Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye

Storyline

Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye, Wealthy business man Rex Fortescue collapses when he reaches his office. It is determined that he was poisoned. No one seems too upset, as everyone agrees that Rex was a tyrant. Soon however Rex’s young wife also turns up poisoned. The maid, Gladyes, whom Miss Marple trained, writes to Miss Marple asking for help. Miss Marple arrives too late, as Gladys’ body is found strangled and strung up on the clothes line. Now it’s personal, and Miss Marple is determined to see the murderer punished.

A Wonderfully Made Classic.

Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye, Wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue dies in agony, poisoned with taxin. A man disliked by even his nearest and dearest, his death described as a stain gone. Miss Marple steps in when the Fortescue’s made Gladys is cruelly killed, Gladys having been in Miss Marple’s employ once.

Agatha Christie wrote her characters big, and those characters create brilliantly into this adaptation, Gladys, The Crumps, Rex. Everyone performs but I’ll highlight those I believe to be the standouts, firstly Fabia Drake, who makes Aunt Effy one of the standout characters, she is superb, the scene where she first encounters Miss Marple is exceptional, she had steel. Peter Davison, a year after he finished Doctor Who, managed better then anyone not to become typecast, here he gets to show the nice guy side we’ve all seen, but also let rip at the end, a brilliant actor. I also enjoy Selina Caddell’s Miss Dove, she is so on point to the character in the book, so straight laced and serious, it’s a measured performance.

It goes without saying that Hickson performs another masterclass, absent for pretty much the first half, when she does appear she adds massively to it, that’s not to say the start flagged without her, far from it.

The attention to detail from beginning to end is incredible, lavishly produced, it’s all the small touches that make it feel so big, the Gardner at the start, the arrival of Pat and Lance off be aeroplane, this level of detail just isn’t there so much these days, presumably cost.

There is enough intrigue here for first time mystery fans, and there’s more then enough quality for those of us that know this story inside out. Utterly brilliant

The Moving Finger

At Bertram’s Hotel