ABSTRACT
Barbara Mullen created the Miss Marple role and the play was directed by Reginald Tate who also played Laurence Redding. According to Osborne, who also thought the characterization of Miss Marple resulted in an unfortunate mix of Hilda Doolittle and a troublesome granny, rather than the shrewd detective of the novels. Margaret Rutherford, who was the first embodiment of Miss Marple on the cinema screen, and who played her in the four MGM films of the early 1960s, emphasized the dotty element in the character but in no way captured the quietness and sharpness that the novels suggest. Angela Lansbury is Miss Marple, perhaps rather young and round but not unacceptable except that she is hampered by a badly written script and the rather slow and tableau-esque movement of the plot. The tone of the BBC Marple series is established by the plaintively cheerful introductory music and by the sketch-book illustrations which accompany the opening credits.
