Miss Marple returns
Geraldine McEwan is ITV's crime-fighting pensioner.
It seems like only yesterday that Joan Hickson hung up her handbag as Miss Marple. She went out with the immortal words, "More, tea vicar?" in 1992's The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side.
Hickson, who died in 1998, took on the role in 1984, aged 78.
She's being replaced by a mere 72 year old, the formidable Geraldine McEwan. ITV have lined her up to star in four films - The Body In The Library, A Murder Is Announced, Murder At The Vicarage and 4.50 From Paddington.
It looks as though the Marple cannon will receive the same treatment as the channel's superb Poirot range, with a fruity cast being wheeled out - including Simon Callow, Ian Richardson and Jack Davenport.
In the press release, Geraldine McEwan said: "With Miss Marple I feel that I have been entrusted with a national treasure of whom I already feel both protective and extremely fond."
Previous Miss Marples have included Angela Lansbury (slightly squiffy), Helen Hayes (rather frail), and Margaret Rutherford (the maddest thing on screen ever, like a petticoat tornado).
To the Cult team, the new series is lovely, but odd news - strangely like announcing that they're going to remake Inspector Morse with David Jason. Joan Hickson was, after all, Christie's own choice for the role of Miss Marple. And, well, Alan Plater's A Murder Is Announced was brilliant.
We're not just saying that 'cos the last series was on the BBC - we're just hoping that the ITV remake has something new to offer - perhaps tackling the more curious short stories.
Let's just hope someone brings the Hickson ones out here on DVD quickly.
PS. We've received the following letter:
Dear ITV,
Thank you for casting Joanna Lumley as Miss Marple's batty best friend Dolly Bantree.
Love,
The Gays
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