Miss Marple (TV series)

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This article is about the TV series starring Joan Hickson. For other uses, see Marple.

Miss Marple
Joan Hickson as Miss Marple
Genre	Drama
Starring	Joan Hickson David Horovitch Ian Brimble Various Others
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	12
Production
Running time	120 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	26 December 1984 – 27 December 1992

Miss Marple was a long-running and popular British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It starred Joan Hickson in the title role and aired from 1984 to 1992. All twelve original Christie novels were dramatised. The screenplays were written by T.R. Bowen, Julia Jones, Alan Plater, Kenneth Taylor and Jill Hyem, and it was produced by George Gallaccio.

Contents 1 Background 2 Episodes 3 Other countries 4 DVD releases 5 External links

[edit] Background

Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple, was an octogenarian herself and had some years before appeared in Murder, She Said, where Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple. The adaptations are mainly true to the original novels.

There were two other semi-regular characters in Miss Marple. The first was Detective Inspector Slack, who 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. He was played by David Horovitch. The other semi-regular was Detective Constable (later Detective Sergeant) Lake, played by Ian Brimble. He appeared in 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.

[edit] Episodes

Title	Airdate	Guest Cast	IMDb link
The Body in the Library	26 December 1984	Gwen Watford, Moray Watson, Trudie Styler, Jess Conrad, Ciaran Madden, Keith Drinkel, Debbie Arnold, Frederick Jaeger, Valentine Dyall	[1]
The Moving Finger	21 February 1985	Michael Culver, Elizabeth Counsell, Richard Pearson, Sabina Franklyn, Andrew Bicknell, Hilary Mason, Dilys Hamlett, Gerald Sim	[2]
A Murder is Announced	28 February 1985	Ursula Howells, Renée Asherson, Joan Sims, John Castle, Sylvia Syms, Ralph Michael, Paola Dionisotti, Samantha Bond, Simon Shepherd, Nicola King, Matthew Solon, Mary Kerridge, Vivienne Moore, David Collings, Elaine Ives-Cameron, Joyce Carey, Kevin Whately, Liz Crowther	[3]
A Pocket Full of Rye	7 March 1985	Peter Davison, Timothy West, Stacy Dorning, Annette Badland, Fabia Drake, Clive Merrison, Rachel Bell, Selina Cadell, Tom Wilkinson, Frances Low, Susan Gilmore	[4]
The Murder at the Vicarage	25 December 1986	Paul Eddington, Cheryl Campbell, Robert Lang, Polly Adams, James Hazeldine, Jack Galloway, Rosalie Crutchley, Norma West	[5]
Sleeping Murder	11 January 1987	Geraldine Alexander, John Moulder-Brown, Jean Anderson, Terrence Hardiman, Frederick Treves, John Bennett, Geraldine Newman, Jack Watson, Jean Heywood, Amanda Boxer	[6]
At Bertram's Hotel	25 January 1987	Caroline Blakiston, Joan Greenwood, George Baker, James Cossins, Helena Mitchell	[7]
Nemesis	8 February 1987	Margaret Tyzack, John Horsley, Anna Cropper, Valerie Lush, Helen Cherry, Peter Tilbury, Liz Fraser, Bruce Payne, Joanna Hole, Jane Booker, Alison Skilbeck, Frank Gatliff	[8]
4.50 From Paddington	25 December 1987	Maurice Denham, Joanna David, Jill Meager, Andrew Burt, Jean Boht	[9]
A Caribbean Mystery	25 December 1989	Donald Pleasance, Sophie Ward, Adrian Lukis, T.P. McKenna, Frank Middlemass, Sue Lloyd, Robert Swan, Michael Feast, Sheila Ruskin, Barbara Barnes, Valerie Buchanan	[10]
They Do It with Mirrors	29 December 1991	Jean Simmons, Joss Ackland, Faith Brook, Holly Aird	[11]
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side	27 December 1992	Claire Bloom, Barry Newman, Gwen Watford, John Castle, Elizabeth Garvie, Judy Cornwell, Glynis Barber, Christopher Hancock	[12]

[edit] Other countries

All twelve episodes were shown in the United States on the PBS Mystery! series. Miss Marple was also shown in Germany.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

• Miss Marple at the British Film Institute Screen Online
• Miss Marple at TV.com

Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Death on the Nile • Dumb Witness • Appointment with Death • And Then There Were None • Murder is Easy • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Sad Cypress • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Sparkling Cyanide • Death Comes as the End • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • A Pocket Full of Rye • After the Funeral • Hickory Dickory Dock • Destination Unknown • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Hound of Death • The Thirteen Problems • Parker Pyne Investigates • The Listerdale Mystery • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • Poirot's Early Cases • The Harlequin Tea Set
Plays: Akhnaton • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three