Marple: A Murder Is Announced (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

John Strickland

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Stewart Harcourt (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 January 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

The residents of Chipping Cleghorn are astonished to read an advert in the local newspaper that a murder...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Miss Marple | Reference To Goebbels | Amateur Detective | Mother Son Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Geraldine McEwan	...	Miss Jane Marple
Christian Coulson	...	Edmund Swettenham
Cherie Lunghi	...	Mrs. Swettenham
Robert Pugh	...	Colonel Easterbrook
Keeley Hawes	...	Philippa Haymes
Zoë Wanamaker	...	Letitia Blacklock
Claire Skinner	...	Amy Murgatroyd
Frances Barber	...	Lizzie Hinchcliffe
Elaine Paige	...	Dora Bunner
Matthew Goode	...	Patrick Simmons
Sienna Guillory	...	Julia Simmons
Catherine Tate	...	Mitzi Kosinski
Christian Rubeck	...	Rudi Schertz (as Christian Pedersen)
Alexander Armstrong	...	DI Craddock
Richard Dixon	...	Mr. Rowlandson

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Chilworth Manor, Chilworth, Guildford, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Granada Drama

Quotes:

Amy Murgatroyd: What do you think it means?
Lizzie Hinchcliffe: It means going round to Letitia Blacklock's and having bad sherry - that's what it means - and then having to pretend to murder one of the neighbours.
Amy Murgatroyd: And will the lights suddenly go out?
Lizzie Hinchcliffe: Well, that's usually the form.
Amy Murgatroyd: And will there be screaming?
Lizzie Hinchcliffe: Well, if you've got anything to do with it, yes, I expect so.

Movie Connections:

Featured in There's Something About Christie... Murder Made Simple (2007) (TV)

"The best in an otherwise dire series."

In the small English town of Chipping Cleghorn, a murder is announced in the local newspaper to take place at Mrs Blacklock's house later that evening. Several villagers go to her house thinking that it's a big practical joke. However, things take a sinister turn when the lights go out and shots are fired. None of the guests are murdered except that there is an unknown blonde man lying in the doorway shot dead.

By far and away the best entry in what has otherwise been a dire series. Director John Strickland directs with imaginative flair and has more of a feel for the mysterious atmosphere of the earlier adaptations and he must be commended for not allowing his actors to play it as if it's a wooden amateur dramatics matinée and this is one film that may stand up with the best of the past dramatisations of Christie's works such as David Suchet's Poirot and Joan Hickson's incarnation of Miss Marple.