis Villiers is an English actor.He is known for his part in the top rated ITV1 soap opera, Emmerdale in which he plays the role of the solicitor Grayson Sinclair. He also played the part of Captain Nigel Croker in Mile High from 2004 to 2005...

, Brenda Cowling
Brenda Cowling
Brenda Rose Cowling was an English actress. A native of London, Cowling wanted to be a film actress from the time she was a child; however, upon leaving school, she trained instead as a shorthand typist.After a time she joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she was a member of the same...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103078/
At an estate turned reformatory school
Youth detention center
A youth detention center, also known as a juvenile detention center , juvenile hall or, more colloquially as juvie, is a secure residential facility for young people, often termed juvenile delinquents, awaiting court hearings and/or placement in long-term care facilities and programs...

, Miss Marple visits her old school chum Carrie Louise. When Carrie Louise's dear stepson is killed, the discontent family is only the beginning as there are literally hundreds of suspects!
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 12, 1962 and in US by Dodd, Mead and Company in September 1963 under the shorter title of The Mirror Crack'd and with a copyright date of 1962...

27 December 1992 Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...

, Barry Newman
Barry Newman
Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :...

, Gwen Watford
Gwen Watford
Gwendoline "Gwen" Watford was an English film, stage, and television actress. She married actor Richard Bebb in 1952....

, John Castle
John Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...

, Elizabeth Garvie
Elizabeth Garvie
Elizabeth Garvie is an English actress best known for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1980 BBC dramatisation of Pride and Prejudice....

, Judy Cornwell
Judy Cornwell
Judy Valerie Cornwell is an English actress best known for her role as Daisy in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.-Biography:...

, Glynis Barber
Glynis Barber
Glynis Barber is a South African actress of Afrikaner descent, born and brought up in South Africa. She was born Glynis van der Riet. When she was five years old, her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved to Johannesburg. She is best known for her portrayal as Sgt...

, Christopher Hancock
Christopher Hancock
Christopher Hancock was a British television and theatre actor. He was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. His brother is actor Stephen Hancock. He and his brother trained at the Old Vic theatre school...

, Rose Keegan
Rose Keegan
Rose Keegan is an English actress of stage, film and television. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She is the daughter of the military historian Sir John Keegan, and grew up at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst....

, Christopher Good
Christopher Good
Christopher Good is a British actor best known for his work on television.Good has made many one-off or short-lived appearances in drama and comedy programmes, with Murder Most Horrid, Rumpole Of The Bailey, Danger UXB, The Choir and Pie In The Sky being among them...

, Rhoda Lewis, Jon Croft
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104882/
Hollywood comes to St. Mary Mead when faded movie star Marina Gregg takes up residence for a local film shoot. But when she narrowly escapes an attempt on her life and a local woman dies instead, Miss Marple sorts the gossip rag chatter
Gossip magazine
Gossip magazines feature scandalous stories about the personal lives of celebrities. This genre of magazine flourished in North America in the 1950s and early 1960s. The title Confidential alone boasted a monthly circulation in excess of ten million, and it had many competitors, with names like...

 from the facts to uncover a tragedy.

Production

Producer Guy Slater of the BBC cast Hickson. The series was filmed beginning in 1983 in areas including Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

, near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, and the town of Nether Wallop
Nether Wallop
Nether Wallop is a village in central Hampshire, England.It is part of The Wallops: Nether, Middle and Over Wallop. The name derives from 'waella' and 'hop' or 'the valley of springing water'...

, Hampshire doubled as Marple's village of St. Mary Mead. Slater was replaced by producer George Gallaccio starting with the fourth film. Mainly for stylistic reasons, the films were set in the late 1940s
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...

, though some of the later episodes appear to be in the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

.

Hickson vowed not to do another film after 1989's A Caribbean Mystery
A Caribbean Mystery
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 16, 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings and the US edition at $4.50...

, but was persuaded to return for the final film in 1992. A Caribbean Mystery was shot on location at the Coral Reef Hotel in Barbados, where Christie had stayed in her visit to the country, and which had been the inspiration for the setting of the novel. Owners Budge and Cynthia O'Hara, who still owned the hotel 30 years later, were the inspirations for the characters in the novel and were able to share a treasure trove of Christie memorabilia with the cast.

The evocative theme tune for the TV series was composed by Ken Howard
Ken Howard (composer)
Ken Howard is an English songwriter, lyricist, author and television director.-International hits in the 1960s and 1970s:...

 and Alan Blaikley.

Reception

The first episode was enthusiastically received by critics. The Times said "once hooked, you won't be able to turn off", and the Sun said it was a series "with pulling power and real class". For episode two, The Moving Finger, The Daily Telegraph stated "Once again Guy Slater's production is built around the brilliant performance of Joan Hickson, behind 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.

Alan McKee, of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, reviews the series as "a good example of a 'heritage' production", popular in the 1980s. It combines new Victorianism in moral standards and a sanitised version of England's past. Mostly set in a rural past, English architecture and country mansion houses are featured. Like many BBC programs, production values are impeccable and costumes, houses and decor, cars, hairstyles and make-up could all be described as "sumptuous".

McKee also praises the series for "being as faithful as possible to the source material. Miss Marple does not chase the villains herself as Margaret Rutherford does in her film series, nor are the titles of the books altered to make them more sensational.

As for Hickson personally, she is frequently described as the "definitive" Miss Marple as Christie would have pictured her, and Hickson personally credited in large part the bestowal of an OBE award to the role as Queen Elizabeth II was a large fan of the series and her performance.

Other countries

All twelve episodes were shown in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 Mystery!
Mystery!
Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH...

series. Miss Marple was also seen in over 30 countries, including the former Soviet Union and China.

DVD releases

Miss Marple was first released in DVD in the UK (Region 2) in 2000. A complete box set of all 12 episodes was released in 2005 by 2 Entertain Video. In North America (Region 1), episodes were first released in 2001.

In summer 2009 the Sunday edition of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...

 was offering to its readers, the DVDs (one per week) of the series.

In January 2010, the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

 newspaper offered 6 DVDs (from 2 Entertain Video) each with a complete episode from series. The episodes in the DVD giveaway offer were The Murder at the Vicarage
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Murder at the Vicarage is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...

, Sleeping Murder
Sleeping Murder
Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1976 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for £3.50 and the US edition for $7.95...

, At Bertram's Hotel
At Bertram's Hotel
At Bertram's Hotel is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 15 November 1965 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings and the US edition at $4.50...

, Nemesis, A Caribbean Mystery
A Caribbean Mystery
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 16, 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings and the US edition at $4.50...

, and They Do It With Mirrors
They Do It with Mirrors
They Do It With Mirrors is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1952 under the title of Murder with Mirrors and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 17 in the same year under Christie's original title. The US edition...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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