The Murder at the Vicarage
- Episode aired Dec 19, 2004
- TV-PG
- 1h 34m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
No one seems surprised when Colonel Protheroe is found murdered in the local vicarage. Red herrings abound, especially when his widow and her lover both confess to the murder.No one seems surprised when Colonel Protheroe is found murdered in the local vicarage. Red herrings abound, especially when his widow and her lover both confess to the murder.No one seems surprised when Colonel Protheroe is found murdered in the local vicarage. Red herrings abound, especially when his widow and her lover both confess to the murder.
- Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 3 nominations total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMiss Marple is shown reading Raymond Chandler's short story anthology "The Simple Art of Murder", which also contains his titular essay on the detective novel. In the essay, Chandler argues that, in real life, the most unsolvable murders are the simplest, and criticizes, among other writers, Agatha Christie for creating implausible, over-elaborate murder plots for her novels.
- GoofsAt about minute 17 when the vicar greets Mrs. Lestrange she mentions the bible verse "to everything there is a season" which he wrongly attributes to Proverbs. It is actually from the book of Ecclesiastes.
- Quotes
Miss Jane Marple: What is this, Mary?
Mary Hill: Soup.
Miss Jane Marple: Does it have a name?
Mary Hill: Bits-and-bobs-and-odds-and-sods-and-the-meat-ration's-been-cut-again soup.
- ConnectionsFollowed by Marple: Marple: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (2004)
Featured review
The Writer Smiles
Wonderful, this is.
It is wonderful in part because it takes chances with the material and the presentation.
You have to appreciate a few facts. This was Agatha's first published book. It is before she hit her stride where she was comfortable enough with the genre that she started fooling with the rules of the genre in amazingly clever and modern ways. So it is just a typical complicated murder, planned by "evil" people. The murder itself is conventional for the period, like hundreds of other books of the period.
It introduces Miss Marple, so it is apt that the story lines include our introduction to the character, adding elements that are from Christie.
Another fact is that Christie during this period had unhappy romantic episodes and had some intrigue and mystery in her own life. She would in fact be very much like the young Marple we see here. And inserting the author in the story as the detective is precisely something she might do herself. (The adapter here also plays the coroner. Nice metafolding.)
If you are going to watch any of these, you should watch this one first to get the backstory on Jane, and to understand why she wistfully looks at an old photo.
As to the mystery story itself, it is background noise and poorly presented. But remember it is so in the book. On that we have famous actors doing their stuff. One of these is Jane Asher. She's not an amazing actress but she if often used as an amazing presence. And here it is so. She plays a character that if I recall is more prominent in the book, but less sassy and obviously significant than rendered here. She's one of the most remarkable unremarkable women in modern history because of her role in the Beatles and Alice.
Something along these lines may be done one day for theatrical release, and I expect similar notions of narrative folding and cinematic exaggeration. But we'll have more explicit recognition of what drives this story, and presumably the whole village: sex.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
It is wonderful in part because it takes chances with the material and the presentation.
You have to appreciate a few facts. This was Agatha's first published book. It is before she hit her stride where she was comfortable enough with the genre that she started fooling with the rules of the genre in amazingly clever and modern ways. So it is just a typical complicated murder, planned by "evil" people. The murder itself is conventional for the period, like hundreds of other books of the period.
It introduces Miss Marple, so it is apt that the story lines include our introduction to the character, adding elements that are from Christie.
Another fact is that Christie during this period had unhappy romantic episodes and had some intrigue and mystery in her own life. She would in fact be very much like the young Marple we see here. And inserting the author in the story as the detective is precisely something she might do herself. (The adapter here also plays the coroner. Nice metafolding.)
If you are going to watch any of these, you should watch this one first to get the backstory on Jane, and to understand why she wistfully looks at an old photo.
As to the mystery story itself, it is background noise and poorly presented. But remember it is so in the book. On that we have famous actors doing their stuff. One of these is Jane Asher. She's not an amazing actress but she if often used as an amazing presence. And here it is so. She plays a character that if I recall is more prominent in the book, but less sassy and obviously significant than rendered here. She's one of the most remarkable unremarkable women in modern history because of her role in the Beatles and Alice.
Something along these lines may be done one day for theatrical release, and I expect similar notions of narrative folding and cinematic exaggeration. But we'll have more explicit recognition of what drives this story, and presumably the whole village: sex.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
helpful•1118
- tedg
- Jan 11, 2008
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- Also known as
- Agatha Christie's Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage
- Filming locations
- Hambleden, Buckinghamshire, England, UK(Street scenes, exterior of St Mary Mead Church)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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