Marple- The Sittaford Mystery

This week has been a big week for Agatha Christie fans. Monday was the 50th anniversary since the death of the Dame, whilst Thursday 15th January sees the premiere of the much anticipated ‘The Seven Dials Mystery‘ on Netflix, starring Martin Freeman and Helena Bonham Carter. Today,  it has been announced that the 2000/2010s series of Marple adaptations, originally starring Geraldine McEwen, and later Julia Mackenzie as the octogenarian sleuth, will soon be shown by Netflix.

The Sittaford Mystery

Marple was an update on the Joan Hickson Miss Marple BBC series. It was a glossy, glamorous series which was beautifully shot and often had all star casts. However, it was not without its critics due to the fact it often completely changed the original source material, sometimes to the point of being unrecognisable. An example of this is The Sittaford Mystery. Now, this book has recently been given the beautiful hardback edition treatment, and, has it was released in November, it no doubt made its way into lots of Christmas stockings, mine included. It is a magnificent story, one of Agatha’s best stand alone novels, and with its snowy setting, it is the perfect Winter read.

Coincidentally, this Christmas also had a showing on ITV (2 or 3 – I really can’t remember), of the Marple version of The Sittaford Mystery. Now, with me already telling you that this is a standalone novel, you can already see the first problem. This is the Marple series, and yet Jane Marple was not in this story. This would not be the first, or last time this would happen in this series, Miss Marple also pops up in The Pale Horse and with Tommy and Tuppence in ‘By the pricking of my thumbs.’ It still sort of works, in all fairness, and The Sittaford Mystery is really enjoyable. But that’s not the only messing around with the original story…

Yes, that’s not all…

The killer is different. I loved the idea of the original killer, who managed to (almost) pull the wool over everyone’s eyes, but in this version, the killer is a completely different person, albeit, still a character from the original story. The victim is very different too, the woman hating Captain Trevelyan is now a possible future Prime Minister, and, as he’s played by the former James Bond Timothy Dalton, he is much more of a ladykiller, with a young love and a lost love (both played by a young Carey Mulligan.)

The fall guy is still James Pearson, but whereas the original James Pearson had speculated with company money and so had to try to get it back, here, as played by Lawrence Fox, he’s just a bit of an idiot.

The Sittaford Mystery is still very enjoyable, due in part to the fantastic cast that includes Rita Tushingham, Zoe Telford, Mel Smith and Patricia Hodge. Still, you can’t help but watch these and wish someone would do a really faithful version of this fantastic story.

Sharing is caring!