I just been watching the "Agatha Christie: Marple" series on DVD and Blu-Ray and I started with Series #5.
I was just curious as to why Julia McKenzie took over the role from Geraldine McEwan?
So far I've watched Series 5 and Series 1, and I'm in the middle of watching Series 2. I like them all.
But'cha Y'Are, Blanche! Y'Are In That Chair!
Geraldine McEwan decided to retire and therefore the role was recast with Julia McKenzie from Series 4 onwards.
shareWho cares ? The real question is why they are not showing Joan Hickson's versions; she knocks the socks off those two.
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Agreed.
BUT
1. Joan Hickson's versions were a BBC production
2. Only 12 were ever made
In general, I prefer Julia to Geraldine. I also prefer it when they've filmed new stories, not tried to remake (and re-write) the Hickson stories. Those were the better known Miss Marple's of course, but trying to rewrite (by which I mean change the killer/motive/both) them was a big mistake.
Even some that had Miss Marple grafted on have been good. I liked Ordeal by Innocence especially.
Endless Night was good. I didn't recognize the story at all, so only got the twist when his friend found the watch.
The real qustion is why people liking Joan Hickson don't watch it on DVd and don't let alone people liking the new series,discussing their merits (many) and their flaws (few).If not I can ask you why they have picked a certain Cumbersomething to play Sherlock instead to show the Douglas Wilmer series ,because Wilmer was a Far better holmes!Joan Hickson played Marple twenty thousand years ago.She was great for her era.But the time is changed.She's history,not the future!
shareI can assure you that many of us who prefer Hickson own and watch the DVDs of her series. Maybe what we do not do is buy the ones for the present series.
As for your question about the Sherlock series, well, as far as I can understand, that one has never intended as a period adaptation of the Sherlock stories, nor a faithful one, but a modernisation, therefore, there is more allowance for any changes in the plots, in fact the writers play along the lines of parody.
This ITV Marple series is not a modernisation, they are set in the mid-20th C, though attitudes and changes in plot and characters are from the 21thC, thus being open to the criticism you notice. So the "future" would have been to be set in the present time.
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your logic about Cumberbatch v Douglas Wilmer makes no sense,if you really want to compare one Holmes against another why not include Jeremy Brett his Holmes is the most definitive portrayal both on TV and in the movies...
Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh run doh gai si
Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh run doh gai si. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The 1980s and 1990s is hardly twenty thousand years ago. and what has times changing got to do with it? If you're going to adapt a book for TV, you should pay some attention to the content of the book. If you want something modern, do a modern book. or write it yourself.
shareI think the best actress to play Miss Marple is the one who first did it back in the late 80's was JOAN HICKSON and some of the same stories are done better also. You can see them on Netflix type in Miss Marple and pick the one's done in the 80's
shareMargaret Rutherford played the part long before that. Unfortunately she & Joan Hickson are both dead.
shareI'd like to say "because she was hopeless in the part", but it's known that Geraldine simply decided not to continue. However Julia McKenzie was a massive improvement and really refreshed the series. That being said, considering the amazingly star-studded casts these new Marple films boast, they really are extremely poor. Joanna Lumley is the undisputed highlight and had she featured in every episode they would have been so much better. She is an absolute gem.
shareIt was interesting also that Lumley seems to have played the same role in two different productions of the same story.
Another vote for Joan Hickson from me. I don't know if she's accurate to the books, but her portrayal just feels right somehow.
I agree entirely. Physically she matches the description Christie wrote, and she certainly wasn't "sweet", as another commentator suggests. It is her razor-sharp mind, her Victorian skepticism, her tendency to think the worst and not shy away from the most appalling and degenerate ideas and acts while looking like a lamb that is so very delicious.
Hickson looks like she has been desiccating for a while, as if her lady-like pursed lips and prim hairdo reflect the self-control and gentility of a true lady. She speaks softly, but directly, unless she wishes to conceal her thoughts and feelings, and moves with an air of quiet, discrete certainty. Her tone is well-bred, she exerts authority with servants without being bossy, and she can act fluffy and vague when that suits. She inhabits the character that one believes she IS Miss Marple.
I find Hickson absolutely perfect, and I think she is the superlative Miss Marple.
I like all three actresses in the role. Each brought something unique to the character.
Hickson's versions are on DVD, just like the other two, which is how I've been watching them.
But'cha Y'Are, Blanche! Y'Are In That Chair!
You can also find them on YouTube.
"I say,open this door at once! We're British !"
I enjoy all three actresses also. Joan was probably my favorite, then Geraldine and Julia. I'm just glad they kept the series going. Also, I love how older English actresses (and actors) do not go in for plastic surgery (except Joan Collins). I think faces are so much more interesting as they age.
shareCouldn't agree more!
shareGive Joan Hickson's Marple a soft Cork accent (Southern Ireland) and you have my maternal grandmother - seriously, they're dopplegangers. Sadly both are long dead now; but every time I watch a Joan Hickson 'Miss Marple' I smile.....
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Enjoy life; there's plenty of time to be dead - especially when you're a vampire.
Give Joan Hickson's Marple a soft Cork accent (Southern Ireland) and you have my maternal grandmother - seriously, they're dopplegangers. Sadly both are long dead now; but every time I watch a Joan Hickson 'Miss Marple' I smile..... That's really sweet. I have a similar fondness for Geraldine McEwan as she reminds me of a favourite aunt. They don't look alike per se, but there is a nice familiarity, particularly in the eyes.
Well, it's nice to have those gentle reminders, I'm sure.
I liked Geraldine McEwan's Marple, just because she was such a dark horse - this smiling, breezy little old lady and then the bad guys realised, too late, that she had a mind like a steel trap. She'll be much missed as an actress - I loved her 'Mapp and Lucia'.
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"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later." – Mitch Hedberg
I like McEwan in Mapp and Lucia, but I really love her in Mulberry.
"It's a real burden being right so often." Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly
Oh my stars, I'd forgotten Mulberry! Oh yes, she was LOVELY in that. I always found her very sweet, humble and gracious in interviews too. I'm glad we both have ways of remembering loved ones beyond the usual photos.
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Be that kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil flinches, sighs and says ‘oh crap, she’s up......'
I always found her very sweet, humble and gracious in interviews too.
I'm glad we both have ways of remembering loved ones beyond the usual photos. I agree!
I live in the US so I was only ever able to see her in one interview (a short one with Karl Howman regarding Mulberry) but I had the same perception of her. I would love to see other interviews she did as she seems like such a lovely lady. (Maybe someday when I can devote a few wasteful hours to YouTube. )
Let's be honest here, the Hickson episodes were rubbish! The sound quality is abysmal, and every episode looks like it was shot through a net curtain! I realise that this is largely due to 1980's technology being incompatible with today's HD digital tv's,but it still renders Ms Hickson's work unwatchable! Add her dislikeable interpretation of Marple to the mix, and you have Agatha Christie revolving at great speed in her grave! Joan Hickson's acidic interpretation of the character has me wishing the villain finds the time to bop HER off along with the other victims! It's well known that Christie always hoped Hickson would play Marple, it's probably just as well she didn't live long enough to see the hash Hickson made of it. Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie play Marple two completely different ways, but close observers of the Marple books will know that Christie altered Jane Marple's character as the books evolved. Both actresses are therefore correct in their portrayals, and BOTH are better than Joan Hickson! Only Angela Lansbury did a worse job in the truly awful 1980 effort, 'The Mirror Cracked'.. one of the worst Christie adaptations ever committed to celluloid! Who's best? Geraldine McEwan,who nails Jane Marple's character completely for me.
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hickson was so boring in the role
shareI myself never cared for Joan Hickson's versions of Marple at all. She lacked any of the sweetness that Miss Marple had in the novels.
shareAgree! I find her episodes very difficult to watch, Hickson's version is wooden and boring. I prefer Julia McKenzie's Miss Marple.
🎄 Vulgarity is no substitute for Wit- Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham
Who cares ?
When I first saw Julia McKenzie in the role, I thought that she looked like Mrs. Doubtfire.
"Chaplin, Keaton, Gilligan. The great ones make it look so easy." - ALF
hahhahahahaha!
But'cha Y'Are, Blanche! Y'Are In That Chair!
McKenzie reminded me badly of someone, but now I can't think of who. Tho I am rather liking some of hers now and her as well. McEwen is rather my least favorite, but I think whoever got the Bertram Hotel, McEwen or McKenzie, that one was much better than Hickson's. Didn't care for that one very much.
shareI read McEwen had a very nasty fall at home and retired because she had become Housebound.
shareDid you really prefer the Marple version of Bertram's Hotel? I have to say I thought it abysmal, with all those corny Nazis shoehorned into it and, of all things, 'Louis Armstrong' and the All Stars doing a quick rehearsal in the hotel... (incidentally in white tuxedo jackets - as if!)
sharechris-hughes-1. It wasn't just Bertram's. I enjoyed A Caribbean Mystery, but, the Ian Fleming / James Bond scene was just silly
shareWhen I first saw Julia McKenzie in the role, I thought that she looked like Mrs. Doubtfire.She always seemed vaguely familiar to me when I first watched her as Miss Marple. Perhaps this is who I was thinking of? IMHO, they would never look alike on a side-by-side comparison, but given vague memories faded by time, I could kind of see it.
aha someone else sees the resemblance!
shareFave Miss Marples: 1-Hickson
2-Rutherford 3- McKenzie
4-McEwan who I could not watch at all, way to mousy for my idea of Jane Marple.
I really enjoy the old Margaret Rutherford movies. They are sort of in a different league, very hollywod, and comical, though I've never been real sure how comical they were intended to be.
I loved the Hickson versions of Miss Marple and think of McKenzie as a close second. I could not stand to watch/listen to the McEwan versions. That woman's voice reminded me of nails on chalkboard...ugh! I didn't see her as mousy, rather as a caricature of someone...but not Miss Jane Marple. Reading the Marple stories, I pictured Miss Jane as a genteel, soft-spoken older lady. McEwan just didn't project that image at all IMO; she just seemed tacky and shrill. Even the other characters in the McEwan versions seemed to be "overdone"...not sure if that's the right word but the best I can come up with right now. Since Ms. Hickson is no longer around, I'm satisfied with Julia McKenzie.
shareHonestly, out of all Miss Marples I've seen so far, Margaret Rutherford has to be my least favourite. The second to her is most likely to be Angela Lansbury maybe. While both of them are great actresses, they're just nothing like Miss Marple.
shareI have a similar response, caviar.
So far, my own least favourite Aunt Jane would be Helen Hayes, who played her as slightly dotty and generally tweedy, with the Calculated Winsomeness dial turned up to 11.
I thought Angela Lansbury was surprisingly unmemorable in the role. Sshe does have her schtick, but I generally at least enjoy her performances; I can't really say that, though, for her Marple. But I can say that, despite that, I thought overall that her film of The Mirror Crack'd was probably the best telling of the story I've seen so far. (For once, Taylor's performance didn't make a film top-heavy.)
And Margaret Rutherford ... well, I love Margaret Rutherford, and even enjoy her Murder films for their general dottiness and Ealing-like tone. But no matter what name her character has, she's clearly not Jane Marple. She's an entirely different creature, so I don't really think of them as Christie stories, and I can enjoy them on that basis.
My favourite Marple is Joan Hickson. (Of course!) I love her character for her clear intelligence, her extraordinary focus, and her unaffectedness. I have to say, and sadly, I've never really warmed to Geraldine McEwan, and even less to Julia MacKenzie.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
I had heard that Miss McEwan had a health issue that required some time off and BBC being the compassionate people that they are, refused. So they recast the role.
Sad coz I preferred her performance to Miss Mckenzie's.
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Then you heard wrong. The BBC, whose compassion you apparently find lacking, are not involved in this ITV production.
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When we see folks on recordings, they are "frozen in time" and we tend to forget the extent to which they are aging!
[Did any of you see the pictures of George Clooney's wedding this past weekend? I did NOT recognize Bill Murray! I also would not have recognized "daddy" Nick (Clooney) except that he was standing next to George in the boat. People simply age.]
In casting Miss Marple, the fact remains that Geraldine McEwan is 82 and has had medical problems, while Julie McKenzie is a healthy 73.
The differences between 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s, for an actor, don't make a whole lot of difference; with exercise and Botox, most can "stay young" on the screen or stage.
However, the changes between 70s and 80s can mean a world of difference! It is possible to consider the early 70s as the far end of "middle age" but the 80s are not.
That makes sense. I didn't know McEwan was that old.
But'cha Y'Are, Blanche! Y'Are In That Chair!
For accuracy's sake: McEwan was 75 when she did her last Marple (in 2007), so saying "She is 82 whereas McKenzie is only 73" -- their respective ages in 2014 -- doesn't shed light on why McEwan retired.
I caution you against making sweeping statements about the difference between 73 and 82. So many factors -- how the individual has taken care of him-/herself; genetic predisposition to certain traumatic illnesses; income and access to health care -- intersect that generalizations are not so useful. I know and know of many very robust people in their early-to-mid 80s (relatives, friends of my parents); and one of my relatives -- mentally sharp and physically well -- worked part-time as a pharmacist through his mid-90s.
I don't dispute your assertion that McEwan retired because of health problems. I'm just suggesting that many generalizations about age are of untrue or of limited use.
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."
So many factors -- how the individual has taken care of him-/herself; genetic predisposition to certain traumatic illnesses; income and access to health care -- intersect that generalizations are not so useful. I know and know of many very robust people in their early-to-mid 80s (relatives, friends of my parents); and one of my relatives -- mentally sharp and physically well -- worked part-time as a pharmacist through his mid-90s.This is so true. A lady I know who is barely into her 60's is sadly not doing well at all. I know another lady well into her 90's who is sharp as a tack. (Seriously -- don't play cards with her, or if you do, don't bet money! )
Joining the conversation late, I realize, but....
When we see folks on recordings, they are "frozen in time" and we tend to forget the extent to which they are aging!This is so true. It's almost a little bittersweet for me when I watch The Golden Girls, Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances (to name just a few).
She probably wanted to do something else.
shareShe had to leave because of her struggles with alcoholism which had a negative effect on the shooting of the series. She had to enter rehab half way through filming one episode.
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