I was absolutely gutted when the BBC regained the rights of Agatha Christie from ITV, there were still a few stories that could have been done to feature Miss M, The Seven dials mystery being one.
It's a very difficult series to rate, because the productions ranged from awful to wonderful. Why didn't they ask Evans and The Sittaford Mystery being the low points, with brilliance coming from the likes of The Blue Geranium, A Murder is announced and The Moving Finger.
Adaptations ranged from fairly accurate, A Pocket full of Rye and A Murder is announced, to wildly re written, Nemesis perhaps being the most altered.
They weren't afraid to add Jane Marple to Christie books where she hadn't appeared, in some cases it worked brilliantly, The Pale Horse and Greenshaw's Folly being about the best.
Initially we had Geraldine McEwan, pretty different to the character from the book, but cheeky with a sparkle, and a spry sense of humour. McEwan was unable to return for series 4, so Julia McKenzie was cast to take over. McKenzie was more accurate to the character in my opinion, and when the writing was good, she shone, wonderful in both The Pale Horse and Blue Geranium.
They seemed to take a few risks when it came to casting, we had Elaine Page, Griff Rhys Jones, Harry Enfield, Lisa Stansfield, all actually worked brilliantly, cast against type. The performance highlights came from Zoe Wannamaker, Sharon Small, Shirley Henderson and Fiona Shaw. The only time I felt the acting was in question was during 'Evans,' for that one I blame the script and poor direction.
Glorious scenery throughout, I loved the house that was used as Miss Marple's residence, such a pretty place. The period detail was spot on so many times, in terms of outfits and styling they nailed it, Bertram's wasn't my favourite adaptation but it's a beautiful looking episode, the sets and clothes are sumptuous.
The music was a little overdone at times, more so in Series 1, but a lot of the time it was enjoyable and melodic, The Body in the Library and Murder is Easy being better examples.
You need to watch these adaptations with an open mind, purists of Christie's work are likely to watch with unease. The acting throughout the series was excellent, it was the writers and producers that made the episodes great or poor.
People will always compare these adaptations to the BBC's, I did myself, but try to enjoy them without the comparisons, there'd have been no point making them identically, so plaudits for trying something different, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
