The Sittaford Mystery 

The death of the presumptive future Prime Minister is predicted during a séance in a snowbound country hotel, and he is found stabbed to death in his room the next morning.

Director:

Paul Unwin

Writers:

Stephen Churchett (screenplay), Agatha Christie (novel)

Stars:

Geraldine McEwan, Timothy Dalton, Robert Hickson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Geraldine McEwan	...	Miss Marple
Timothy Dalton	...	Clive Trevelyan
Robert Hickson	...	Arthur Hopkins
Robert Hardy	...	Winston Churchill
Laurence Fox	...	James Pearson
James Murray	...	Charles Burnaby
Ian Hallard	...	Reporter
Zoe Telford	...	Emily Trefusis
Jeffery Kissoon	...	Ahmed Ghali
Mel Smith	...	John Enderby
Rita Tushingham	...	Miss Elizabeth Percehouse
James Wilby	...	Stanley Kirkwood
Paul Kaye	...	Dr. Ambrose Burt
Michael Brandon	...	Martin Zimmerman
Carey Mulligan	...	Violet Willett

Storyline

When Clive Trevelyan - Member of Parliament, war hero and heir apparent to Prime Minister Winston Churchill- is killed, Miss Marple sets about to solve the case. Trevelyan has made his fortune many years before in Egypt having secretly uncovered a lost tomb. He is killed during a major snowstorm when there are no police available. There are several possible suspects including Trevelyan's ward, James Pearson and his fiancée Emily Trefusis; his political agent, John Enderby; a journalist Charles Burnaby; a visiting American Martin Zimmerman; and several other apparently disinterested parties. A convict has also escaped from Dartmoor prison. Miss Marple concludes that Trevalyan's murder is related to his days in Egypt and sets about to identify the murderer.

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Plot Keywords:

death | murder | suspect | stabbed to death | snowstorm | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie - Marple: The Sittaford Mystery

Filming Locations:

Dorney Court, Dorney, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada,WGBH Boston,Agatha Christie

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the fifth time in twenty-five years, Robert Hardy once again plays Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

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Goofs

This film is set in 1952. In the cottage at Exhampton, Miss Marple is seen speaking in an Ericofon single-piece telephone. But this phone wasn't put in production until 1954, and was adopted by the British Post Office as late as 1974.

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Quotes

Emily Trefusis: If I were the nervous sort, I'd say there's evil in this house.
Miss Jane Marple: The house is bricks and mortar. If there's evil, it's in somebody's heart.

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Crazy Credits

Following the credits, there is an in memoriam title card for Michael Attwell who played Archie Stone. Attwell died in 2006, the year this film was released.

User Reviews

Terrible - A bad adaptation of a great story

I agree with all the other comments from Christie fans. It was terrible and especially disappointing for me as "The Sittaford Mystery" is one of my favourites. I was looking forward to a TV adaptation, even if they added Miss Marple to it.

There is not much I can add to the other comments - They changed the murderer for goodness sake, how much worse can it get!!. I especially disliked the weird camera angles as it made it even harder to watch.

I don't think it is the inclusion of Miss Marple that makes this adaptation so bad. She could have fitted quite well in the Sittaford Mystery if they hadn't so radically changed the plot. In the book the murder happens within the first few pages so to let it build up for an hour without much happening was a real drag.

Considering how well ITV adapt the Poirot novels it is a shame they've done so badly with Marple.