joan hickson miss marple the moving finger

A bizarre riddle for Miss Marple and a deadly family intrigue. Only Miss Marple sees the connection and that the next victim will be an old acquaintance - unless she can uncover the murderer in time.Ī murder witnessed from a train, a missing body and an eccentric old patriarch. There she finds a curious ménage - an extended family and a reformatory for young criminals - where violence seems just below the surface.Īn old nursery rhyme comes true in a grotesque double murder.

To reassure an old friend, Miss Marple agrees to go down to Stonygates, a rambling country mansion. But when the lights go out at the appointed hour, no one thinks it's a joke any more. Who is the strange young blonde lying strangled in the library of Gossington Hall? Fortunately for the Bantrys, Miss Marple is their neighbour.Įveryone in Chipping Cleghorn is intrigued by the advertisement predicting a murder at Little Paddocks. The girl is traced to a seaside resort and the desperate family of a wealthy old man.When the hated Colonel Protheroe is found murdered in the sleepy village of St Mary Mead, Miss Marple is puzzled why so many people want to confess.Ī nasty case of poison-pen letters brings Miss Marple to the East Anglian village of Lymston. Miss Marple helps her neighbours the Bantrys when a lovely young girl is found dead in their library. The Body in the Library was repeated on BBC Four in September and October 2013. As someone notes about the case, 'you'll have to admit it has all the bizarre elements of a cheap thriller.' Once hooked, you won't be able to turn it off. And the supporting cast is admirable, particularly Gwen Watford as Dolly and David Horovitch as Inspector Slack. Miss Hickson is lovely, neither as awesome as Miss Rutherford nor as overly cute as Helen Hayes. The characters are nicely realized and the suspense holds. This BBC/Arts & Entertainment co-production offers an especially good example of Agatha Christie in adaptation. Miss Christie would no doubt approve of Joan Hickson, the veteran British character actress who plays Miss Marple. In his review in The New York Times, critic John J. In the United States the film was first broadcast on 4 January 1986 as a part of PBS's Mystery!. Starring Joan Hickson in the title role, it was the first film presented in the British television series Miss Marple and premiered in three parts from 26 to 28 December 1984 on BBC One. Bowen and was directed by Silvio Narizzano. The film uses an adapted screenplay by T. The Body in the Library is a 3-part 1984 television film adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1942 detective novel The Body in the Library, which was co-produced by the BBC and the A&E Network.

1984 television film directed by Silvio Narizzano

Joan hickson miss marple the moving finger