The characters created by one of the last century’s best selling authors, Agatha Christie, continue to captivate audiences in the new century. Recently, Milwaukee Public Television ran “Agatha Christie’s Marple, Series 4,” a new production of mysteries unraveled by the shrewd spinster sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Series 4 is out on DVD.
The British TV production stars someone new in the title role. Stage and television actress Julia McKenzie plays Miss Marple along more serious lines than her predecessors, serving the character straight without Joan Hickson’s chaser of whimsy in the ‘80s TV series or the winking irony of Geraldine McEwan earlier this decade. With her calm, appraising eyes masked by impeccable manners and humility, Miss Marple could blend into the wallpaper of any tearoom in England. And perhaps that is her strength. Neither culprit nor copper take her seriously enough until it’s too late.
The dialogue in Series 4 isn’t always spot on but the lavish settings and attention to period detail remain. Part of the pleasure lies in the sprawling estates and rambling country houses where jealousy and eccentricity, vengeance and greed mix in a poisonous cocktail of emotion. Marple’s lifelong common sense and clear insight into human nature is an asset the professional detectives in Christie’s stories often lack.
