The original 1958 novel has Arthur Calgary acting as the chief investigator and does not feature Miss Marple.
When Cambridge scientist Dr. Arthur Calgary says he has recently returned from the Arctic, Mickey Argyle asks whether he was on the presumably fictional Hayes Birley Expedition. This may have been named for Isaac Israel Hayes who led northern expeditions the 1850s and 1860s, and Cambridge researcher Brian Birley Roberts who did the same in the 1930s.
Director Maria Armstrong suggested Cheryl Campbell for a key role but the producers had never heard of her.
Michael Feast also appeared in Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.
Burn Gorman and Andrea Lowe appeared in the same Torchwood episode: Fragments.