Miss Marple episodes

Which episode of Miss Marple did you rank highest?

I'm just re-watching A Caribbean Mystery with Joan Hickson on a gloomy afternoon. The actress effectively quit the series after making this one as she found it an ordeal. Does anyone know what happened?

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by Anonymousreply 39June 10, 2018 9:45 PM

Looking back Miss Marple was one mean old bitch. There was no real warmth, just "Oh, don't mind me! I'm just an old, brittle lady!" snooping around and then having the perverse pleasure to humiliate the suspects on her way of the great reveal who the murderer is. Yeah, it makes for great drama, but doesn't make me like her as a character.

by Anonymousreply 1April 27, 2018 1:47 PM

She was more acidic in the first novel "The Murder at the Vicarage". Certainly more gossipy. She was just bored with her life and sought interest in others. She wouldn't stand for any wickedness!

by Anonymousreply 2April 27, 2018 1:50 PM

Murder Ahoy! With Margaret Rutherford without doubt!

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by Anonymousreply 3April 27, 2018 1:52 PM

No please, serious adaptations only. Even though Rutherford was an Oscar winner!

by Anonymousreply 4April 27, 2018 1:59 PM

Joan Hickson was really, really old at the time. She has been in major movies since the mid1940s.

Agatha Christie was critical of Margaret Rutherford' Marple films for diverging from her original plots and playing dramatic scenes for laughs.

by Anonymousreply 5April 27, 2018 2:02 PM

A Murder is Announced (Joan Hickson version) is my all time favorite MM story.

by Anonymousreply 6April 27, 2018 2:10 PM

It has great attention to detail R6. I also liked their Body in the Library

by Anonymousreply 7April 27, 2018 2:12 PM

Brings a whole new meaning to pearl-clutching.

by Anonymousreply 8April 27, 2018 2:15 PM

[quote ] Agatha Christie was critical of Margaret Rutherford' Marple films for diverging from her original plots and playing dramatic scenes for laughs.

I wonder of what she would have said of McEwan's Marple adaptions.....I mean, in terms of diverging from the original plots, a couple of them have been totally rewritten that they were barely recognizable.

by Anonymousreply 9April 27, 2018 2:16 PM

Miss Marple a mean old bitch? You sound like the butcher's assistant. He was most unsuitable.

by Anonymousreply 10April 27, 2018 2:19 PM

The absolute worst of those re-written episodes was Sleeping Murder. It added so much that was unnecessary and totally ruined the atmosphere of the book.

by Anonymousreply 11April 27, 2018 2:20 PM

[quote]The actress effectively quit the series after making this one as she found it an ordeal. Does anyone know what happened?

The 12 that Joan Hickson starred in covered all the Miss Marple novels, I think. There would have been nothing left but a few short stories, which probably wouldn't have worked well as TV episodes, anyway.

Hickson was outstanding in that role - the essence of Miss Marple as Christie wrote her. Like R6, I've found the Hickson version of "A Murder is Announced" to be my favorite. I can never get enough of it.

by Anonymousreply 12April 27, 2018 4:04 PM

She hadn't done all 12 in 1989 but she had a bad experience making the Caribbean one and needed to be convinced to return for the others..

by Anonymousreply 13April 27, 2018 4:15 PM

I was just going to post what R6 did.

by Anonymousreply 14April 27, 2018 5:07 PM

The Joan Hickson version of A Murder Is Announced is far superior to not only every other Marple episode but even all the other Hickson Marple episodes. None of the others compare. Plus, it has the dishy John Castle police detective.

by Anonymousreply 15April 27, 2018 5:11 PM

Joan Hickson was very good

by Anonymousreply 16April 27, 2018 6:59 PM

It's a shame that there have been many good Poirot adaptations, and so few really good Marple adaptations. Hickson and McEwan were both good in their way, but too often were bogged down with mediocre scripts and questionable directing.

by Anonymousreply 17April 28, 2018 12:39 AM

I can’t stand a Joan Hickson, she’s a bloody bore as Marple. McEwen and McKenzie were both much better. The McEwen “Murder is Announced,” with Zoe Wanamaker as Lotta, is superb.

by Anonymousreply 18April 28, 2018 12:44 AM

Miss Marple was never written as an exciting character!

by Anonymousreply 19April 28, 2018 12:53 AM

Detest McEwen's Miss Marple.

She played Miss Marple as PERKY. Miss Marple is not perky. She's really rather like a spider on the wall, observing everything until she strikes. But she is certainly not perky.

McKenzie isn't bad (although too utilitarian in dress) , but no one can top Hickson.

The newer ones with McEwen and McKenzie contain weird camera work, strange plot additions / subtractions and distract from the basic puzzle.

Hickson is the best.

by Anonymousreply 20April 28, 2018 12:54 AM

Joan Hickson played Miss Marple exactly as she is portrayed in the books. None of the other actresses have been able to do this.

Same with David Suchet. He IS Poirot.

Zoë Wanamaker, on the other hand, is nothing like Ariadne Oliver. Nothing. I know when I watch her that she's [italic]supposed[/italic] to be Ariadne, but it just doesn't work on any sort of level whatsoever. Superbly miscast.

by Anonymousreply 21April 28, 2018 12:54 AM

Yeah I love Geraldine McEwan as Emmeline Lucas but she twinkles as Miss Marple more than Agatha Christie's characterization calls for, which is none. Maybe if Lucia weren't my introduction to McEwan and if I hadn't read so many Marple novels I'd be more accepting of her portrayal. I haven't yet seen a Julia McKenzie nor a Margaret Rutherford Marple so I can't comment on those.

by Anonymousreply 22April 28, 2018 1:16 AM

[quote]Joan Hickson played Miss Marple exactly as she is portrayed in the books.

What works in a book doesn’t necessarily work on screen. Re Hickson being a spider in the wall who strikes, sorry, but Hickson NEVER strikes. She’s practically somnambulant all the way through, including the explantation of the solution. Even Angela Lansbury, who was not a particularly good Marple, was better than Hickson.

Her versions are certainly always going to be on DVD to bore future generations, but thank goodness there are alternate versions available for those of us who aren’t taken with Miss Hickson. How I wish I could have seen Gracie Fields in her take on the character.

by Anonymousreply 23April 28, 2018 2:03 AM

You could not have Fields and NOT have her sing a ditty......

by Anonymousreply 24April 28, 2018 2:29 AM

Great British TV. I'm waiting for Miss Marple on Britbox.com.

Check it out. In both the USA and Canada, Britbox.com is going to be the major home of all British TV. The British soaps( Coronation Street, EasrEnders, Emmerdale) put American soaps to shame.

Miss Marple, as played by Joan Hickson, is the best portrayal as far as I'm concerned. What I love about British mysteries is that they unfold in a manner that really keeps the audience in suspense.

Sorry, I've gotta go. Johnny Carter, , Vincent Hubbard, and Joe Tate are all begging me to let them fuck me. I must oblige those beautiful men.

Seriously, though, check out Britbox online.

by Anonymousreply 25April 28, 2018 2:54 AM

The only true Miss Marple

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by Anonymousreply 26April 28, 2018 3:53 AM

If only we could somehow split the difference between McEwan and Hickson. One is too cute, the other uncharismatic. I can't really blame the actresses, their performances seem to be exactly what the creators wanted; the Hickson episodes are a bit slow and drab, and the McEwan ones are florid and unbound by fidelity to the books. But I really do enjoy both of them, even though neither totally nailed the character. And Julia McKenzie...is...well...better than Margaret Rutherford.

OP started by asking our favorite episodes. I recently watched most of the newer series and I most enjoyed: The Body in the Library, The Moving Finger, and A Murder is Announced. Sleeping Murder was awful, and At Bertram's Hotel wasn't much better. I gave up on the McKenzie eps, they just deviate too much from the books for me.

Oh, and Towards Zero has a gratuitous shot of Greg Wise in wet underwear.

by Anonymousreply 27April 29, 2018 7:33 PM

OMG I LOVE JOAN HICKSON SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

by Anonymousreply 28April 29, 2018 7:39 PM

Of the McEwan/McKenzie episodes, The Blue Geranium was probably the best. I always thought that when the McEwan episodes worked, it was due to the guest stars, like Zoe Wannamaker in A Murder is Announced and Amanda Holden in 4.50 from Paddington.

I liked McKenzie better, and I figured out that at least part of the reason is that she's so good at doing the big info dumps where Miss Marple explains the plot.

by Anonymousreply 29April 29, 2018 7:48 PM

I am in the tiny minority who enjoyed Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d.

by Anonymousreply 30April 29, 2018 8:10 PM

The tiny minority of you, and only you hon'. Most Agatha Christie's lovers think she should be put against a wall and shot for that performance, along with the casting director.

by Anonymousreply 31April 29, 2018 8:42 PM

The best thing about that one, R30, is seeing Rock Hudson walking along side Edward Fox.

Rock is tall, very tall, really tall.

And Fox is not. In fact, he's downright tiny compared to Rock.

The first time I saw their first scene together in Rock's home office, I thought Rock 's desk was on a platform because with Rock standing next to the desk, he dwarfed Fox.

Angela is terrible.

by Anonymousreply 32April 30, 2018 1:01 AM

Geraldine McEwan may have been a perfectly nice person off stage (and may have been a friend to the late Johhny G).

But I have to admit I was always freaked out by her Greer-Garson-like flaring nostrils.

by Anonymousreply 33April 30, 2018 2:26 AM

The Lansbury version was worth for this scene alone.

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by Anonymousreply 34April 30, 2018 2:39 AM

^ Liz is wearing an old lady hat like the Queen Mother used to wear.

by Anonymousreply 36April 30, 2018 2:42 AM

They had cast Natalie in the part. Bessie took over

by Anonymousreply 37April 30, 2018 10:57 AM

The should have done all 13 of the original problems as proper episodes instead of putting Jane in stories she didn't belong. I always thought they should have done the 12 labours of Hercule Poirot as a 12-episode series in the 90s when they were still filming the short stories. I didn't like that they were all grouped together in one confusing episode

by Anonymousreply 38June 10, 2018 9:27 PM

Loved The Blue Geranium adaption recently done for ITV

by Anonymousreply 39June 10, 2018 9:45 PM

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