praed_street

Very faithful to the book and a joy to watch. Aspects of the plot of "At Bertram's Hotel" admittedly are far-fetched, but the theme and setting are among Christie's best. We also see a highly active and reflective Miss Marple, functioning as a superb amateur detective and not just dithering. Hickson is great as always, and the supporting cast is uniformly good, including a sadly aged but still delicious Joan Greenwood in one of her last performances, Carolina Blakiston as the madcap aristocrat Lady Selina Blakiston, Helena Mitchell as her daughter Elvira and George Baker as a marvelous Chief Inspector Fred Davy (one of Christie's best policemen). A wonderful show, one deserving of a far better transfer than the one avaailable in America currently.

Whether readers today are "sharper" or not, with these new Marples it's not a matter of reading "between the lines," because in all too many cases the lines have been totally rewritten! Dame Agatha would not have approved of having her work trashed by modern-day scriptwriters. Rewriting her stories (and solutions!), changing the characters, etc.: it's abomination. This new Miss Marple was in her own way as absurd a creation as Margaret Rutherford's version (which at least was not meant to be taken seriously). No one who respects Christie's work would approve of these films. I won't comment on her grandson, except to say that unfortunately not all descendants live up to their forebears.