The Murder at the Vicarage (TV 1986)

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.

Director:

Julian Amyes

Writer:

T.R. Bowen (dramatised by)

Stars:

Joan Hickson, Paul Eddington, Cheryl Campbell

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Hickson	...	Miss Marple
Paul Eddington	...	Reverend Leonard Clement
Cheryl Campbell	...	Griselda Clement
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	...	Det. Inspector Slack
Ian Brimble	...	Det. Sergeant Lake
Jack Galloway	...	Bill Archer
Rachel Weaver	...	Mary Wright
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Mrs. Price-Ridley
Barbara Hicks	...	Miss Hartnell

Storyline

When a despised magistrate is found shot to death in the library of the local vicarage, his wife and her lover, a portrait painter living on the church grounds, both confess to the crime. Miss Marple's keen powers of observation clear both of them of the crime, but other suspects abound. Included are the murdered man's daughter, who posed for the artist, a neurotic cleric who's embezzled church funds, the local doctor, an ex-convict who poached on the magistrate's land, and a missionary's enigmatic widow who argued with him the day before he was killed. An exasperated Inspector Slack must reluctantly accept help from the analytical Miss Marple.

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Plot Keywords:

church | vicarage | daughter | false confession | painter | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

UK USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1986 (UK)

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - The Murder at the Vicarage

Filming Locations:

Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), A&E Television Networks, 7 Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

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!

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Connections

Remade as Agatha Christie's Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (2004)

User Reviews

an excellent Miss Marple

Hickson is by far the best Miss Marple onscreen. Her performances make these cozy mysteries really entertaining. The screen adaptations in the series are a bit uneven, but I enjoyed all of them. I especially liked this one, "A Murder is Announced", and "Sleeping Murder".

The production values for the series were quite good, the supporting actors always at least passable and sometimes far better than that, and they didn't take too many liberties with the stories. But Hickson's performances are uniformly excellent.