Miss Marple (BBC TV Series 1984)

Miss Marple, titled Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the series, is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie, starring Joan Hickson in the title role. It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 December 1992 on BBC One. All twelve original Miss Marple novels by Christie 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. The series was filmed beginning in 1983 in areas including Norfolk, Devon, Oxfordshire and Barbados. The town of Nether Wallop in Hampshire doubled as Miss Marple's home village of St. Mary Mead. The evocative theme tune for the TV series was composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The series opening titles featured paintings by renowned illustrator Paul Birkbeck. 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 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. 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." The 1984 television film The Body in the Library was part of the BBC series of Miss Marple, with Joan Hickson making the first of her appearances in the role of Jane Marple. The adaptation was transmitted in three parts between 26–28 December 1984, and only had a few changes made to it from the novel. Episode 1: Miss Marple assists her neighbours, the Bantrys, when a young girl is found dead in their library. The girl is traced to a seaside resort and the family of a wealthy old man. Cast: Joan Hickson, Gwen Watford, Moray Watson, Trudie Styler, Jess Conrad, Ciaran Madden, Keith Drinkel, Debbie Arnold, Frederick Jaeger, Valentine Dyall, Raymond Francis, David Horovitch, Anthony Smee, Andrew Cruickshank, Hugh Walters, Arthur Bostrom, Stephen Churchett, John Moffatt. Episode 2: https://rumble.com/v5x8hen-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-the-body-in-the-library-part-2.html

Episode 3: https://rumble.com/v5x8ruw-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-the-body-in-the-library-part-3-e.html

Episode 4: https://rumble.com/v5x97rt-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-the-moving-finger-part-1-episode.html

The Moving Finger is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the USA by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The Moving Finger was first adapted for television by the BBC in two episodes with Joan Hickson in the series Miss Marple. It first aired on 21 and 22 February 1985. The adaptation is generally faithful to the novel, apart from making changes to names. Poison pen letters are being sent to many people in the village. It seems like a vulgar joke until one is found next to a suicide victim. The vicar's wife is a friend of Miss Marple and asks her to come and discover the culprit. Then another body is found, this time clearly the victim of murder. Episode 5: https://rumble.com/v5xas7w-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-the-moving-finger-part-2-episode.html

Episode 6: https://rumble.com/v5y4ulq-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-a-murder-is-announced-part-1-epi.html

A Murder Is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950. The novel was adapted by Alan Plater and filmed in 1984 with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and Ursula Howells as Miss Blacklock, directed by David Giles for the BBC series Miss Marple. 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 visiting her niece and helps solve the crime. Episode 7: https://rumble.com/v5y53rq-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-a-murder-is-announced-part-2-epi.html

Episode 8: https://rumble.com/v5y5as8-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-a-murder-is-announced-part-3-epi.html

Episode 9: https://rumble.com/v61lw9q-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-a-pocketful-of-rye-part-1-episod.html

A Pocket Full of Rye is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 9 November 1953. A Pocket Full of Rye was the fourth transmitted story in the BBC series of Miss Marple adaptations, which starred Joan Hickson as the elderly sleuth. Despite remaining faithful to the novel, apart from giving the title as "A Pocketful of Rye", the characters of Mrs MacKenzie, Gerald Wright and Elaine Fortescue did not make an appearance. In the end, the murderer dies in a car crash, while there is no such thing in the novel. Episode 9: Members of a wealthy business family start to be murdered one by one, along with one of their maids. Features of the killings remind Miss Marple of the old nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence, and she vows to find the villain behind the crimes. Episode 10: https://rumble.com/v61m3d5-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-a-pocketful-of-rye-part-2-episod.html

Episode 11: https://rumble.com/v61m7g8-agatha-christies-miss-marple-bbc-1984-1992-the-murder-at-the-vicarage-episo.html