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I absolutely love the Joan Hickson Miss Marple mysteries. They are clever and well made, and Joan Hickson is for me the definitive Miss Marple. A Pocket Full of Rye is a wonderful adaptation, and my second favourite of the Miss Marple adaptations after A Murder is Announced. The photography, scenery and costumes are truly lovely, and the music is superb. The script is often thought-provoking and the story is faithful, well paced and clever. My only minor criticism is that they could have developed Gladys a little more, but this is very minor. The acting across the board is of high calibre, Joan Hickson coming of best being absolutely terrific as Miss Marple. Overall, wonderful and one of my favourites. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue dies in agony, poisoned with taxin. A man disliked by even his nearest and dearest, his death described as a stain gone. Miss Marple steps in when the Fortescue's made Gladys is cruelly killed, Gladys having been in Miss Marple's employ once.

Agatha Christie wrote her characters big, and those characters create brilliantly into this adaptation, Gladys, The Crumps, Rex. Everyone performs but I'll highlight those I believe to be the standouts, firstly Fabia Drake, who makes Aunt Effy one of the standout characters, she is superb, the scene where she first encounters Miss Marple is exceptional, she had steel. Peter Davison, a year after he finished Doctor Who, managed better then anyone not to become typecast, here he gets to show the nice guy side we've all seen, but also let rip at the end, a brilliant actor. I also enjoy Selina Caddell's Miss Dove, she is so on point to the character in the book, so straight laced and serious, it's a measured performance.

It goes without saying that Hickson performs another masterclass, absent for pretty much the first half, when she does appear she adds massively to it, that's not to say the start flagged without her, far from it.

The attention to detail from beginning to end is incredible, lavishly produced, it's all the small touches that make it feel so big, the Gardner at the start, the arrival of Pat and Lance off be aeroplane, this level of detail just isn't there so much these days, presumably cost.

There is enough intrigue here for first time mystery fans, and there's more then enough quality for those of us that know this story inside out. Utterly brilliant 10/10

JOAN HICKSON was an excellent Jane Marple and this is definitely one of the better TV works of Agatha Christie's A POCKET FULL OF RYE. The clever plotting uses a nursery rhyme (one of Christie's favorite ways of linking a complex set of clues to a murder), and gives a nice assortment of suspicious characters a chance to make the perfect sort of red herrings.

The mystery gets underway as soon as Rex Fortescue is killed. He's a rich, nasty old man who has a fortune tied to some nasty business in his past, and enough enemies to make everyone a likely suspect. Crisply acted and played in elegant British fashion by an assortment of reliable British supporting players, it keeps you interested in solving the crime along with the baffled inspector, who is no match for Miss Marple.

Hickson is perfectly cast as the wise old lady and makes the character seem as though Christie had her in mind for the role.

I recall a British TV series some years back entitled "J'Accuse" the purpose of which was to demolish certain popular sacred cows. They were programmes designed to delight of infuriate according to the predilections of the viewer. From my point of view I was in agreement with the treatment given to "Citizen Kane" but when it came to Laurence Olivier and Agatha Christie, definitely "Non!". As a youngster I devoured practically everything Dame Agatha produced and she remains to this day for my money the absolute mistress of the surprise "Who dun it" particularly when many of the more recent exponents of the genre are running to works of near Dickensian length. Christie needed little more than 200 pages for each of her superb plots, ideal when all you are looking for is a half-day divertissement rather than a complex literary work. For many years her novels seemed to defy good cinematic adaptation. The Rene Clair version of "Ten Little Niggers" worked reasonably well as it had a good cast, bags of atmosphere and stayed fairly true to the book. But then it was remade a couple of times in more exotic locations with disastrous results, the essential ingredient of claustrophobia missing. That was the trouble, Agatha was quintessentially English and cosy with little pretensions to humour. Attempt to make her funny and you have those dire Margaret Rutherford - Miss Marple films that have dated to the extent of becoming excruciatingly embarrassing. Several actors have tackled Poirot with varying results but perhaps it is the very unreality and quirkiness of the character that make the part so difficult to play. Certainly David Suchet is more watchable than Ustinov, Finney and Molina. Miss Marple is a different matter. It just needed to find that someone who could convey the frailty of an elderly spinster with a razor sharp mind that could detect evil in the most unlikely. No wonder that the hammy humour of the well-built Rutherford was so wide of the mark. Angela Lansbury got much closer in the star-studded "The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side", so much so that it seemed that a passable Marple had been discovered. But the film was a one-off and it was only in retrospect after the casting of Joan Hickson in the TV series of the 'eighties and early 'nineties that one realised that Lansbury was not quite right for the part. Hickson however was another matter, casting so inspired that it seemed that she had been waiting all her life of mainly bit-parts as crotchety landladies and barmaids for a role she was just born to play. (See my comments on the 1999 TV adaptation of "David Copperfield" where much the same thing happened for several British stars.) It is the absolute rightness of Hickson in the Marple role that makes this series of twelve easily the best visualisations of Christie's work, that and their faithful recreations of their author's time and place. "A Pocket Full of Rye" is very typical being somewhere between what was easily the best - the brilliantly plotted "A Murder is Announced" with some wonderful supporting roles - and the weakest - "They do it with Mirrors" - where the plot is much less interesting than usual. It enjoys that favourite Christie device of a series of deaths linked with the events of a nursery rhyme, the motivation of money which features in well over half her stories and a plot in which what happens in the present has its roots deeply embedded in the past. It is this latter feature that links her work to that of the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In both practically everything of significance has happened years before the curtain rises. The past therefore has to be explored in order to explain the present. No wonder that it needed a Miss Marple with the attributes of one who seems to be quietly ferreting away in the background to discover past secrets to make the character absolutely credible. It cannot be done through caricature as Joan Hickson so admirably realised.

At first, the first murder in "A Pocketful of Rye" seems pretty straight forward. A rich man dies at work and it seems someone gave him poison 2-3* hours earlier. So, you assume someone in his will is responsible. But his unfaithful wife isn't...as she is poisoned next. But when a maid is killed...well that seems to make no sense. Then Miss Marple realizes the way they died were related to the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Six Pence". Who's possibly next and who is behind all this? And, why choose that or any nursery rhyme?

This is a most entertaining series...one that is well worth seeing. Well written and quite enjoyable.

*In most shows, a poisoned person dies within seconds of receiving the poison. I read up on this...and that never happens...even with cyanide. So, having the first person die hours after receiving the poison is actually very realistic as many poisons take hours to kill.

A Pocketful of Rye was the first Agatha Christie book I ever read. It was the only one available in the library and I was eager to read any Christie novel I could find. The fact it based the murders on an old nursery rhyme added interest for me as a teenager, and sure enough it does what it says on the tin. Someone does die in his "counting house", his wife dies in the parlour eating bread and honey, while yet another domestic meets a unfortunate end hanging out the washing (had she not seen the previous Marple mystery A Murder is Announced?). It also has to be said that scene stuck as a vague memory as a child when it was first broadcast in 1985. I remembered little else, and I'm surprised it didn't put me of clothes lines for good as a kid.

Watching it now however gives me the feeling of a novel that hasn't aged well. It's not entirely the adaptation's fault, but the premise of basing a murder mystery on a nursery rhyme. It can be done - such as Van Der Valk's Dr Hoffman's Children (1991) - but by trying to fit exactly how the characters die via the nursery rhyme makes it feel just a little bit silly. It's a shame, as I know I relished the book when I first read it. It certainly affects this adaptation when watching it, but there are other flaws to it. The main one is that most of the main suspects are just a little bland. It's hard to really get worked up when a couple of them start popping off, let alone trying to figure out who out of the dull menagerie of characters could of worked themselves up enough to start bumping off the family. I know Percy Fortescue is meant to be bland, but Clive Merrison is just too monotone, and it's not helped with other cast members either going through the motions (Martyn Stanbridge) or given little to do (Stacy Dorning). One of the few to have genuine charisma is Timothy West, but his character dies within the first 5 minutes, while Peter Davison is cheery enough as Lance, but lacks the genuine suaveness that I remember of Lance in the book. Then there is Annette Badland as timid maid Gladys Martin, who is effective in the role but because of her character has very little scope for developing the character beyond "nervous wreck." The fact that Miss Marple apparently trained her to be a domestic makes me wonder just how bad her other trainees turned out to be!

It's left to the supporting cast to give the more memorable performances, and one of the more interesting ones is Selina Cadell as housekeeper Mary Dove. Her character is warm with an almost bemused attitude to the family, and is as sharply observant as she is intelligent. It's lovely acting by Cadell, who makes her characters more real than some of the other cast members. There are also more showy performances by Merelina Kendall as the terrifying cook Mrs Crump, and Fabia Drake as the deeply religious Miss Henderson, who has nothing but mere contempt for her immoral family, and may have a point as well. Fabia was often wonderfully charismatic and is equally treasurable here. Sadly there are few scenes between her and Joan Hickson.

Indeed, the third flaw is that Hickson has little to do. She slowly senses that something is very wrong at Fortescue House by the newspaper reports and attempted phone calls by Gladys. But when she turns up at the house after finally realizing the similarities between the first two murders and the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" to warn the Inspector there (a youngish Tom Wilkinson), he refuses to see her. It is only when the murders have been committed that she is finally allowed in, and then there is very little time for sifting through the clues. Wilkinson is okay in his role, but lends nothing really memorable to the part. And it doesn't help itself by trying to add another element of the nursery rhyme to the mystery when Miss Marple discovers that someone actually left a pie filled with dead blackbirds for Rex Fortescue a few months before. It's not so much the TV makers fault, but the novel itself, but it only adds to the incredulity of the actual story, which tries to have it's cake and eat it

Please don't think this is a bad mystery, by any means. It serves as an intriguing mystery, and is one of Agatha Christie's more well known novels. But this TV version only shows up the flaws of it's premise, and it really needed more personality in some of the performances to lift this story above the norm. As it is, it is a decent mystery, but not a great mystery.

Outside of the two Miss Marple collection sets at this time are three videos that are more of a made for television series. This is one "A Pocketful of Rye."

Rex Fortescue (Timothy West) is out of character as he arrives at his office. You immediately know something is wrong because this is England and Rex ordered his tea much too early. Yep, mean old nasty Rex is found dead. Thorough detectives have determined that there was some mysterious grain in his pocket. If you remember the nursery rhyme you can follow the story.

So how does Jane Marple (Joan Hickson) become involved? She trained the maid and after hearing something had gone awry at the maid's new employer, is afraid for her safety. Naturally, at several places in the mystery, Miss Marple points out the "obvious" to Det. Sergeant Hay (Jon Glover) who realizes and corrects the error of not listening to her. There is only one repugnant scene where you have to watch Rex eat. Other than that, it is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery.

Wealthy businessman Rex Fortesque is universally loathed. Thus, when he is murdered - poisoned - there's plenty of suspects. However, who had the means to poison him? Miss Marple is following the case in the newspapers and starts to see a link to a nursery rhyme, suggesting that more murders will follow.

Another intriguing Miss Marple mystery. The means and motive are quite clever and not at all obvious. Some very interesting characters too, well played - both Miss Marple staples.

The conclusion does feel a bit rushed and left-field though and the plot not entirely watertight towards the end. These would be the only negatives.

Now available on a BBC DVD, this episode of Miss Marple is unfortunately plunged in complete darkness from beginning to end, making it at times quite difficult to see who is actually on screen. Maybe this is intended to add to the atmosphere of the house in which the action takes place, and indeed houses in mourning would have had their curtains drawn at the time, but need all the lights have been off as well?

Though a fairly faithful adaptation of the book, one of Agatha Christie's later thrillers, there is not a great deal of detection or thought process in the play and when presented with the killer, my reaction was simply 'oh'.

When you can see them, some nice early '50's details.

I liked this "Pocket Full of Rye" with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. I have seen the one with Geraldine McEwen which I think is a great Miss Marple but the movies are put together different and I liked this one better.

One actor who I like is Peter Davison, at first I did not recognize him. Peter plays Lance son of the father that is rich and is murdered. This is a 1985 movie and Peter Davison plays in "The Last Detective" a series on British TV in which he is a detective and also plays in a series called "Campion".

As in most Agatha Christies stories there are a lot of knots to tie to find out who the killer or killer are. This is one of those movies.

I enjoyed it.

Rex Fortescue, a wealthy businessman, collapses and dies in his office. He was poisoned. In his pocket are rye seeds.

It turns out Rex wasn't very well liked. He has a very young, pretty wife who fools around with a tennis pro. She, too, is found dead.

Gladys, a clumsy maid in the household, was actually trained by Miss Marple. Very distressed about the murders, she asks Marple for help. But it's too late - Gladys herself is found murdered.

The murders follow the nursery rhyme - Sing a Song of Sixpence: The queen was in the parlor, the maid was in the garden - who played pranks on Rex using blackbirds, and who is committing the murders?

Intriguing story with karma taking over at the end as Miss Marple experiences this rather unpleasant family. The actress Fabia Drake has some great, biting lines.

I very much like the atmosphere and characterizations found in these stories. I admit I always pictured Miss Marple a little softer, a more sweet old lady whose knowledge is a surprise, but I do like Joan Hickson. She comes off as very shrewd.

The good cast includes a very young Annette Badland, Peter Davison, and the aforementioned Drake.

Mr. Fortescue dies in his office poisoned by taxine (extracted from yew trees) and his entire family is suspect: his too young wife, her young handsome lover, his stuffy son, his son's self-absorbed wife, his fanatically religious sister-in-law, even the butter-won't-melt-in-her-mouth housekeeper. The wild adventurous black sheep son of the family shows up with a new wife in the middle of these tensions just as two more murders are committed. One of these deaths becomes very personal for Jane Marple who gets involved.

Probably, arguably, the best of the Marple episodes (I would put it side by side with "4:50 from Paddington") as Christie's masterfully reveals and at the same time obscures the identity of the murderer. I think all will find the solution to the puzzle intriguing while enjoying the excellent performances: look for a young Tom Wilkinson as well as Selina Cadell. Annette Badland (as of this writing starring in Midsomer Murders) is also very good as the dim-witted maid who knows too much and whose fate brings Jane Marple (her former employer) into the fray.

And best of all the nursery rhyme (from which the title comes), rather than a conceit, is a vital part of the mystery and its solution.

Probably the least interesting of the BBC TV adaptions; and one of the few unavailable on DVD for some reason. The only really entertaining parts come from the formidable elderly actress Fabia Drake, who plays "Miss Henderson". She wanders around making stern condemning comments; the best comes when the ditzy young blonde wife makes a comment about going to the Clubhouse (located on a nearby golf-course as I recall). Miss Henderson gives a loud sniff, and mutters "Clubhouse! .... WHOREhouse!" which always leaves me in stitches. Otherwise its not that memorable; I can't recall if the book itself was very interesting to begin with. Its fun to see Tom Wilkinson in a younger role.