''Miss Marple'' is a British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

, starring Joan Hickson in the title role. It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 December 1992 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. 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 series was produced by

George Gallaccio George Gallaccio (born 23 December 1938) is a retired British television producer who previously worked as a production assistant and production unit manager. His most prominent work was as the producer on two BBC detective drama series, ''Miss M ...

. In addition to its availability on VHS and DVD, the series began to be released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

Disc in October 2014, marking its 30th anniversary.

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, she "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?'' 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 ...

'' and ''

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

'' 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 ''The Secret Adversary'' is the second published detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in January 1922 in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in th ...

'' and in the subsequent series ''

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 Francesca Annis and James Warwick in t ...

''. With the success of that series, the BBC received approval to produce the stories of one of Christie's most famous detectives. 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 end of 1988. ''

The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side ''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'', a novel by Agatha Christie, was published in the UK in 1962 and a year later in the US under the title ''The Mirror Crack'd''. The story features amateur detective Miss Marple solving a mystery in St. ...

'' had already been filmed and theatrically released in 1980 with

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

in the role, and the same production company was 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 dramatised under the BBC's agreement. The adaptations are mainly true to the original novels. Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple, was an octogenarian herself during most of the series' production. In 1980 she had appeared in a minor role of Mrs Rivington in ''

''. Decades before, she had appeared in a minor role in '' Murder, She Said'', in which Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple and interestingly referred to Hickson's character as the younger generation. Hickson had also appeared in a stage adaptation of the novel '' Appointment with Death'' in 1946, after which Christie sent Hickson a note that read, "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple."Agatha Christie: Murder in Four Acts, Haining, Peter, Virgin Books, London, 1990.

Characters

Regular characters

In addition to Miss Marple, there are two semi-regular characters in the series. The first is Inspector (later Superintendent) Slack, played by

David Horovitch David Horovitch (born 11 August 1945) is an English actor, perhaps best known for playing the character of Inspector Slack in ''Miss Marple''. He stars in the '' Game of Thrones'' prequel series ''House of the Dragon'' as Grand Maester Mellos. ...

; the second is Constable (later Sergeant) Lake, played by Ian Brimble. Slack and Lake appear in five episodes: " The Body in the Library", " The Murder at the Vicarage", "

4.50 From Paddington ''4.50 from Paddington'' is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957 by Collins Crime Club. This work was published in the United States at the same time as ''What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw!'', by Dodd, Mead. Th ...

", " They Do It with Mirrors" and "

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side ''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'', a novel by Agatha Christie, was published in the UK in 1962 and a year later in the US under the title ''The Mirror Crack'd''. The story features amateur detective Miss Marple solving a mystery in St. ...

". 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. *

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

/ Superintendent Slack (

) – Slack is the senior officer in charge of many cases. He has been described as a man who has never striven more to contradict his name. Miss Marple describes him as having the same personality as that of a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

, most unappealing, but efficient. When Slack first met Miss Marple, her strange personality and her quirky methods caused him to think 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 ends up doing the same). Usually, Slack passes over Miss Marple's beliefs and dislikes her interfering, although he later comes to value her advice. In his final appearance, it is revealed that Slack has been promoted to Superintendent and appears to have grown wiser, even telling an officer to consult Miss Marple. In "They Do It with Mirrors" it is revealed that Slack has a secret passion for magic tricks, and secretly practises. Slack is featured in the novels '' The Murder at the Vicarage'' and '' The Body in the Library''. *

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

Lake (Ian Brimble) – Lake is Slack's colleague and often works with him. He is also very bemused by Miss Marple, her quirky ways, 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 also reveals he has a young son called Adam. When Slack is promoted, Lake gets more roles in the art of criminal investigation but stays a Sergeant. Lake is featured in the novel '' They Do It with Mirrors''.

Recurring characters

There are other recurring characters in ''Miss Marple'': * John Castle appears as Inspector Dermot Eric Craddock in " A Murder Is Announced" and "

". Craddock was unknown to Miss Marple in the former story, but had become her nephew by the latter. * Gwen Watford appears as Mrs Dolly Bantry in " The Body in the Library" and "

". *

Barbara Hicks Barbara Hicks (12 August 1924 – 6 September 2013) was an English film actress. She appeared in Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult film '' Brazil'' and Merchant Ivory Productions's 1992 Bafta award-winning ''Howards End''. Biography Hicks was born in ...

and Christopher Good both appear as Miss Amanda Hartnell and Christopher Hawes in " The Murder at the Vicarage" and "

" respectively. * Rhoda Lewis is village shopkeeper and postmistress Mrs Brogan in "

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''. As with several of his other novels, Cronin drew on his own experiences as a ...

", "

4.50 from Paddington ''4.50 from Paddington'' is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957 by Collins Crime Club. This work was published in the United States at the same time as ''What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw!'', by Dodd, Mead. Th ...

" and "

". * Miss Marple’s nephew Raymond West appears in " A Caribbean Mystery" and "

" (played by Trevor Bowen), and in "

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 editio ...

" (played by

David McAlister David McAlister (2 April 1951 – 25 June 2015) was an English actor on television, in musicals, on stage and in film, known for his voice-over work. Personal life McAlister was born on 2 April 1951 in Worthing, Sussex and died on 25 June 2015 ...

). * Jason Rafiel appears in "

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The ...

" played by

Frank Gatliff Frank Ernest Gatliff (31 December 1927 – 23 June 1990) was an Australian actor based in Great Britain. He appeared in several films (notably as Bluejay in ''The Ipcress File'') but mostly on TV, in such series as ''Gideon's Way'', ''The Baron'', ...

and " A Caribbean Mystery" played by

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

(although the two episode are set in the reverse order to which they aired).

Episodes

Production

BBC producer Guy Slater cast Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. The series was filmed beginning in 1983 in areas including

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

and

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

. The town of Nether Wallop in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, 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 closing credits refer to the films being "''A BBC-tv production in association with The

Arts and Entertainment Network A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational enter ...

, USA and The

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one 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 second series featured another four books, adapted as eight episodes, but the first two were combined into a 100-minute feature length episode shown on Christmas Day 1986, followed by the remaining six episodes at 50 minutes in length each in January and February 1987. The remaining four stories were broadcast as stand alone, 120 minute feature length episodes in the Christmas periods of 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992. Eventually, with multiple repeats, all twelve stories were broadcast as both stand alone, feature 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 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 Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in '' 1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Wh ...

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 made to look like they were hiding secrets, whilst the vicar appeared to be hiding in the shadows. For the first four adaptations, these paintings were black and white, but from "The Murder at the Vicarage" onwards, new colour drawings replaced them. The series closing credits featured a contemplative portrait of Hickson as Miss Marple in her trademark straw hat. Adaptations of the books '' A Caribbean Mystery'' (1964) and ''

'' (1971) 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, 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. Because the two episodes were filmed out of order, viewers of "Nemesis" are clueless as to what part Jason Rafiel played in Miss Marple's life until they watch "A Caribbean Mystery". Rafiel was portrayed by

in "Nemesis", and by

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 appearance in "

", 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 money being raised for the church fund. This takes place after the events of " The Body in the Library", which Miss Marple relates briefly when describing how she first came across Inspector Slack. "

" is set in 1955 or 1956 as it is said to be seven 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 set prior to this. "

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 1965Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Ed ...

" is set relatively shortly after the launch of ITV (in September 1955), so probably in 1956 (though it also shows the London Hilton completed, which suggests the early 1960s), and "

" is set in 1957, during the launch of

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...

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 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

was a fan of the series and Hickson's performance. Hickson was twice nominated for the

British Academy Television Award for Best Actress This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress. The British Academy Television Awards began in 1955. The Best Actress award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until ...

during the series' run. Firstly in 1987 for ''Murder at the Vicarage'' and then again in 1988 for ''Nemesis''.

Other countries

All 12 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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

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 North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

(Region 1), episodes were first released in 2001. In summer 2009, the Sunday edition of the Greek newspaper ''

Kathimerini ''Kathimerini'' (Greek: Η Καθημερινή, pronounced kaθimeriˈni meaning ''The Daily'') is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Athens. Its first edition was printed on September 15, 1919. and it is considered ...

'' was offering to its readers DVDs (one per week) of the series. In January 2010, the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' 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", "

", "

", " 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 Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

. The series was released in three volumes. ''Miss Marple: Volume One'', released on 28 October 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 on 31 March 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 on 9 June 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".

References

External links

''Miss Marple'' at the British Film Institute Screen Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miss Marple (Tv Series) 1984 British television series debuts 1992 British television series endings BBC television dramas Miss Marple English-language television shows 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series Period television series Television shows based on works by Agatha Christie British crime drama television series BBC mystery television shows Television series set in the 1940s Television series set in the 1950s British detective television series Television series by BBC Studios