In 1980 she had appeared in a minor role of Mrs Rivington in Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple, was an octogenarian herself during most of the series' production. The adaptations are mainly true to the original novels. Thus these three titles were the last to be dramatised under the BBC's agreement. The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side had already been filmed and theatrically released in 1980 with Angela Lansbury in the role, and the same production company was in the process of filming A Caribbean Mystery and They Do It With Mirrors with Helen Hayes for television broadcast. When the BBC was granted the screen rights to all twelve Miss Marple novels, the rights to three already co-existed and were set to expire at the end of 1988. With the success of that series, the BBC received approval to produce the stories of one of Christie's most famous detectives. Although indifferently treated by critics, the projects were popular with audiences and led to the filming of a number of short stories and the Tommy and Tuppence Beresford stories including The Secret Adversary and in the subsequent series Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime.

Producer Pat Sandys of London Weekend Television first approached Prichard and the Christie estate with a researched, detailed plan to film the novels Why Didn't They Ask Evans? and The Seven Dials Mystery in the early 1980s. In addition to its availability on VHS and DVD, the series began to be released on Blu-ray Disc in October 2014, marking its 30th anniversary.Īgatha Christie had never been very happy with most filmed adaptations of her works, and according to her grandson Mathew Prichard, who handled her estate after her death, she 'did not care much for television', either.

Bowen, Julia Jones, Alan Plater, Ken Taylor and Jill Hyem, and the series was produced by George Gallaccio. All twelve original Miss Marple Christie novels were dramatised.

It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 December 1992 on BBC1. Miss Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie, starring Joan Hickson in the title role.

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