Miss Marple (TV series)

Background

Agatha 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? and The Seven Dials Mystery 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 including The Secret Adversary and in the subsequent series Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime. With the success of that series, the BBC got the approval to produce the stories of one of Christie's most famous detectives. At the time the BBC were granted the screen rights to all twelve Marple novels, the rights to three already co-existed. 'The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side' had already been filmed and theatrically released in 1980 with Angela Lansbury in the role and the same production company were in the process of filming 'A Caribbean Mystery' and 'They Do It With Mirrors' with Helen Hayes for television broadcast. Thus these three titles were the last to be dramatized under the BBC's agreement.

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

There were two other semi-regular characters in Miss Marple. The first was Inspector Slack (later Superintendent), played by David Horovitch, the second was Constable (later Sergeant) Lake, played by Ian Brimble. Inspector/Superintendent Slack and Detective Constable/Sergeant Lake appeared in five episodes, Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, 4.50 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 by Miss Marple, her interference and her methods, but they eventually come to respect (and indeed, in the case of Lake, like) her.

There were also four other recurring characters. John Castle appeared 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 appeared in Body in the Library and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side as Mrs Dolly Bantry. Barbara Hicks appeared in The Murder at the Vicarage and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side as Miss Amanda Hartnell. Christopher Good appeared as Ronnie Hawes in Murder at the Vicarage and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.

Characters

Besides Miss Marple, there were several other recurring characters:

Production

BBC producer Guy Slater cast Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. The series was filmed beginning in 1983 in areas including Norfolk, Devon, Oxfordshire and Barbados. The town of Nether Wallop, Hampshire doubled as Miss Marple's home village of St. Mary Mead. Slater was replaced by producer George Gallaccio starting with the fourth film. The Murder at the Vicarage was set in 1954, Nemesis was set in 1955 or 1956, At Bertram's Hotel in 1956, and 4.50 from Paddington was set in 1957.

Hickson vowed not to do another film after 1989's A Caribbean Mystery, but was persuaded to return for the final two 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 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 and Alan Blaikley. The series opening titles featured paintings of seemingly pleasant village life, darkened by suspicious looking characters and the shot of a murder victim behind a cricket score board. Gossipy women were made to look like they were hiding secrets, whilst the vicar appeared to be hiding in the shadows. Initially, these paintings were black and white. In later episodes, new, colour drawings replaced these, though they still depicted suspicious looking villagers in the surroundings.

Although the books A Caribbean Mystery was written in 1964 and Nemesis in 1971, they were filmed out of order. Nemesis was produced in February 1987 and A Caribbean Mystery in December 1989. The significance of this is the character Jason Rafiel. He is introduced in A Caribbean Mystery and in Nemesis he has died and made a request of Miss Marple to solve a years old mystery. Filmed out of order, viewers are clueless as to what part Jason Rafiel played in Miss Marple's life until they watch A Caribbean Mystery. Rafiel was portrayed by Frank Gatliff in Nemesis, but by Donald Pleasence in A Caribbean Mystery.

The character of Inspector Craddock presents another inconsistency in the series. The character is clearly unknown to Miss Marple in "A Murder is Announced" but in his second and final appearance in "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side", Craddock is Miss Marple's nephew.

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 programmes, 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 fan of the series and Hickson's performance.

Other countries

All twelve episodes were shown in the United States on the PBS Mystery! series. Miss Marple was also seen in over 30 countries, including Spain, the former Soviet Union and China.

Home media

Miss Marple was first released in DVD in the UK (Region 2) in 2000. A complete box set of all 12 stories 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 was offering to its readers DVDs (one per week) of the series.

In January 2010, the Daily Mail offered six 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", "Sleeping Murder", "At Bertram's Hotel", "Nemesis", "A Caribbean Mystery", and "They Do It with Mirrors".

To mark the 30th anniversary of the series, BBC Home Entertainment fully remastered the series for release on DVD and, for the first time, on Blu-ray Disc. The series was released in three volumes. Miss Marple: Volume One, released October 28, 2014, included the episodes "The Body in the Library", "A Murder Is Announced", "The Moving Finger," and "Murder at the Vicarage" and the first part of the three-part documentary special, "A Very British Murder, Part 1: A New Taste for Blood". Miss Marple: Volume Two, released March 31, 2015, included the episodes "They Do It with Mirrors", "The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side", "4.50 from Paddington", and "A Pocketful of Rye" along with the bonus material "A Very British Murder, Part 2: Detection Most Ingenious". Miss Marple: Volume Three, released June 9, 2015, included the episodes "A Caribbean Mystery", "At Bertram’s Hotel", " Sleeping Murder", and "Nemesis" along with the bonus material "A Very British Murder, Part 3: The Golden Age".