Marple: 4:50 from Paddington

Marple: 4:50 from Paddington
ITV
26 December 2004
Mystery, Historical Drama
DVD
B-

Cast I recognized:

• Pam Ferris (Aunt Marge in Harry Potter)
• Celia Imrie (mostly from the Bridget Jones movies, but on this blog we've seen her on Inspector Lewis and Kingdom) as Madame Joliet
• Griff Rhys Jones (mostly Whose Line Is It Anyway? but a few other things, here cast against type as a murderous doctor)
• Pip Torrens (Bingo Little on Jeeves and Wooster a dozen years earlier) as Noel Coward

And Geraldine McEwan is Miss Jane Marple.

I've read only two Agatha Christie novels, neither of them with Marple, so I can't say how accurate this is, but I found it entertaining if a bit convoluted.  I might've gone with a B but I didn't really get why the sleuthing was divided up the way it is, so that Marple is doing things sort of remotely through her lovely young assistant.  This is set primarily in 1951 and is from the first series (on a stand-alone disc).  We'll jump to Series Three next time.

Stephen Churchett adapted this and five other Christie novels.  Andy Wilson directed two more episodes.