Despite many attempts, faithful adapt-ations of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple
cases proved elusive, unlike the author's
Poirot mysteries.
Gracie Fields was the unlikely star of a live
CBS broadcast of A Murder Is Announced
in 1956, whilst Margaret Rutherford's
popular cinema incarnation strayed from
the literary sources.
The final three productions in BBC1's
acclaimed Miss Marple series were made
when Joan Hickson agreed to reprise her
definitive portrayal, which finally enabled
the Corporation to adapt all twelve Marple
novels - published between 1930 and 1976.
Hickson's association with Christie began in
1945 when she appeared in the West End
version of Appointment With Death. She
also starred in Murder She Said (opposite
Rutherford's Marple) and Why Didn't They
Ask Evans? in 1980. Hickson then debuted
Ask Evans? in 1980. Hickson then debuted
as Jane Marple in The Body in the Library in 1984. She narrated Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portrait for Arena in 1990. She died in 1998, aged 92.
From 2004 to 2013, ITV Studios and WGBH Boston co-produced their
own (less faithful) run of Marple dramas.
own (less faithful) run of Marple dramas.
A repeat run of these feature-length specials (all produced by George
Gallaccio) began on Drama last night - they featured a total of twenty-nine Doctor Who cast and crew connections:
- T P [Thomas Patrick] McKenna (Dr. Grahame here; Wilmott in The Ambassador's Boots) was Captain Cook in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
- Joseph Mydell (Weston) voiced Garius Moro for Big Finish's Memories of a Tyrant (2019)
- Adrian Lukis (Kendal here; Ravenscroft in Elephants Can Remember) voiced Officer Bragg for Cobwebs (2010), Byzan for The Children of Seth (2011), Professor Jeffrey Broderick for Artificial Intelligence (2012) and The Keep (2015), Harvey Marsh for The Justice of Jalxar, Sigmund Freud for Return of the Repressed (both 2013), and Ansillon for Blood of the Time Lords (2022)
- Sophie Ward (Molly here; Carla/Caroline in Go Back for Murder, 2013; Marina in The Mirror Crack'd, 2022) voiced the Storyteller for Audio- Go's Aladdin Time (2011)
- Sheila Ruskin (Evelyn) was Kassia in The Keeper of Traken, then voiced Flague for Dethras (2017), and Cora for Morbius the Mighty (2024)
- production designer Don Giles and costume designer Colin Lavers both worked on The Power of Kroll - Lavers was also designer on Four to Doomsday, The King's Demons and The Five Doctors
- production manager David Mason was line producer on The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon and The Angels Take Manhattan
- make-up designer Vivien Riley began her television career as an assistant on The Masque of Mandragora
- series film recordist Malcolm Campbell worked on film sound for The Caves of Androzani and The Twin Dilemma
- Faith Brook (Ruth) was Flast in Attack of the Cybermen, whilst Pennie Bloomfield (PM) was an AFM on that story
- Christopher Villiers (Restarick here; Clarke in The ABC Murders, 2018) was Hugh Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons, Professor Moorhouse in Mummy on the Orient Express, and voiced Cacothis for Absolution (2007)
- Matthew Cottle (Gregg) voiced Paine for The Satanic Mill (2015), Hargreaves for Aquitaine, Leith for The Shadow Vortex, Henry Clarke for Quicksilver (all 2016), Maxwell Wilberforce Bell for Subterranea and Ben Donelly for Invocation, and Overseer for The Sontaran Project (both 2017)
- series cinematographer John Walker was a film cameraman on nine stories (from Horror of Fang Rock to Revelation of the Daleks)
- Christine Walmesley-Cotham was also make-up designer on The Ribos Operation and The Horns of Nimon
(UK TX: December 27 1992/Pub. 1962)
- [Patricia] Claire Bloom [born Blume] (Marina here; Ada in By the Pricking of My Thumbs, 2006) was the Woman in The End of Time
- for John [Michael Frederick] Castle (DI Craddock) see A Murder is Announced
- Judy [Valerie] Cornwell (Heather here; Valerie in The Lamp; Dora/ Miss Marple in A Murder is Announced, 1999/2015) was Maddy in Paradise Towers
- for Rhoda Lewis (Mrs. Brogan) see A Pocket Full of Rye
- Christopher Good (Hawes) was Morgan in The Beast Below
- Glynis Barber (Lola here; Julia in A Murder is Announced, 1979; Unknown in And Then There Were None, 1987; Cora in Endless Night, 2013) voiced Kathy Blake for The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Nicholaa de la Haye for The Outlaws (2022)
- John [Sleeman] Croft (Inch) was Tom Girton in The Daemons
- series film editor Bernard Ashby edited Arc of Infinity too
- Juley Harding was also production assistant on Black Orchid and The Caves of Androzani
- Alan Spalding was production designer on Revelation of the Daleks too
- make-up designer Suzanne Jansen also began her television career as an assistant on The Masque of Mandragora
- Judy Pepperdine was costume designer on Warriors of the Deep too
- Nick Barnett was the props buyer on Ghost Light too
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