Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle (2003) (TV)

Director:

Anthony Pullen Shaw

Writers (WGA):

Lyn Hamilton (novel)
Rosemary Anne Sisson (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

9 May 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Jessica Fletcher is off to solve another murder mystery, this time in Ireland.

Plot Keywords:

Telefilm | TV Series Reunion | Based On Novel

Cast

Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Margaret Byrne
Sarah-Jane Potts	...	Breeta Byrne
Peter Donat	...	Eamon Byrne
Cyril O'Reilly	...	Paddy Whelen
Lynn Wanlass	...	Nora Flood
Timothy V. Murphy	...	Inspector O'Dwyer
Joe Michael Burke	...	Michael Davis
Andrew Connolly	...	Tom Molloy
Geraldine Hughes	...	Fiona Byrne
Helena Carroll	...	Kitty Murphy
Sean Lawlor	...	John Herlihy
William Morgan Sheppard	...	Denny (as W. Morgan Sheppard)
Gerry Gibson	...	Harry Ryan
Tegan West	...	Mr. McCafferty

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials) | Brazil:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Ireland

Company:

Corymore Productions

Trivia:

The way the testament was made was taken from The Last Gentleman (1934).

Goofs:

Factual errors: While the film is set in Ireland, the Garda (police) cars have Northern Irish registration plates (PIB XXX).

Movie Connections:

Follows Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest (1997) (TV)

Wasn't This Show Canceled?

Murder, She Wrote, the tv show, hasn't been on in awhile, right? New episodes that is. Therefore this isn't a new episode at all... but it sure felt like one. I never watched the TV series but I've seen other Made-for-TV Movies after a series has been canceled and they all felt like just another episode therefore they were really anything that special. This MOVIE wasn't that special, either. One thing I never got was the desire to visit the beautiful land of Ireland... I didn't think the scenery was prominently featured here. That was a good thing because exotic locations can often appear on film more like postcards and can detract from the story. Not so here. Ms. Fletcher blended in quite well. What was peculiar was how she was involved everytime the police were on the scene. Hmmm... I'll bet it was like that 1,000 times over the course of the series. Cops... Jessica. Cops... Jessica. That was quite monotonous and kind of ridiculous. Reminds me of The Dukes of Hazard, how the Duke boys were always getting into one fix or another, over and over, and the whole time they were living in a tiny rural county. Very monotonous. Interesting, though, was the relationship between the youngest character, Brita, and Ms. Fletcher. It was nice to see them getting along, Brita making Jessica feel welcome and the two of them solving the riddle together. Refreshing considering how pathetic that Fiona character was. Mucho daft but for the longest time I thought she was the bad guy so a good job in the writing with that. Overall, this was a pretty decent mystery. Angela Lansbury was fantastic as was Sarah-Jane Potts (I wish more of the movie featured her!) It didn't really have very much of a movie feel to it after the first few minutes or so but I still enjoyed it and hope Ms. Lansbury's in good enough health to make a new `episode' or two. My grade for this: B