Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Peter Medak

Writers:

Stewart Harcourt (screenplay) and
Agatha Christie (novel)

Release Date:

19 February 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.

Plot Keywords:

Miss Marple | Tommy And Tuppence | Vicar | Murder | Syringe

Cast

Geraldine McEwan	...	Miss Jane Marple
Chloe Pennington	...	Young Hannah
Oliver Jordan	...	Young Ethan
Anthony Andrews	...	Tommy Beresford
Greta Scacchi	...	Tuppence Beresford
Clare Holman	...	Miss Packard
Miriam Karlin	...	Marjorie Moody
June Whitfield	...	Mrs. Lancaster
Claire Bloom	...	Aunt Ada
Steven Berkoff	...	Freddie Eccles
Patrick Barlow	...	Mr. Timothy
O.T. Fagbenle	...	Chris Murphy (as O-T Fagbenle)
Jody Halse	...	Amos Perry
Josie Lawrence	...	Hannah Beresford
Michael Maloney	...	Dr. Joshua Waters

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie - Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Australia) (DVD title)

Runtime:

USA:102 min | Brazil:93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG

Company:

Agatha Christie

Trivia:

Miss Marple does not appear in Agatha Christie's original novel, which was an adventure featuring her other sleuths, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. In order to make the story part of the Marple series, the time period was moved from post-war to sometime near the end of the war. This conveniently places Tommy still in the military intelligence service abroad, and his part of the story was re-written for Miss Marple.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: This episode is set somewhere in the late 40s, early 50s (Polo mints were first made in 1948). Miss Marple requests the taxi driver to take them to "the train station". The expression "train station" has only been in common use in the last few years, it's certain Miss Marple would have said "railway station".

Quotes:

Septimus Bligh: Why do you drink?
Tuppence Beresford: Why do you?
Septimus Bligh: [Bitterly] Because life is empty of meaning.

Movie Connections:

Version of Mon petit doigt m'a dit... (2005)

Absolute Garbage!!

The new majority holders of Agatha Christie Ltd have started this new series and with very few exceptions the episodes are dreadful. This one is one of the worse.

Gee, did someone actually call himself an "Agatha Christie Fan" and give it a ten point score?? A dead giveaway of a clueless reviewer. Agatha Christie NEVER placed Miss Marple in this story. It was strictly a Tommy and Tuppence Beresford mystery.

As usual with these terrible remakes, the crew have changed everything including Christie's wonderful plot, fully-dimensional characters, time-settings. So it's terrible to place Christie's name on it.

I'd have no problem if the series was actually reasonably good. It isn't. In this one, Tuppence Beresford is a drunken, depressed drudge. Miss Marple is dithering, dotty, twinkling and totally unbelievable as a crack-shot elderly sleuth. All very good older actors are wasted here, their talents buried under shoddy direction, and silly plotting.

There's nothing of Agatha Christie here except her name....used to draw in the novice.

The entire series reminds me of silly, overacted community theater plays. The actors chew up the scenery and everything is too silly for words.

Christie would turn in her grave!!