Doctor Who Vs. Marple: 4.50 From Paddington

Agatha Christie's seventh Miss Marple case (her

forty-ninth novel) was published in Britain in

1957, and issued as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw

in America. The book was adapted in 1961 for MGM's first Marple feature film Murder She Said

(when Margaret Rutherford's Jane co-starred

with the BBC's future incarnation, Joan Hickson), then was first dramatised for television in 1987.

Geraldine McEwan then portrayed Marple in this

ITV Studios version that followed on Boxing Day

2004. 

Repeated on ITV3 today, the mystery featured

David Warner, Neve McIntosh (pictured as Vastra), John Hannah, Amanda Holden, Griff Rhys

Jones, Ben Daniels, Rob Brydon, and twelve

Doctor Who cast and crew connectionsi:

• Jenny [Ann] Agutter (Agnes here; Adela in Taken at the Flood) voiced Sekhmet for Big Finish's The Bride of Peladon (2008)
• Niamh Cusack (Emma here; Valerie in The King of Clubs) voiced Clarimonde for Zaltys (2017), and the Oldest for The Eternity Club 1 (2024)
• Pam Ferris (Mrs. McGillicuddy) voiced Lizzie Corrigan for The Eternal Summer (2009), and Amanda Steele for Night of the Vashta Nerada (2017)
• Pip [Dean] Torrens (Noel Coward here; Rich in The Mystery of the Spanish Chest; Cloade in Taken at the Flood) was Headmaster Rocastle in Human Nature and The Family of Blood, then voiced Charlie Gibbs for Eldrad Must Die! (2013), and Kenton for Break the Ice (2022)
• Celia [Diana Savile] Imrie (Mde. Joilet here; Maid in Death on the Nile, 1976; Kathy in Taken at the Flood) was [Rosemary] Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for The Fifth Citadel (2013), Madame Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Livia for Enemy Lines (both 2016)
• stunt co-ordinator Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, a Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Peter Davison on Warriors of the Deep
• Christine Greenwood was the make-up designer on Remembrance of the Daleks too
• second assistant director Scott Bates was first assistant director on eleven stories (from Listen to Hell Bent)
• for Stephen Churchett see The Murder at the Vicarage
• for Damien Timmer, Sean Clayton and Nigel Squibbs see The Body in the Library