While golfing on the Welsh coast, Bobby Jones apparently hits a stranger who falls off the the sea cliff. His enigmatic last words are "Why didn't they ask Evans?"
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Title: Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (TV Movie 1980)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Francesca Annis | ... | Lady Frances Derwent | |
| John Gielgud | ... | Reverend Jones | |
| Bernard Miles | ... | Dr. Thomas | |
| Eric Porter | ... | Dr. Nicholson | |
| Leigh Lawson | ... | Roger Bassington-ffrench | |
| James Warwick | ... | Bobby Jones | |
| Madeline Smith | ... | Moira Nicholson | |
| Connie Booth | ... | Sylvia Bassington-ffrench | |
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Robert Longden | ... | Badger Beadon |
| Doris Hare | ... | Rose Pratt | |
| Joan Hickson | ... | Mrs. Rivington | |
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Rowland Davies | ... | Dr. George Arbuthnot |
| James Cossins | ... | Henry Bassington-ffrench | |
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Mitzi Rogers | ... | Mrs. Cayman |
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John Pennington | ... | Mr. Cayman |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
While out playing golf with his friend Dr. Thomas, Bobby Jones finds a man who has apparently fallen over the side of a cliff onto the seaside rocks below. His dying words are "Why didn't they ask Evans?". The dead man is identified by his sister Mrs. Cayman as Alex Pritchard, who had recently returned to the UK from abroad and was on a walking tour. Bobby and his friend Lady Frances Derwent soon conclude that illicit drugs are at the core of the mystery and suspicion falls on a certain Dr. Nicholson who runs a country clinic for drug addicts. The mystery revolves around a will and numerous false or stolen identities. But just who is Evans and what should he/she have been asked? Written by garykmcd
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Trivia
James Warwick and Francesca Annis later appeared together in "Partners in Crime", as married sleuths Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. The episodes were adapted from Agatha Christie's short stories. See more »Quotes
Lady Frances Derwent: [to Bobby] It's men like you that stopped women from getting the vote.See more »
Bobby Jones (James Warwick) is pitifully attempting to play golf on the ground above the cliff to the sea. He would most assuredly hit someone if the ball just gets that far. He hears a cry but just plays on. That is until the search for the ball takes him to the edge of the cliff where it appears that a hiker fell on the rocks below. Bobby rushes to the aid of the fallen man. The fallen man becomes conscious just long enough to say "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" then expires.
From here characters pour in from all sides and you need to keep a scorecard and there are several doctors and mysteriously guilty-looking people. You may guess some of the stories but not all as they hold back most of the clues until the last moment.
Once again Britton has excelled in bringing a great Agatha Christie story to life. They did not try to overstate or rush through the story. Also true to Christie's writing, they left in the characters instead of trying to homogenize them into fewer numbers for TV's sake.
We recognize the actors for other such stories:
James Warwick who trained at the Central School in London also played Tommy in Agatha Christie's "Partners in Crime" series.
Francesca Annis was Tuppence in the "Partners in Crime" series. But where I remember her most as Lady Jessica in "Dune" (1984).
Sir John Gielgud, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London played Hamlet on the stage.
The big surprise is the late Joan Hickson who made her stage debut in prudential theater in 1927 and played the best Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie series of movies. You may not recognize her but she was also the landlady in "The Man Who Never Was" (1956)