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Scary bits!

(Contains spoilers!)

moreteavicar 27 Dec 08 at 3:22 p.m. GMT

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The Joan Hickson (BBC) Miss Marple films are brilliant TV, and turned me into a lifelong Agatha Christie fan. I grew up watching them, and have never recovered. No-one can beat Agatha's storytelling, especially in those great adaptations.

Part of the success of them, for me, is that they are so SCARY! There are plenty of laughs too (Miss Marple can be very camp), but the scary bits are unforgettable. The eerie music and lighting is such a crucial part of the success.

Best scary bits:

1.   Miss Murgatroyd's murder (A Murder is Announced)

2.   Gladys on the washing line (A Pocketful of Rye)

3.   Monkey Paws on the staircase (Sleeping Murder)

4.   The falling statue (Nemesis)

5.   The milky drink (Nemesis)

6.   The tomb (4.50 from Paddington)

7.   The painting in the attic (The Murder at the Vicarage)

8.   Nine Night (A Caribbean Mystery)

Anyone else have anything to add? Some truly chilling moments in an unbeatable series. (I note that ITV don't have time to be scary, as they are too busy adding lesbians and celebrity guest stars).

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6 replies

Reverse order

Tommy_A_Jones 03 Mar 09 at 12:31 p.m. GMT

As you know I love the Joan Hickson serties and have them on video, the bits I find scary are

1. The Murderer trying unsuccessfully to kill someone (Body In The Library

2. The Murderer trying to kill someone at the end of A Murder is Announced

3. The Discovery of a body (4.50 From Paddington)

4. Death of Murderer (A Pocketful of Rye) But that wasn't faithful to the book if I remember rightly.

5. Attempted escape and subsequent Death (At Bertrams Hotel)

6. The Arrest of The Murderer (A Carribean Mystery)

7. The Falling Statue (Nemesis).

I haven't read 'At Bertrams Hotel, 'They Do It with Mirrors', 'The Mirror Crack'd, 'A Carribean Mystery and 'Nemesis', I enjoyed them all but found 'A Carribean Mystery, 'The Mirror Cracked' and 'They Do it with Mirrors less enjoyable, Are they thew weaker Miss Marple Books? 

By the way I love your name.

6497942 03 Mar 09 at 2:39 a.m. GMT

i'd like to add a scary bit and that would be beatrice's death in 'the moving finger' - that always used to haunt me when i was little. Recently I bought it and it wasn't as bad as i remembered but still it gives you quite a shock.

squatty 29 Jan 09 at 6:34 p.m. GMT

Just remembered another one: when the murderer is making their getaway in A Pocketful Of Rye, a real sense of madness seeps through the scene and the viewer in on tenterhooks because they know they are about to witness a shocking self-destruction

murderisannounced 27 Jan 09 at 5:15 p.m. GMT

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I thought that the monkey paws 'oh no! I've seen my stepmother dead over the banistairs bit' was a bit confusing because you never really knew what happened. She just screamed and then continued to say that someone walked over her grave in that annoying accent.

At least in the recent adaption you see the body (even if it is a little creepy), but then they went and mucked it up by changing all the characters.

squatty 27 Dec 08 at 5:21 p.m. GMT

I agree with most of those you've listed moreteavicar. Just one more off the top of my head - Mr Symmington carrying Megan down the stairs before trying to gas her.

Tommy_A_Jones 27 Dec 08 at 4:04 p.m. GMT

I also love the Joan Hickson series and have had them for years, sadly the only Miss Marple book I read before watching them is "4.50 From Paddington" (I have now read 6. I love Paul Eddington as the Vicar in Murder at the Vicarage, Gwen Watford as Dolly Bantry in "Body In The Library", and Joan Sims and Paolo Donniosti in A Murder Is Announced Baker got the role of Wexford because of being in "At Bertrams Hotel"? By the way, I love your name.