Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder (1987)

When a young bride moves into a country manor, long repressed childhood memories of witnessing a murder come to the surface.

Director:

John Davies

Writer:

Ken Taylor (screenplay)

Stars:

Joan Hickson, Geraldine Alexander, John Moulder-Brown

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Hickson	...	Miss Marple
Geraldine Alexander	...	Gwenda Reed
John Moulder-Brown	...	Giles Reed
Frederick Treves	...	Doctor James Kennedy
Jean Anderson	...	Mrs. Fane
Terrence Hardiman	...	Walter Fane
John Bennett	...	Richard Erskine
Geraldine Newman	...	Janet Erskine
Jack Watson	...	Mr. Foster
Joan Scott	...	Mrs. Cocker
Jean Heywood	...	Edith Paget
Georgine Anderson	...	Mrs. Hengrave
Edward Jewesbury	...	Mr. Sims
David McAlister	...	Raymond West
Amanda Boxer	...	Joan West

Storyline

BBC TV adaption of the Agatha Christie's novel. A young recently married woman, Gwenda Reed, comes back to England after living most of her life in New Zealand. While her husband, Giles, is out of the country she buys a house for them and starts recalling memories which make her start to think that perhaps she had lived in the house before. It's only then, while dining out with friends, that a chance remark triggered off a frightening memory, as a little girl, looking down at a woman's body and the murderer with "monkey paws" hands. Gwenda is determined to find out the sources of this memory. The killer, thought that he/she was safe after eighteen years and is prepared to kill to cover up the past. But Gwenda has help as one of her dining friends is Raymond West, who has a very special Aunt who is willing to help Gwenda - Miss Jane Marple...

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Plot Keywords:

house | murder | miss marple | death | strangulation | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

UK Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 1987 (UK)

Also Known As:

Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder

Filming Locations:

Broughton Castle, Banbury, Oxfordshire, 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?

Trivia

Esmond Kinight who has a short role as a retired estate agent died shortly after first broadcasting of this serial.

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Goofs

In Part 2, Gwenda mentions that her step-mother Helen went missing "about 20 years ago" & "shortly before the War" (i.e. mid- to late 1930s), which means that this story is, in fact, set in the 1950s (as are most of the Joan Hickson Miss Marple adaptations). Thus, the yellow car may not be an anachronism at all.

The "posh car" owned by the tour bus company owner is a bright yellow roadster that looks suspiciously like a 1957 Ford Thunderbird, though it may have been a British make of similar design. But the headlights and taillights are unmistakably from the period of 1955-1957. If this mystery series is set in the post-WWII era of 1946-48, that car would have been about 10 years before its time.

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Quotes

Gwenda Reed: Why didn't *we* think of that?
Miss Jane Marple: Because you believed what he told you. It's very dangerous to believe people - I haven't for years.

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Connections

Followed by Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery (1989)

User Reviews

Not the best Miss Marple

This is a little different from the normal Miss Marple and suffers a little because of it, I feel. We see less than usual of Jane Marple as the story concentrates on the newlyweds, so that although enjoyable in itself, this is not the best Miss Marple mystery.