by Charles L. P. Silet

Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple did not make her dramatic debut until some decades after her first appearance in print. When she did finally appear it was through  television, not film, that she was introduced to mass audiences. On December 30, 1956, Goodyear Playhouse presented an hour-long adaptation of A Murder is Announced on U.S. television. Gracie Fields, a former British music hall star turned actress, made a rather unlikely Miss Marple although there were stranger incarnations to come.

In her first cinematic outing, Christie's genteel village spinster was nearly unrecognizable in an uproarious comic portrayal by the zaftig stage actress Margaret Rutherford. The very popular Murder, She Said (1962) a dramatisation of 4:50 From Paddington set the humorous tone that would follow in three subsequent films: Murder at the Gallop (1963) based on the Poirot story After the Funeral, Murder Most Foul (1964) an adaptation of another Poirot: Mrs McGinty's Dead, and Murder Ahoy! (1964). Creative license taken by the filmmakers resulted in Miss Marple going undercover as a housemaid, riding on horseback and even conducting a vigorous swordfight! (The last installment in the series, Murder Ahoy!, used the Miss Marple character in an original screenplay not based on a Christie story.)

Although Christie liked and eventually became friends with Rutherford even dedicating one of her Miss Marple novels, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, to the actress she did not approve of the MGM films at all.

In 1980 Hollywood filmed another Marple story, this time with a far-too-young Angela Lansbury in the role surrounded by an all-star cast including Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak and Tony Curtis. The Mirror Crack'd avoided the broad comedy of the Rutherford vehicles and did fairly well at the box office and with the critics, although again it failed to satisfy Christie.

In two made-for-television films, A Caribbean Mystery (1983) and Murder with Mirrors (1985), veteran American stage actress Helen Hayes had the distinction of being the only over-age Miss Marple. The New York Times called her portrayal "delightful and resilient" although the diminishing quality of the second production, as well as Hayes advanced age, brought the series to an end.

It was a BBC television series featuring the gentle, sure acting style of Joan Hickson that finally captured the essence of Miss Marple. Hickson's portrayal was an immediate and resounding success. From 1985 to 1992, Hickson filmed all twelve of the Miss Marple novels in a series which was seen in more than 40 countries around the world.

Oddly enough, it was Agatha Christie herself who first detected the glimmers of Hickson's future triumph. The two met on the set of Murder She Said, the 1962 Marple film. In a 1993 interview, Hickson recalled "She said to me, 'Someday I would like you to play my Miss Marple.' I was quite taken aback, as I was young at the time!"

In 2004, ITV & WGBH Boston announced the launch of a new television incarnation of Agatha Christie's spinster sleuth. Geraldine McEwan starred in four stunning new adaptations of The Body in the Library, A Murder is Announced, The Murder at the Vicarage and 4.50 from Paddington. Four new films followed in 2006: The Moving Finger, Sleeping Murder, By the Pricking of my Thumbs and The Sittaford Mystery. and a third series went into production in 2006 Towards Zero, Nemesis, At Bertrams Hotel and Ordeal by Innocence broadcast in 2007. Marple continues to attract stellar casts, reputed playwrights and excellent critical reviews and was emmy award nominated in the US in 2005.

Movies
Starring Margaret Rutherford

Murder, She Said (1962)
Murder at the Gallop (1963)
Murder Most Foul (1964)
Murder Ahoy! (1964)

Starring Angela Lansbury
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1980)

Starring Helen Hayes as Miss Marple.

A Caribbean Mystery, 1983
Murder with Mirrors, 1985

Television Series
 
The Miss Marple Mysteries
Starring Joan Hickson. Produced by the BBC in England.

The Body in the Library, 1984
The Moving Finger, 1985
A Pocket Full of Rye, 1985
A Murder is Announced, 1985
Sleeping Murder, 1986
At Bertram's Hotel, 1987
Nemesis, 1987
Murder at the Vicarage, 1987
4:50 from Paddington, 1987
A Caribbean Mystery, 1989
They Do It With Mirrors, 1991
The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, 1992

Agatha Christie's Marple

Starring Geraldine McEwan. Produced by Granada/Agatha Christie Ltd/WGBH Boston.

The Body in the Library 2004
A Murder is Announced 2004
Murder at the Vicarage 2004
4:50 From Paddington 2004

The Moving Finger 2006
Sleeping Murder 2006
By the Pricking of My Thumbs 2006
The Sittaford Mystery 2006

Towards Zero 2006
Nemesis 2006
At Bertrams Hotel 2007
Ordeal by Innocence 2007