Which five episodes of Agatha Christie's Marple do you consider to be the best? First starring Geraldine McEwan and then with Julia McKenzie? Starting with your favourite.
Geraldine McEwan;
1. A Murder Is Announced
2. The Body in the Library
3. By the Pricking of My Thumbs
4. The Sittaford Mystery
5. Towards Zero
Julia McKenzie;
1. The Pale Horse
2. The Blue Geranium
3. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
4. Endless Night
5. Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Geraldine McEwan;
1.A Murder Is Announced
2.At Bertram's Hotel
3.By the Pricking of My Thumbs
4.4:50 from Paddington
5.The Sittaford Mystery
Julia McKenzie;
1.They Do It with Mirrors
2.The Secret of Chimneys
3.The Pale Horse
4.The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
5.Endless Night
I also love At Bertram's Hotel. It would probably be seventh on my list after Ordeal by Innocence. Geraldine McEwan was great in so many of her episodes. Nemesis was a little disappointing, but I think the Joan Hickson version was perfect.
shareI have to say Ordeal by Innocence might be my least favourite of Geraldine McEwan episodes, too many changes that doesn't work for me, alongside are Sleeping Murder and Nemesis.
shareSleeping Murder has its own merits, such as great production values, cast, music etc. It's very different from the novel, but I have become fond of the changes over time, even the Funny Bones.
shareMy big number 1 (Joan Hickson in The Moving Finger. Also my favorite story.
#2 Joan Hickson in Sleeping Murder.
The Geraldine one was *beep* awful. I mean, they had this woman in the '40s going from India to Chelsea every night? Acting in plays & stealing stuff. Not even with jets.
The rest were OK but pretty unmemorable.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
DON'T READ if you haven't seen the episode
Just watched The Sittaford Mystery. If you knew the story from the book you would be upset as was I. The original story line was great.
What was done to the story line was quite a mash up. Needless to say Miss Marple wasn't even a character in the original. Trevelyan is still a character but younger. This Trevelyan has Churchill encouraging him to step into a career as Prime Minister. Manner and place of death totally different. Even the villian is different. The rating IMDB gives for this is 6.6 - if your know the original story line and story a 6.6 is being generous.
Well, actually that's what I like about The Sittaford Mystery, a total rewrite of Christie's original work.
shareI haven't read the novel, but I think the Marple version is brilliant. It feels like a Hitchcock thriller. Geraldine's unveiling of the killer is one of my favourites in the series. I wish they had brought the character of Emily back for another episode.
shareSittaford is the worst episode for me with no characters I liked. The only thing I did enjoy was Miss Marple's unveiling of the "ingenious" killer. I disliked Why Didn't They Ask Evans? immensely aswell
shareI don't take Why Didn't They Ask Evans? too seriously. My least favourite episodes are Nemesis and A Caribbean Mystery.
shareI'm sorry I have to disagree with myself. I've been working my way through rewatching the Marple series and have just rewatched Endless Night and remembered it was the entirely worst ever episode. It was God awful. - as a Miss Marple story and as a show itself. I was so bored with it. Sittaford was five times better than Endless
shareEndless Night is my favourite Agatha Christie novel so I did like it. The actor playing Mike Rogers in the Marple adaptation was the main problem. No match for Hywel Bennett. I also wish they had given Julia McKenzie the closing shot, considering it was her last episode. It would been better suited to Geraldine McEwan. It's more likely that her version of Miss Marple would happen to be on holiday in Rome.
shareGood God. This was the very last episode?. What an insult. I didn't realise this was the actual final one. Disappointing. They need to make at least one more, I think, which would make a better finale
shareI would have liked to see Julia McKenzie star in an episode like Geraldine McEwan's The Murder at the Vicarage, where Miss Marple's earlier life was explored. That would have been a good way to finish. There was so much great character development in the first series and it never felt forced like the Catholicism in the David Suchet Poirot series.
shareI know Miss Marple wasn't in the original story, but, Endless Night didn't even feel like a Miss Marple episode. Just didn't seem right at all
shareWhy Didn't They Ask Evans? is also my least favourite from the whole series. It starts off well but ends up badly, we never get to know how Marple came to her conclusion at the end. I don't know if it's the screenplay writer's fault or something happened during the production procedures. Juding from the first half, it could have been much better than it is now.
shareEndless Night would have worked better as a stand alone production, it was pretty good, but Miss Marple's involvement was too tenuous. I always thought it a pity that the Seven Dials Mystery wasn't adapted. I think some of the best were The Pale Horse, The Body in the Library (yes the lesbian one,) A Murder is announced and The Blue Geranium, I think Nemesis was the worst followed by Evans.
When he said Mr Leeman was dead i thought he said he's still in bed
Geraldine McEwan:
1. The Body in the Library (liked it better than the book; great cast)
2. A Murder Is Announced (my favorite book; great performance by Zoe Wanamaker)
3. The Murder at the Vicarage (great performance by Janet McTeer)
4. The Moving Finger (charming leading man- James D'Arcy)
5. 4:50 from Paddington (charming leading lady- Amanda Holden)
Julia McKenzie:
1. The Mirror Crack'ed from Side to Side (better than the book and endlessly better than all the other film versions; Lindsay Duncan is magnificent.)
2. A Pocketful of Rye
3. The Pale Horse
4. They Do It with Mirrors
5. Murder Is Easy
The worst by far is "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?". Nauseatingly repulsive.
Dear Trippy, I think I agree with your list the most - even the postscript about Evans. I'm not sure about They do it with Mirrors which seemed an untidy mystery.
shareGeraldine McEwan:
1. A Murder is Announced
2. By the Pricking of My Thumbs
3. Sleeping Murder
4. At Bertram's Hotel
5. Murder at the Vicarage
Honourable mention - The Body in the Library! I really like that one as well.
Julia McKenzie:
Wasn't a big fan of Julia to be honest, she was kind of flat compared to Geraldine.
1. The Pale Horse
2. Murder is Easy (The body count in this one was crazy!)
2. The Blue Geranium
3. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
4. A Caribbean Mystery
5. Greenshaw's Folly
I agree with everyone who hated Why Didn't They Ask Evans? Which pains me to say because I love Natalie Dormer to death.
Geraldine McEwan:
A Murder Is Announced
Towards Zero
The Moving Finger
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
At Bertram's Hotel
Julia McKenzie:
Endless Night
A Caribbean Mystery
The Pale Horse
The Blue Geranium
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
De gustibus non disputandum est
1. A Body in the Library
2. The Moving Finger
3. By the Pricking of My Thumbs
4. 4:50 From Paddington
5. The Sleeping Murder
1. The Mirror Cracked
2. Endless Night
3. The Pale Horse
4. Gresham's Folly