Miss Marple: The Sittaford Mystery

Geraldine McEwan returns to ITV1 as Jane Marple on 30th April in The Sittaford Mystery.

This is based on an Agatha Christie novel in which Miss Marple did not feature. ITV has bought the TV rights of all the Agatha Christie novels and is including Miss Marple in several of them to increase the number of viewers.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs has also been screened this year. Miss Marple did not appear in the original Agatha Christie novel either.

The Sittaford Mystery is set on the Devon moors during a snow blizzard where Miss Marple takes refuge at Sittaford House.

The owner of the house, Captain Trevelyan, decides to spend the night at a local hotel, where a ouija board predicts his death. He is later found dead in his room.

Winston Churchill, played by Robert Hardy, makes an appearance in this TV film. Also look out for Patricia Hodge, Mel Smith, Timothy Dalton and Rita Tushingham.

Miss Marple - Geraldine McEwan
Clive Trevelyan - Timothy Dalton
Arthur Hopkins - Robert Hickson
Winston Churchill - Robert Hardy
James Pearson - Laurence Fox
Charles Burnaby - James Murray
Emily Trefusis - Zoe Telford
Ahmed Ghali - Jeffery Kissoon
John Enderby - Mel Smith
Miss Elizabeth Percehouse - Rita Tushingham
Stanley Kirkwood - James Wilby
Dr Ambrose Burt - Paul Kaye
Martin Zimmerman - Michael Brandon
Violet Willett - Carey Mulligan
Mrs Evadne Willett - Patricia Hodge
Donald Garfield - Matthew Kelly
Archie Stone - Michael Attwell
Reporter - Ian Hallard

The screenplay is again by Stephen Churchett, who has also written other disappointing Geraldine McEwan films. However, the disappointing Sittaford Mystery adaptation is probably due to the incongruous performances by some of the cast including a drunk boyfriend and a Basil Fawlty-style hotel manager.