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Marple Stories

Christie never intended Miss Marple to rival Poirot in the publics affections, but this spinster sleuth soon proved a hit with the public.  Here's the place to discuss her stories - but beware spoilers!

If you can't find your favourite Miss Marple story, don't worry - more will be added shortly.

Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

The do it with Mirrors

Moderator1 10 Nov 09 at 11:17 a.m. GMT

A rehabilitation centre for delinquent boys probably isn't the ideal place for Miss Marple to feel relaxed but it's where old friend Carrie Louise lives with her extended family and all is not right there.  When the first murder occurs not long after her arrival Jane Marple begins to delve deeper into the behaviour of not just the boys but also the family.  But will she be able to prevent yet another attempt on Carrie Louise's life?

Was Christie more adventurous in her choice of locations for Miss Marple than she was with Poirot?  By sending Jane Marple to Stoneygates was Christie trying to tackle a sensitive social subject?

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32 replies

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Puffinjill 02 Jan 10 at 6:29 a.m. GMT

Anyone else see the adaptation last night? Verdicts please!!

Tommy_A_Jones 02 Jan 10 at 1:09 p.m. GMT

Enjoyable but most of the changes were irritating but the fact that IMHO it isn't by any means the best Miss Marple Book I thought bsometimes it improved the book but I did liked the Mention of The 4.50 From Paddington at the beginning.

Puffinjill 02 Jan 10 at 3:12 p.m. GMT

I spotted that too! Did think it was very clever and a nice respectful nod to other AC books. I thought it was a reasonable effort and could have been so much worse. Obviously, being the fussy purist that I am, I did have issues with the changes they did make. However, they didn't really detract from the original storyline, which they kept to reasonably well, so it isn't too much of a problem for me. I still end up asking myself the same question though. Why make these changes if they bring nothing to it? I'm sure those at ITV will have a clever answer to that one, but I doubt I would beleive it!!

Tommy_A_Jones 02 Jan 10 at 4:14 p.m. GMT

I was reading the blog about other Poirot's and Miss Marple's noyt yet done anbd they mentioned that they had to choose a screenwriter who thought he could add something differenty to the PU version, It hadn't occured to me that the writers might not want to do it if they can't bring something different to an Adaptation, In my arroganrt way I thought that they they should just write it because they owe it to us to be faithful because we have bought the books and if we didn't there would be no demand for them to appear on Television, I sort of still think that but grudgeingly I can see there point I suppose especially as people in the Entertainment Industry don't have Money high on their Priority list, (Don't get me wrong I would just like enough to live on and to buy the Video'd, DVDs, Audio Cassette's and Food and Drink I need and ofcourse the other essentials).

I thought the main problem would be wether the people they wanted were Available, I saw the news a whilre ago and a Famous Actor died and it said he was supposed to be making Midsomer Murders so sadly I nsuppose that is another Obstacle, they book someone and then sadly they die before Filming starts so everything goes on hold until they can re-cast.

I am a Tony Hancock Fan and 4.50 From Paddington being meentioned in They Do It With Mirrors remindeed me of Third Girl which mentioned an episode of Hancock's Half Hour, the Porter tells Ariadne that he liked her last book Lady Don't Fall Backward's which is the book in the centre of the Hancock Episode The Missing Page I love it wehen things like that happen

Puffinjill 03 Jan 10 at 7:20 a.m. GMT

Snap!! Hancock fan here too!! That DID make me laugh as I can never, ever see Mrs Oliver writing a book with that title. But anything that reminds people of the boy from East Cheam can't be bad!

Tommy_A_Jones 03 Jan 10 at 1:29 p.m. GMT

Oh I can just see her writing a Book with that title, Sven could say it just like Poirot says There is Evil Under The Sun (Or was that just said in the film) Sven could say Dear Lady Mind you don't fall backwards  so saying it without actually saying the Title, I think there was actually a book of that tritle written by John Le Mesurier the 1st Husband of Hattie Jaques, My ad worked in Saudi Arabia and they played Hancocxk on Radio and he taped some for me and The Goons for himself and my Brother and Sisters but usually he piut his own titles on the Hancocks and \I bought some from shops.

Puffinjill 03 Jan 10 at 3:01 p.m. GMT

My Dad nurtured my love of Hancock too. He loves comedy and grew up listening to all the radio greats, who he then introduced to me. Over the years, I've bought most of the Hancock radio episodes for my Dad, only to end up borrowing them for longer than he has them!! My love of all spoken radio - drama, comedy or documentary - stems from this.

I'm sorry, I've gone off on my own little tangent again. Back to the point from now on....

Tommy_A_Jones 03 Jan 10 at 3:57 p.m. GMT

I am the samne. If only I was able to listen to more but life gets in the way.

HeiseiHolmes 25 Jan 10 at 5:24 p.m. GMT

Who's Hancock? I hated the TV version of this but the book was great and I solved it when I read it. I'm actually getting pretty good at this.

Puffinjill 26 Jan 10 at 7:07 a.m. GMT

Sorry, just a little diversion from AC, but, in answer to your query, detective conan, we were talking about Tony Hancock and his Hancock's Half Hour show on the Radio (and, later, the TV) from the 1950's and 60's. An absolute genius and sorely missed. And, no, I'm not old enough to remember him at the time (I think he sadly took his life before I was born), but his brilliance lives on.

Tommy_A_Jones 27 Jan 10 at 4:58 p.m. GMT

He Commited suicide in Australia in 1968, before a series was supposed to finish, he has been portrayed in to films about him by Alfred Molina and more recently Ken Stott, Sidney James, Keneth Williams, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jaques, Moira Lister and Andre Melly (Sister of George) all took part bin regular episodes of Hancock's Half Hour) but ML replaced AM and HJ replaced ML - I think that is the order it happenbed.

Puffinjill 27 Jan 10 at 6:27 p.m. GMT

I saw the recent BBC Four drama featuring Ken Stott and I thought it was marvellous. So well acted and so moving. I've read a couple of biographies of him too (also read Kenneth William's diaries and letters which give an interesting view on Hancock aswell). He's one of my all time favourite people to listen to - just brilliant - and it is so sad that he was such a tortured soul.

HeiseiHolmes 28 Jan 10 at 3:27 p.m. GMT

Oh, I see. Definitely not old enough to have heard it, then...

Tommy_A_Jones 28 Jan 10 at 3:39 p.m. GMT

When his programme went from Radio to Television, Bill Kerr no longer took part and I think Hattie and Ken only did one Programme each, He kept Sidney Jamesd for a while like in The Missing Page, where the last page of a Murder Mystery is Missing, the Book is mentioned in Third Girl, The Porter compliments Ariadne on it as it is said to be one of her books.

Puffinjill 29 Jan 10 at 7:46 a.m. GMT

Age is no bar, detective conan - good comedy is good comedy, no matter when it was created.

Tommy, I loved Bill Kerr and his innocence in the radio shows and wish he had been part of the TV crew. Kenneth Williams wasn't part of the TV cast either. By then, Hancock was getting very obsessive about getting to the 'truth of comedy' and he considered certain characters were too trivial to include. Also, he clashed terribly with some of the personalities he had worked with and, therefore, didn't wish to continue to work with them. Shame! I love the TV shows but radio is my first love and the Hancock's Half Hours done in this medium remain my favourites.

I do apologise to everyone for our little trip down nostalgia lane!!! Amazing how one small throw-away line in a Poirot adaptation can set us off on another discussion!

HeiseiHolmes 29 Jan 10 at 3:32 p.m. GMT

Is it still possible to see/hear today? I want to do so, it sounds fun like the sort of things I like~

Puffinjill 29 Jan 10 at 3:38 p.m. GMT

If you have access to BBC Radio 7, they usually feature Hancock's Half Hour on a regular basis. Or they are available to buy in audio format and the TV shows are available on DVD.

Tommy_A_Jones 29 Jan 10 at 3:49 p.m. GMT

Kenneth Williams is in one episode on Television when Tony goes on Holiday and the Hotel is double-booked and he has to share with Kenneth and I think someone else.

HeiseiHolmes 29 Jan 10 at 3:54 p.m. GMT

Ah, thank you! I found one on the radio for next Wednesday. Which is the same day I have a French speaking exam, too

But I set my TV to record it, so I should be able to catch it.

MissQuin 23 Feb 10 at 3:40 p.m. GMT

Back to the They Do it With Mirrors subject.. this isnt one of my faves. I like the beguining where Miss M and Ruth are talking about their childhoods. We get to see a bit more about Miss Marple's past. But for some reason I didn't enjoy this one as much. There are quite alot of murders in this one, not that I minded though. I know Miss M doesnt have to be in a village to solve a good murder.

In the book the whole young offenders centre was Louis? idea. I think he could have planned the whole thing as a training ground for finding willing crooks for embezzlement? The TV version it was Carrie's idea, which was odd. No I didn't like the TV version. Ruth and Carrie had cat fights, so why did Ruth get Marple to go down there?

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