Agatha Christie's Marple

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.

Atleast first few season , cast always had one or two quirky choices. People taking on role which is opposite of type of character they are famous for

I have to disagree with one of the other reviewers comments on the actresses playing Ms. Marple. First of all, comparing it with the Poirot series featuring David Suchet is quite unfair since Suchet's character as a famous detective is always on the forefront of the stories, as in the books. Ms. Marple, on the other hand, is an amateur and an old lady, a more overlooked person who works in the background.

Geraldine McEwan is by far the better of the two actresses playing Ms. Marple in this series. She has the right wit and looks as if she is enjoying every moment, her eyes sparkle when she has an idea. Who ever decided to have Julia McKenzie succeed her, when McEwan decided to drop out of the series (probably for health reasons), must have been out of his mind. They are completely different personalities, and while McEwan looks mischievous, McKenzie looks as if she has terrible toothache., which makes it painful to watch her.

Both actresses suffer from the fact that, contrary to the strict way of doing the Poirot series, much tampering with the original stories has been done for most episodes. That did not much good to the plausability of the plots.

well, I haven't really read any books of Agatha Christie (except The Death on the Nile) and as a viewer, I found this series so enjoyable! and my favorite Miss Marple is Geraldine McEwan because i thought she amused me kind of sad she didn't continue but it's understandable! when the plot was sometimes didn't really work on me, I thought it's something that made me want to watch it more and ended up wanting to watch more. It's one of the first British TV series that I watched, and it's something that I wouldn't regret. Ms. Marple is such an unique and authentic character, and it's kind of unfortunate she didn't as popular as Poirot.

I am an Agatha Christie scholar, who has researched her work for years. Does that make me a better viewer? Not necessarily, but a more attentive one. I can honestly say this is one of the best TV adaptations and definitely worth of 10 stars. It's got everything and more. Please give it a chance and stop comparing it against other productions.