The biggest treat in watching this finely produced series is to see the familiar stable of British actors who people the lovely villages in which the plots thicken. In Murder is Easy so many victims fell, that I wondered if the village would have to be abandoned for lack of inhabitants. If I lived in Great Britain and I saw Miss Marple heading towards my village, I’d get into my Bentley and run, for everywhere Miss Marple goes, murder follows. They also lack her female intuition, which prompts her to notice those tiny details that men often miss, such as a redhead not choosing to dye her hat red. While these men are quite capable, they lack Miss Marple’s “insider” knowledge, as she has a knack for being at the right place at the wrong time, as it were. And what fine detectives they are! This season we have Matthew MacFadyen as Inspector Neele, Benedict Cumberbatch as retired policeman Luke Fitzwilliam, Alex Jennings as Inspector Curry, and Warren Clarke as Commander Peters. She never oversteps her boundaries with the detectives who arrive on the scene to solve a case. In PBS’s new Miss Marple series, Julia’s mousy character can easily disappear into the woodwork as she takes on the role of keen observer. Julia’s Miss Marple reminds me of the smart but deferential women of my grandmother’s generation who stand on the sidelines but whose power lay in maneuvering others into action or thinking their way. I’ve held off reviewing this excellent series showing on PBS Masterpiece Mystery! until I got a good sense of how well Julia McKenzie fares as the observant elderly sleuth, and I find that she plays the character true to form. Retired policeman Luke Fitzwilliam and Miss Marple looking for clues If you missed the episode, or would like to see it again, PBS will show it online from June 21 to July 4th. I won’t spoil the plot for you other than to say that this was one of the more satisfying Miss Marple mysteries that I have watched. Finch is a particularly refreshing official, for he respects Miss Marple’s detective skills and consults her as they both, well, she solves the mystery. Played by the divine Stephen Dillane, who portrayed Schmidt in God on Trial and Thomas Jefferson in John Adams. Once again things go bump in the night and someone is murdered.Įnter Finch, Chief Inspector from Scotland Yard. Assembled at the mansion are a motley sort, even for a Miss Marple mystery. The mysterious County Ludwig Von Stainach wishes to purchase The Chimneys, a house that has seen better days. "With these period dramas, Marple, Poirot and Cranford, it's like stepping into a warm bath.I should have guessed the ending of The Secret of the Chimneys, the latest Miss Marple episode on PBS on Sunday, June 20, but I so enjoyed going along for the ride that I deliberately missed the cues until the very end. While the more recent Marple dramas tinker with Christie's original stories and have their fair share of racy material, McKenzie thinks they fall into a long tradition of cosy Sunday night fare. The actress recently finished filming the next series of Cranford in which she plays ditzy Mrs Forrester - a far cry from the sharp-minded crime solver. "But I'm not into picking up details like Marple, though my husband says I've been spotting things in the house that haven't been done in my absence - an extension of her," she smiles. ![]() With a gruelling filming schedule to produce the lavish Sunday night dramas, McKenzie admits it has been hard work and has mislaid two pairs of glasses as a result. I wonder if she did it with a Lancashire accent?!" she jokes. ![]() "The only one I haven't seen is Gracie Fields. The actress, who also stars in period favourite Cranford, says that she has watched most of her predecessors, including Rutherford's "real comic creation". McKenzie, though appearing much younger, is reminiscent of Hickson's carefully studied, quiet and enduring portrayal - regarded by many Christie aficionados as the definitive Marple. Julia McKenzie, pictured as Mrs Forrester in Cranford
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