Really Surprised!

Nice effects though.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

As many negative reviews as this series has received for taking too much liberty of Dame Agatha Christie's original work, I must admit that I find it quite enjoyable to watch. I personally don't mind it changed some of Dame Agatha's below-average original novels, and find a few of these adaptions quite interesting and even can be said as an improvement of to the original, especially for her late work such as At Bertram's Hotel, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Nemesis and so on. The only one in my opinion goes way too far is Murder Is Easy. The incest element in this story could have made a decent episode of Midsomer Murders, but it's never for Agatha Christie adaptions and never will be! As for the cast, I like the portray of both McEwan and McKenzie, but find the two actresses too much of a contrary to each other, especially for the same character in a consecutive TV series. As for regular writers, Kevin Elyot's scripts are always relatively faithful ones, but sometimes it makes the film feel rather dull, most notably being A Pocket Full of Rye. Stewart Harcourt could always do some interesting changes while keeping the core of the original stories, I like most of his work except for Ordeal By Innocence. Paul Rutman wrote two episodes with quite different styles: They Do It with Mirrors is a rather faithful adaption to the original story, while The Secret of Chimneys is a total rewrite! As for Stephen Churchett, he's the one that brings many of his own ideas to the source material, sometimes they work to me, such as Nemesis and The Sittaford Mystery, and sometimes they don't, most notably being Sleeping Murder and, of course, Murder Is Easy, due to their incest themes. But dare I say that as many people might criticize this series for its "reinventing" attempts, I still praise ITV's courage of trying to seek a new way to make Christie's work being accepted to the audience, despite the controversial feed backs.

A series of adaptations of Agatha Christie novels, with Miss Jane Marple as the central character. A seemingly innocuous elderly woman with no background in criminal investigation, she has a knack for solving crimes, particularly murder.Not in the same league as Agatha Christie's Poirot (the series starring David Suchet), but generally quite watchable. Miss Marple herself is quite bland, and certainly does not have enough colour or presence to carry an entire episode, let alone a series of 23 episodes. This is regardless of whether we are talking about the first 12 episodes, when Geraldine McEwan played Marple, or the final 11 episodes, when she was played by Julia McKenzie. McKenzie was the better of the two, having more gravitas and presence than McEwan, but neither inject much colour or engagement into proceedings.To compensate for Marple's dullness, the main secondary characters are given depth, and are often made the focus of the episode. This includes some potentially interesting sub-plots and backstories. Marple is a fringe character for much of the episode and then swoops in towards the end to solve the crime. This strategy is not always employed, unfortunately, and, when it is, is not always done well, depending largely on the writing for the episode and the quality of the performances. The mysteries themselves are generally quite intriguing. In some ways, this is where the Marple series is better than Poirot. Poirot mysteries were often highly complex, to the point of implausibility, with far-fetched back stories. Marple mysteries are more relatable and plausible.

I read and enjoyed all the Agatha Christies when I was a teenager. Despite this I love these adaptions, and I enjoy the new twists we get in the screenplays.I have to say that Geraldine McEwan for me is the consummate Miss Marple, as envisaged by Agatha Christie, managing to combine the ideas of sweet little old lady, knitting pink woollies for babies, with intelligence, humour and determination. 'Just passing were you, Miss Marple?' 'Oh, Mr Burton!'Julia McKenzie is not nearly as successful - have you noticed that her garb is far more severe, with jackets, stiff collars and plain hats rather than the cardigans, and flowery hats of McEwen? Even Joan Hickson, in the earlier series filmed in the 80s and early 90s, does not match EcEwan for authenticity.

...this isn't the greatest adaptation ever but who cares. I have great fun watching it and Geraldine McEwans is terrific as Miss Marple.Show can be sometimes boring or stupid but when it is good it has an amazing number of humorous situations and grand characters.Acting is tip-top and writing is great.Many people hate this show because it is not faithful to the novels. But i don't want to watch a book on TV i want to watch a new thing, changed mystery and have great fun.I recommend Marple dearly.P.S.: I love Dame Agatha's books too, so don't say i like the show because i never read them.