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It is difficult to understand ITV's decision to remake the Miss Marple series, because in Joan Hickson we have the definitive interpretation of Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth. This particular story, Miss Marple's first fictional outing,dates from 1930, but the writer, T.R. Bowen has skilfully updated it to the 1950s. The script is witty and the cast is endowed with such acting stalwarts as Paul Eddington and Rosalie Crutchley. If the plot does not seem so original now it is because Christie's work was so often copied, and what must have seemed innovative in 1930 now appears to be hackneyed. All that said it is a story well told and worth a couple of hours of anyone's time.

Like Cabot Cove in Maine, USA, St.Mary Mead in Great Britain seems to be the murder capital of that country. You would think so with Miss Marple solving all those murders in and around there.

The murder victim in this case is a very nasty sort of man who has the title colonel from his army days. Robert Lang is a nasty version of that satirical figure from the United Kingdom between the wars Colonel Blimp. his guy expects his family to address him as Colonel and they do. He's pretty disliked by one and all.

Reverend Paul Eddington finds Lang slumped over his (Eddington's) desk at the vicarage. There's a long list of suspects.

What the two who planned it also planned to use Jane Marple as an alibi witness as they know she's outside tending her garden at the time planned. Both make sure Joan Hickson sees them. It's what throws off both Scotland Yard as Miss Marple.

Hickson comes pretty close to what I think Agatha Christie wanted in Jane Marple. Hickson was 80 when she did this Marple series for the BB, this particular episode. The villains think her advanced age makes dotty. But she fools them.

When Mrs. LaStrange first attends services, the vicar asks if she is just there "for the season", to which she said, "Well, to everything there is a season". The vicar replies, "Oh yes, "Proverbs'". No, that quote is from the Book of Ecclesiastes. One would think vicar would know that. BTW, this exchange does not appear in the novel.

Also, Mr. Dawes, the curate, is described to be a Jesuit. Why would what appears to be a Presbyterian church employ a Catholic priest? The curate is in the novel, but is never referred to as a Jesuit.

Hickson is by far the best Miss Marple onscreen. Her performances make these cozy mysteries really entertaining. The screen adaptations in the series are a bit uneven, but I enjoyed all of them. I especially liked this one, "A Murder is Announced", and "Sleeping Murder".

The production values for the series were quite good, the supporting actors always at least passable and sometimes far better than that, and they didn't take too many liberties with the stories. But Hickson's performances are uniformly excellent.

I have never thought that Margaret Rutherford was the perfect actress to portray Christie's famous lady detective.Angela Landsbury,who portrayed her in "the mirror cracked" was not an ideal choice either.Joan Hickson was Miss Marple as I see her ,discreet ,insightful,mischievous,terribly observant.She and the detective inspector make a funny pair,like Poirot and Japp. Unlike Poirot,Marple does not really investigate.She never questions the suspects (some of whom even use her as their alibi)but has a rare talent for observation.

"Murder at the vicarage" is a classic Christie novel:it happens in Jane Marple's village where a wicked colonel nobody likes -and thus has a reason to kill him of course- is murdered.It even involves the priests who are suspects too.Good job by all the cast.

French title (of the novel and the movie):"L'affaire Prothero" .

I really enjoyed this adaptation of "The Murder at the Vicarage". It is not as good as the delightful "A Murder is Announced" but it is very enjoyable, and not only one of the better Joan Hickson adaptations, but a considerable improvement over the Geraldine McEwan version(though that was one of the better adaptations of that series I feel). The pace is solid, the pace was a problem I had with "They Do it With Mirrors" which is my least favourite of the series, and the story is well structured. There is a nice witty script and lovely production values. The acting is very good in general, the only weaknesses for me being that James Hazeldine underplaying his role of Lawrence Redding and Polly Adams a little too stiff as Anne. Joan Hickson really makes this work though, with a simple charm and wisdom she is for me the best Miss Marple, and out of the supporting cast I loved Cheryl Campbell as Griselda, a delightful performance from a great actress. I liked the music too, really pleasant to listen to. Overall, I really enjoyed this adaptation. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Joan Hickson IS Miss Marple and hasn't ever been beaten. Oddly, in this one she doesn't actually change her "outfit". I believe she wears the same clothing throughout. Given it 7 as today its clear that BBC in the 80s were already going down the road where "blasphemy" wasn't picked up by "The Vicar" or indeed anyone else, which in the 50s it most certainly would have been. Some of the language is therefore typically BBC trying to "update" when it wasn't needed. Inspector Slack and his sidekick are well suited to these things of allowing the "intruder" (miss marple) to steal their thunder. Never tire of watching Joan Hickson in one of these and compared to most offerings today with "same sex" and increased foul language its rather pleasant to have something that for the most part is watchable even if the plot line is pretty thin

Colonel Protheroe is a resident of St. Mary Mead and a loathsome man-a magistrate who is forceful, opinionated, and tyrannical. It comes as no surprise when he's shot dead, with plenty of suspects, including his adulterous wife, her lover, his ex-wife, and a local petty criminal. Hailing from the same village, it comes as no surprise that local sleuth Jane Marple is first on the scene, much to the annoyance of Detective Inspector Slack.

This is the first Miss Marple story that Christie wrote, and it features a classic plot-one that could have been delivered in a too heavy-handed way, with the killer seeming obvious. However, the production team managed to divert attention and keep the viewer guessing.

Plaudits to the casting director, who did an exceptional job, primarily with the pairing of Paul Eddington and Cheryl Campbell. They are exquisite as the Vicar and his wife. Campbell manages to be sympathetic, funny, and utterly charming; I would say she's the standout.

The St. Mary Mead gossip team is wonderful, so believable, Rosalie Crutchley and Barbara Hicks are delightful, with the latter returning six years later for the final episode. I love the dynamic between Miss Marple and Inspector Slack, hi annoyance would last for many years.

The music is excellent throughout, helping to add mystery to the story without being too much. As always there was a huge focus on the attention to detail, the fashion, cars etc.

A cracking mystery.

9/10.

"Ah yes.... St. Mary Mead...Miss Marple." Inspector Slack (David Horovitch) faces his old nemesis in this version of Murder at the Vicarage.

A hated magistrate is murdered, and two people - his wife and her lover - confess to the crime.

This apparently was the first Christie book where Marple appears, and she is actually set up by the killer to be a witness. In this adaptation, she is involved in that way, but manages to be around beforehand.

Several people wanted the victim, Colonel Protheroe (Robert Lang) dead. The aforementioned wife and lover, an artist, for sure; his stepdaughter, a cleric who is suspected of embezzling church funds, the local doctor, an ex-con, and a woman who was heard arguing with him.

Inspector Slack, alas, doesn't have much choice. He needs Jane Marple on this one. And in the end, he's able to work with her to unmask a killer.

I found this episode on the slow side and not as interesting, though the denouement was clever.

As others have pointed out, Cheryl Campbell as the Reverend's wife was delightful. Jane Hickson is an excellent Miss Marple.

This episode wasn't a two-parter.

Joan Hickson was the embodiment of Miss Marple. Many actresses have played Miss Marple but none of them have surpassed Joan Hickson's portrayal. This is the first story of Miss marples debut not counting the short story that was previously published. I think if Agatha Christie was alive when this was out she would have been pleased. Excellent who done it. I miss those days.

There simply is NO better Miss Marple than Joan Hickson. This adaptation is engaging and quite funny in places, as Miss Marple slowly drives Inspector Slack bonkers.

As to the points raised by reviewer Rekcilorf, s/he is clearly not familiar with the Church of England. This church and this vicar are NOT presbyterian.

Firstly, Rev Clement actually asks Mrs. Lestrange if she's there 'for A season' (not THE season) - in the meaning of debutantes 'doing' the season - a collection of events and parties over a limited period - 'or for the summer'. He clearly sees these two ideas as separate.

Secondly, within the C of E there are some differing schools of thought about quite how 'high' the rituals ought to be. Some churches are much more like catholic ones and use things like incense, whereas others (I believe the majority) don't. They all still call themselves Church of England.

Rev Clement's curate ISN'T a Jesuit, ie a member of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests, he's an ordinary C of E priest, working under Rev Clement as a sort of training. He would ordinarily hope to get his own parish and be the vicar himself in due time, but the revolting Col Protheroe is calling him one as an insult.

Protheroe presumably thinks or knows Mr Hawes comes from a 'high church' background, which as I say is closer to catholic in its rites and rituals, or he just doesn't like him and is just being offensive. (In his terms, being a Jesuit would be offensive; obviously it's just a different religious tradition & no better or worse than any other.)

A classic adaptation that goes for a cosy, non-threatening tone that's a little at odds with the subject matter of a grisly murder and subsequent crimes.

As some other reviewers have noted, the thick accents make the plot a little hard to follow. It's in my opinion not convincingly explained as to why Miss Marple is actively involved with the police investigation (especially when the detectives in charge seem to actively dislike and distrust her) or able to get access to the crime scene etc. She seems to just appear and sneak into rooms in plain view of everyone without being asked to leave.

In my view it was also hard to follow who each character was in this adaptation because of very similar styling and haircut etc. choices. Characters didn't refer to each other by name very often either which didn't help. Only striking characters like Mrs Le Strange, and a character who started wearing black for mourning, were easily identifiable scene to scene.

However, for what it was, it was well acted, and at least this adaptation made the choice to give us Marple's narration over a recreation of the crime, rather than Marple blithely explaining what went on as one long monologue while others in the room sit and watch, as has happened in some of the Hickson adaptations.

Personally I favour something a little more dramatic and more tightly plotted, but these adaptations are also familiar and were trying to achieve something different, so that's not a fault.

The underlying problem with this version of Murder at the Vicarage is that the producers took it out of order. Murder at the Vicarage was Agatha's Christie's first adventure with Miss Marple. This edition was evidently produced later in the series. Here, Miss Marple is used to being involved, and police are used to consulting her, however much they resent having to do so. The script is rather heavy-handed, moving quickly from one incident to another with little or no set-up. And while the original novel does this as well, it doesn't spring things on us totally out of the blue. Joan Hickson is most probably the Miss Marple that Agatha Christie envisioned - more so than Margaret Rutherford or Helen Hayes, for example, but the rest of the production is not. True, a 200+ page novel had to be condensed into one hour and 42 minutes. This is never easy, but it has often been done successfully. Not here. The writers needed to capture the leisurely and still foreboding small village atmosphere early on. They didn't, and it makes the necessarily hurried plot revelations seem even more so. This results in far too many smug reaction shots, far too many exchanges of dialogue dripping with "significance", far too many scenes which could have been cut to a few lines of dialogue, freeing up the pace for more insightful exchanges elsewhere. (For example, the secondary priest subplot is reduced to an obligatory afterthought here. It was more prominent in the novel, but its lack of necessity here is obvious. The bit with the vicar's car is also totally unneeded; he rides his bicycle the rest of the time, anyway.) Overall, Miss Marple is reduced to an almost supporting player, which of course she is in many of the Christie novels, but one whose presence is always felt whether she is on scene or not. That isn't true here, at least until the end, and it should be.

Life in the vicarage is not as gentile and peaceful as it would seem as even mild-mannered Reverend Clement is driven to swearing by the stiff-necked attitude of Colonel Protheroe over the church accounts. In fact Protheroe is so unpopular that, when he is found murdered in the vicarage, several people confess to the crime to protect others who they assume must have done it. When the police manage to prove that the confessors couldn't possibly have done it, it leaves them with the question of who actually has killed him. As they conduct their investigation, Miss Marple continues her gardening and listens to the village grapevine to build a picture in her mind of what could have happened.

Although I have seen several BBC Miss Marple films where boredom could have been the cause of the murder, I still tried again several times and I was happy when this film turned out to be one of the more enjoyable and free-flowing in the series. Stepping away from the uptight and repressed standards of the period this film instead builds on the gossipy, small-world nature of life in a small English village. In doing this it show Miss Marple's quiet use of the grapevine in nice contrast to the police resources of Slack. The story itself is well structured and has plenty going on – it avoids the trap of being dull by way of trying to "English" and is quite fun. The mystery is well spun out and well solved with a nice air of humour along the way. It will still appear "boring" to those raised on the quick-fire mysteries of CSI etc but I found it to be quite sparky by the usual BBC Miss Marple standards.

Hickson is the one I always think of when I think of Miss Marple and here she is good value. She plays the "village" aspect of her character well and her personality comes through well in even simple lines. She is well supported by Horovitch's Slack who provides several laughs with his character. The support are generally up to the task – Eddington had a smaller role than I expected but was good; Lang was enjoyable before his final shot while people like Adams, Hazeldine, Good, West and others are all solid enough to stop the audience ignoring them or seeing them as dominate (and thus a possible murderer).

Overall this is an enjoyable and interesting entry in the solid BBC Miss Marple film series. The story is engaging and developed well and, far from being stiff, it actually flows quite well. The addition of humour and lively performances only helps to make it all the more enjoyable and makes this a good introduction to the BBC Marple series.

I can't understand how anyone who claims to like Christie can fail to admire this production; it strikes me as just about perfect. In fact, if I ever came across anyone who'd never sampled one of her mysteries before and was wondering what they were like, I'd recommend they check out this particular version of this particular story, because it has all the right ingredients on display: the village setting, the mix of characters (stock characters, really), and -- unlike the glossy 2004 remake -- the right tone. It also has, of course, Joan Hickson, wise, dignified, frail but steely, sometimes a little prickly and sharp-tongued, but Marple as Christie meant her to be; whereas the remake is stuck with Geraldine McEwan, cutesy, smirky, twinkly-eyed, and far too confident of her own adorableness.

This was famously the first ever mystery to feature Miss Marple. I remember reading it (like I did most of Christie books) and it was an action packed novel that marked it out as one of the best. Surprisingly when it was adapted for TV for Christmas 1986 the writers cut out a few characters, including the mysterious Dr Stone, and condensed it into a feature length mystery. However, it still makes for a thoroughly absorbing mystery full of incident.

The story begins with ordinary village life, with the Reverend Clement (Paul Eddington) called to a meeting to discuss missing church funds. At the meeting is local squire Colonel Protheroe (Robert Lang), who makes it his mission to smoke out the culprit. Indeed, Protheroe very quickly shows he is a man who makes enemies quickly, and before long he is threatening Bill Archer with jail for poaching, and his daughter Lettuce (yes, really) for posing for artist Lawrence Redding in her swimsuit (Shock! Horror! What would he make of Tara MacGowran in Murder in Eden four years later?). That's not to mention his wife's affair with the said Redding (my, he is busy), while Protheroe has a very bad reaction when he spots a mysterious woman in the village. It will come as no surprise when Protheroe is later found murdered. More inconsiderately he does it in the vicar's study, who is none too happy to find a corpse across his desk.

How it is done, and the build up to the murder is remarkably inventive. The scene where Rev Clement receives a call about a dying parisioner and then discovers that his car will not work gives you immediately a sense of foreboding as he cycles off to his destination. When he discovers the call is a hoax and the parisioner is perfectly healthy it's clear that someone wanted him out of the way for what is a cleverly plotted murder. Luckily for him (or is it?) Scotland Yard has called Det Insp Slack onto the case, who is so eager to get on with business he brusquely ejects Clement out of his own study. However, he has failed to notice a little old lady who also happened to of been passing when Clement discovered the body, and who Slack has encountered 2 years before.

As with A Murder is Announced, part of the fun of this is the humour, and there is plenty of it here. This is in part due to David Horowitz's performance as Slack. The scene when he encounteres Miss Marple in the vicarage is a joy, as he cannot believe he has yet again encountered "that little grey haired cobra", as he so amusingly calls her to his sidekick Det Sgt Lake (Ian Brimble). His barely concealed frustration at finding her on the doorstep of another crime - and in HER village of St Mary Mead - and not being able to do a thing about it makes their encounters in this very amusing indeed. But they are not the only ones having fun here. Cheryl Campbell thoroughly enjoys herself as Rev Clement's wife Griselda, whether it is her battles with her determined young cook Mary (an equally superb Rachel Weaver) or her mischievousness with the village elders. In one scene she relays a made up story to the old gossips about how the newly arrived and mysterious Mrs Lestrange was actually the wife of a missionary who was eaten on an expedition abroad - a story only interrupted by the unexpected arrival of her husband. And that scene is also a perfect rebuff to some critics who feel that Hickson's portrayal of Marple is "fluffy." The scene of her, Mrs Price-Ridley and Miss Hartnell (Rosalie Crutchley and Barbara Hicks) sat round dissecting the various village characters in the latest gossip shows Marple at her most acerbic and sceptical. And I have to say Crutchley and Hicks fit their parts to a tee, with Crutchley particularly outstanding as the formiddable Mrs Price-Ridley

Indeed, this adaptation reflects it's period look marvellously, and the passage of time with it's filmic look from back then actually adding to the feel you are viewing something from the 1930's. There is one scene of the villagers heading to church that is remarkably striking. While Rev Clement makes what proves to be a fateful sermon, his cook Mary sneaks out to leave a basket of food for her poacher boyfriend Bill Archer, while in the porch sit Mrs Lestrange and Lettuce Protheroe in quiet contemplation. It is a simple but effective scene, but quietly powerful. Norma West gives an magnetic and remarkable performance as the enigmatic Mrs Lestrange, all the more so because of her restraint. She catches your attention without dominating, but you notice her just the same. The one flaw in this adaptation is actually the casting of two of the main characters, Ann Protheroe and Lawrence Redding (Polly Adams and James Hazledine), who find themselves chief suspect for Colonel Protheroe's murder before an unlikely eye witness in Miss Marple herself prove that they couldn't of committed the crime. Both Adams and Hazledine's characters are supposed to be having an affair, but you can never believe in Adams' character being passionate due to her somewhat clipped portrayal, while Hazledine is rather anemic as Redding. It's a stumbling block in what is otherwise an excellent adaptation, even if Robert Lang overdoes the blustering as Colonel Protheroe, while Tara MacGowran makes for a rather wet Lettuce.

It might also of been intriguing to see what it would of been like had they kept the other elements that were in the book in this adaptation and made it a 3 part mystery rather than a feature length adaptation. As it is, it still makes for an incident packed whodunnit that proves thoroughly absorbing, working up to a dramatic climax that becomes thoroughly tense as Slack waits up to trap a killer who plans to murder a witness. But it's main joy is it's dialogue and humour. I particulary loved one comment by Hickson's Marple to Slack saying that "they knew I was the noticing sort of person," beautifully put for what others would term a nosey parker. And today's scriptwriters could learn a lot from these sort of programmes. That it IS possible to do a serious drama and have humour in it without affecting the subject matter. They certainly seemed to have a lot more fun back then. And that is why they remain so memorable still.

Colonel Protheroe, the local magistrate, has been murdered - shot - in the vicarage. His wife, Ann, was having an affair with Lawrence Redding and Mr Redding almost immediately confesses to the crime. Mrs Protheroe does the same but neither could have done it - Miss Marple witnessed their comings and goings from the vicarage that fateful day.

A clever plot where Miss Marple's own powers of observation and deduction are used against her. Interesting and engaging characters too with some good performances on display.

This case is notable in that for the first time we have a recurring police detective. DI Slack (played by David Horovitch) was the detective on the very first Miss Marple case - The Body in the Library - and he's back for this one. Despite Miss Marple's help on that one he is still not convinced that she's of any use to him, figuring that it was all lucky guesswork. This makes for some interesting, even humorous, situations.

The first 20-30 minutes of "The Murder At The Vicarage" are quite poorly done: a collection of random characters are seen walking and talking without having been properly introduced to the viewer, which, coupled with some heavy accents, makes the story difficult to follow for anyone who has not read the book. The lack of any familiar faces in the cast does not help, either; several of the women are so similar in appearance it's sometimes hard to even distinguish who is who. And there are important characters (like Lawrence Redding, for example) who get no more than 3 or 4 scenes in the entire film. The direction is uninspired, to put it kindly. Things improve a little in the last 20 minutes, when Miss Marple devises a trap for the killer, but on the whole this is definitely one of the weakest Agatha Christie films I have seen so far (though the recent French "By The Pricking Of My Thumbs" remains the worst). (*1/2)

According to IMDB, "The Murder at the Vicarage" is the first Agatha Christie story about Miss Marple. And, it is unusual because instead of Marple putting her big nose into the case, she was pulled into it by the killer or killers. This is because she was a witness to the doings when the murder occurred...and later you learn that she was deliberately set up to be the witness...and alibi. Can Miss Marple figure this out?

Now as to the murder, it is most unusual in that TWO different people go to the police to confess to the killing!! And, if this isn't bad enough, the victim was pretty much universally hated...and ANYONE could have done it!

This is an enjoyable episode...and I think generally the two-part ones (like this one) are better because they don't feel too drawn out or slow. Worth seeing.

Quote 'hbs': "Hickson is by far the best Miss Marple on screen"

Ooooh! there's a debatable point. Though I accept heartily ones opinions, I can't help thinking that's got the members of the Margaret Rutherford fan club ruffling their pillows in a disgruntled manner. Joan Hickson just doesn't do it. I don't know what it is, but she comes over leaving me thinking 'no wonder your a spinster. SMILE for gods sake'. MR I could have happily passed off as my eccentric grandmother and liked. JH does it her way, but I can't help wonder if she had her beady-eyes on this role while filming with MR in 'Murder, She Said'. Unconvincing seems to be a word that, although harsh, crops up every time JH plays this role. Watchable, for sure, but not eager for more. I also consider that I am a victim of choice here. The plots and plans are all immovable if adapting Agatha Christie. This film is no exception, so the only real ways in adapting to difference are the choice of the actor/actress, or time shift it, as with the recent 'Romeo Must Die'. JH is a superb actress I have seen many times and her talents are so easily on show here as a 'tight' Miss Marple, by which I mean non-expressive. MR was more full-on and in yer' face. 'Filo doth compare too much'. As I said, it's choice.