Monday 7 September 2009

A Newcomer to St Mary Mead

mackenzie marple

What did you think of Julia Mackenzie as Miss Marple in "Pocket Full Of Rye", last night?

I have always felt that Joan Hickson has been the best so far, and didn't really enjoy Geraldine McEwan's portrayal of the sleuth. I was never totally convinced by GM's knitting skills, and so I didn't trust her detective abilities either.

marple hickson marple mcewan

 

Helen Hayes and Angela Lansbury never hit the target, and Margaret Rutherford wasn't quite right. I never saw the Gracie Fields film.

I think Ms Mackenzie may succeed - but has two hard acts to follow. She seems more in the Hickson mould, so I am hoping for good things! Last night's production was quite star-studded, with a number of well known faces.

rose heiney

There was a cameo role for Prunella Scales [wife of Timothy West and mother of Sam - two other great actors]

The late Wendy [Eastenders] Richard was the cook, and the housekeeper was played by Helen [Friends] Baxendale.

Did you notice the maid, Grace, who was murdered? That was Rose Heiney, daughter of writers & broadcasters Paul Heiney and Libby Purves.

Are all these thesps related to other famous people?

Looking forward to next week's episode...

7 comments:

  1. Hiya!
    Steve & I pride ourseves on our Miss Marple critiques - lol!
    And we too were impressed - best since Joan Hickson.
    They had also changed round bits of the story so it wasn't all in the same order & they enabled Jane Marple's emotions to show more which was good.
    Will be watching again next week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joan Hickson IS Miss Marple. No contest.

    Annie

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm a Joan Hickson fan. I wasn't too keen on GM, too impish. I liked Julia Mckenzie as she brought out Miss Marples kindness. They muck about with the storylines on ITV (unlike the BBC Joan Hickson) but it wasn't too arch last night.

    The bloke who played the copper was good, so was Rupert Graves.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So that's decided then - we all loved Joan Hickson!!
    We must give JM a chance to prove herself though. She may yet win us all over x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've enjoyed them all, and I do believe I've seen all of them, well, in all of them..if you get my meaning. Joan Hickson was excellent, no question, but I didn't mind GM's Marple a bit. I wasn't too keen on JM's Marple, but loved her in Cranford.

    I've found you through Dulce...hello :-)
    Blessings,
    Niki

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was very disappointed with the 'new' Miss Marple. In fact, I only just saw the programme through to the end! I am a Joan Hickson fan and can't really imagine anyone coming up to her portrayal. It's the same with Poirot - David Suchet IS M. Poirot!!

    ReplyDelete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!