The Murder at the Vicarage (1986) (TV)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Julian Amyes

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
T.R. Bowen (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1986 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery

Plot:

Faced with two false confessions and numerous suspects after a despised civil magistrate is found shot in the local vicarage, Detective Inspector Slack reluctantly accepts help from Miss Marple.

Plot Keywords:

Miss Marple | Church | Vicarage | Painter | Vicar

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Joan Hickson	...	Miss Jane Marple
Paul Eddington	...	Rev. Leonard Clement
Cheryl Campbell	...	Griselda Clement
Robert Lang	...	Colonel Protheroe
Polly Adams	...	Ann Protheroe
Tara MacGowran	...	Lettice Protheroe
James Hazeldine	...	Lawrence Redding
Christopher Good	...	Christopher Hawes
Norma West	...	Mrs. Lestrange
Michael Browning	...	Dr. Haydock
David Horovitch	...	Detective Inspector Slack
Ian Brimble	...	Detective Sergeant Lake
Jack Galloway	...	Bill Archer
Rachel Weaver	...	Mary Wright
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Mrs. Price-Ridley

Also Known As:

Miss Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (UK) (series title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England, UK

Company:

7 Network

Quotes:

Detective Sergeant Lake: [Referring to Mrs. Price-Ridley] Oh, yes, and she thinks she heard the murderer in the shrubbery. Reckon she heard him sneeze.
Detective Inspector Slack: So all we have to do is find someone with a snotty handkerchief!

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Mirror Crack'd (1992) (TV)

Wonderful Joan Hickson

I have never thought that Margaret Rutherford was the perfect actress to portray Christie's famous lady detective.Angela Landsbury,who portrayed her in "the mirror cracked" was not an ideal choice either.Joan Hickson was Miss Marple as I see her ,discreet ,insightful,mischievous,terribly observant.She and the detective inspector make a funny pair,like Poirot and Japp. Unlike Poirot,Marple does not really investigate.She never questions the suspects (some of whom even use her as their alibi)but has a rare talent for observation.

"Murder at the vicarage" is a classic Christie novel:it happens in Jane Marple's village where a wicked colonel nobody likes -and thus has a reason to kill him of course- is murdered.It even involves the priests who are suspects too.Good job by all the cast.

French title (of the novel and the movie):"L'affaire Prothero" .