MovieChat Forums > Marple (2005) Discussion > Agatha's Jane Marple

Agatha's Jane Marple


Agatha's character was a spinster living in a small country town, possibly all her life. Her one romance was to a married man who went off to war (1st) and never came back. Rather than be a Miss Haversham, Miss Marple was very much the eyes and ears of St Mary Mead. Extremely "street savvy" a keen eye to the goings on in a small village (just being observant) to be able to know so much about the human nature. Without being a gossip, her intruitive nature made her able to observe and sum up an evil character or two. She is the person nobody takes notice of, an elderly biddy who knits, to be dismissed. I know which one of my Miss Marples fits the bill, they are all good, but one I believe to be Agatha's Miss Marple.

SkiesAreBlue

reply

Which one do you think fits the bill??

reply

When I got Margaret Rutherfood out of my mind 😏 It was Joan Hickson. When Margaret was playing MM, Joan was a young actress. I have watched her in a few old movies lately and it was interesting to see the young JH. I liked MR's character though, being more eccentric which on the screen made it entertaining.

SkiesAreBlue

reply

I loved Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. She was an elderly lady, but, she was so shrewd and steely. You could almost imagine her having a job in one of the forces when she was younger doing a detecting job. You could see her brain working

reply

The married man going off to war was invented for the Geraldine Mcewan marple series. There is no indication in agatha christie that such a person ever existed. apart from anything else, when Miss Marple was created, in 1929, she was already an elderly woman, and presumably would have been around 60 in WW1 - can't really imagine the dignified Miss marple carrying on with a married man at 60.

Joan Hickson comes closest to agatha Christie's Miss marple I think.

reply

I'm sure I've seen a photo of the man in question next to JH's bedside table. I could be wrong. As for MM's age, she was still active in the 1950's which might be stretching the imagination a bit. 😏

SkiesAreBlue

reply

well, if there was a photo of a man in uniform in the JH ones, i don't know what is implied, but there's certainly no such person in the books. but If Miss Marple is an elderly woman in the 1950s, then it would be a reasonable age for her to have had a romance in WW1, but nothing is ever said about the war in any of the books that I can remember. having Miss marple be elderly for over 40 years I expect it was best not to be too specific about dates.

reply

It's a while since I read the books so I can't say she did have a sweetheart who was married and going off to war. In the back of my mind I thought a very minor reference was made once in passing that there was someone. However unless I can remember the story it's not going to help. The photo was probably an add on in one of the modern adaptations, which I don't really like.

SkiesAreBlue

reply

I don't think any romance with married man has ever been implied in Agatha Christie's stories. When I first saw it in MacEwan episode it felt wrong - given the fact that Agatha had a serious nervous breakdown because of her husband cheating on her and it made her extremely unhappy, I do not believe she would ever created such a story for her Miss Marple.
I think she would be actually quite hurt if she saw it.

reply

Having got into a bit of a mess with Poirot Christie tried to keep Miss Marple more strictly contemporary — although that did leave the earliest stories a bit adrift.

At Bertram's Hotel was published in 65 so take that as a rough date. In it Miss Marple says she last visited the hotel at 14 and that was almost 60 years ago.

Say 14 in 1905, therefore 23 at the outbreak of the Great War which is good for having been a nurse in the war and having been to finishing school before it started as per They Do It With Mirrors.

reply