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Joan Hickson

hobbit 23 Sep 08 at 4:58 p.m. GMT

I'd like to express my personal pleasure at the new photos of JH that have been added to the site. The old site didn't even have a single shot of her, and it's nice to see two on the new one. This is the offical AC site after all - and JH is, to many, the official Miss Marple!

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36 replies

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ariadnepoirotmarple 23 Sep 08 at 6:15 p.m. GMT

I agree with you hobbit!! Joan Hickson is the official Miss Marple!

go_leafs_nation 23 Sep 08 at 7:45 p.m. GMT

JH is the definitive Miss Marple, there is no disputing it. Although I kind of liked Geraldine McEwan a little bit more.

detectivepauljohn 24 Sep 08 at 10:25 a.m. GMT

Joan Hickson is the Miss marple forever!

Rea_Potter 28 Sep 08 at 6:06 p.m. GMT

Joan Hickson is thes best Miss Marple in the world. :D She was very great!

Sammy_Sixpence 30 Sep 08 at 7:24 p.m. GMT

Everything about the BBC Marple's were superb. The music used to scare me and the close up of the evil looking women with the arched eyebrow in the opening credits - very menacing!!!

go_leafs_nation 02 Oct 08 at 8:13 p.m. GMT

Certain JH episodes change quite a few things (MURDER AT THE VICARAGE and NEMESIS are perfect examples), but they've never gone to the ridiculous extent the McEwan ones have.

hobbit 03 Oct 08 at 6:52 a.m. GMT

Go leafs, what are the changes in those books, if you don't mind me asking? It's been a long time since I've read or seen either of them!

squatty 03 Oct 08 at 6:24 p.m. GMT

If I remember rightly, the whole sub plot in Muder at the Vicarage involving the archilogical dig is dropped from the Joan Hickson version. Dennis is also dropped from the TV version. In terms of affecting the actual murder and the solving of it, I think the Tv version sticks very closely to the book

dumbledore 06 Oct 08 at 7:40 p.m. GMT

Thankfully with DVDs we can enjoy Joan Hickson forever as Miss Marple. There are many who play Miss Marple,but only one will ever BE Miss Marple!!

go_leafs_nation 06 Oct 08 at 9:33 p.m. GMT

Well, MURDER AT THE VICARAGE contains the changes squatty has described. In addition,

SPOILERS!

The subplot involving the young prisoner with a grudge against Protheroe (his name eludes me at the moment) is largely expanded, as he unwittingly stumbles on a vital clue while trying to get to the Vicarage to visist Mary. The clue was that he tripped over a wire, which was the wire attached to a loudspeaker. Lawrence Redding, in this version, used a loudspeaker to fake the shot. No "Japanese rock garden" excuseo rock being dropped on a certain crystal to make a loud POP. In NEMESIS, many things were changed, including the 2nd murder method (the schoolteacher, whose name I can't remember, is now killed when the bust of a poet is pushed onto her). A new character, Lionel, is introduced. He is basically there to give MM someone to talk to. However, the changes made in NEMSIS are microscopic compared to the GM version. THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, however, is more faithful with McEwan than with Hickosn.

Marplefan9 14 Oct 08 at 8:46 p.m. GMT

I love Joan Hickson in the BBC series. She "was" Miss Marple. I much prefer her to the moderised Geraldine McEwan

belgian_in_ireland 28 Oct 08 at 8:45 p.m. GMT

I just love Joan Hickson as Marple. For me as well she is the ultimate Miss Marple. I only saw a bit of the new version of Body in the Library and turned it off after half an hour. No offense meant to Geraldine McEwan, I think she did a great job in The Magdalen Sisters e.g.

squatty 02 Nov 08 at 11:52 a.m. GMT

The Hickson series were obvously produced by people who liked and respected AC's work; the attention to detail is astonishing at times. There have been several times whilst watching the GM versions that I have suspected the producers are more interested in their own ego than respecting the original source material.

go_leafs_nation 02 Nov 08 at 1 p.m. GMT

Does anyone notice a trend? The stories started getting VEEERY unfaifthful (i.e. complete rewrites) only after AC's daughter died in 2004. Curious...

squatty 02 Nov 08 at 5:55 p.m. GMT

Thats really interesting goleafs - I hadn't thought of that. I thought her grandson had most control over her estate but it certainly seems more than a coincidence

go_leafs_nation 03 Nov 08 at 1:35 a.m. GMT

I was thinking of it for a long time, and yes, that's the conclusion I came up with. Look at the last "faithful" season of Poirot (Death on the Nile and the lot): it changed the tone by removing Hastings, Japp, and Lemon (and thus got on par with the books), but took only comparatively minor liberties. Then, in the next season, we got "Cards on the Table" and the lot. It's too massive a change.

AndThenThereWasTim 12 Nov 08 at 7:14 p.m. GMT

She is the first and the most famous of all the Miss Marples

go_leafs_nation 13 Nov 08 at 11:14 a.m. GMT

Sorry if I seem somewhat of a stickler, but JH was NOT the first Miss Marple on screen. Margaret Rutherford played her in 4 movies.

Jemma 13 Nov 08 at 5:21 p.m. GMT

Actually it was Gracie Fields!

go_leafs_nation 14 Nov 08 at 12:45 a.m. GMT

Wasn't she MM on television? I was certain Ruhterford was the first to portray her on the big screen.