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This series is great, there have been a lot of different Marple adaptations over the years, but only two series have covered the entire catalogue of novels. This was the first to do so, the ITV version also did about 10-15 years later. This series is by far the better of the two, however. The acting and directing are both great, the over the top, larger than life characters seen in the ITV show are much more grounded and believable in this one, scenes set at night actually look like they're at night, the mood of 1950s rural england is captured really nicely, when there aren't murders happening the music and cinematography give a really relaxed feeling. The stories themselves are also very faithful to the source material. In the ITV series a lot of things were altered, some stories were barely recognisable, but the BBC series is an almost perfect adaptation of the books, minor changes only, usually the removal of a character or subplot here and there for timing. That is sometimes a bit of a shame, I think the few cases where they did that the story would be the stronger for having those elements put back in, but none of the stories have wacky new elements added to replace removed parts, it's either the story as is, or the story trimmed down a little. I will say, two of the twelve serials are three parts long and the rest are either 2 parts or a 90 minute movie length, I really feel they could all have done with being three parts, both three parters feel very complete, no noticeable cuts from the story, if the rest had an extra 45 minutes to play with then all the dropped subplots and characters could easily have been put back in without rushing the pace up. That is a small nitpick though, the stories work perfectly well in and of themselves, it's only in the context of knowing the books that you see areas where they could be better. The biggest strength of the series is its lead actress. Joan Hickson embodies the character of Miss Marple in a way that no-one else before or after has come close to. The point of Marple as a character is that she is unassuming and unnoticeable, a small unthreatening old lady who can easily find out what is happening by engaging in seemingly innocuous, but cleverly leading, gossip. She often operates at the background of the case, interacting with the law enforcement but often in quite a passive way for most of the story. That is how the character is in the books and Hickson captures that perfectly. If you compare to other prominant Marple actresses, Margaret Rutherford is contantly at the forefront of her films, chasing villains, having a swordfight at one point, which is entertaining but not what the character is all about, Geraldine McEwan, though small in stature, has a very wiry look, and quite an acerbic and more overtly probing manner to her, which means she doesn't look especially frail and she is impossible not to notice when she is surupticiously finding things out. Julia Mckenzie was a little closer, she had the personality and quiet background operation thing down, but she looked too young, she always seemed very spry, when Marple really should be entirely physically unimposing, slightly frail. Joan Hickson manages to capture all of these qualities, when the time comes to be at the forefront and solve the mystery you can see an iontelligence shining through, but when the character wants to pretend to be old and confused to put those she is talking to off her guard she passes absolutely for a sympathetically frail and slightly batty old lady, she looks great in the part, her performance is wonderfully subtle and nuanced, I could go on and on, but honestly she's the best Marple, I can't imagine anyone doing better. The only real negative about this set is the picture quality. The series was shot on film, but telecined onto videotape which this set uses as its source footage. However, the original film trims still exist, and a few years before this boxset was released the original film was rescanned into beautiful HD and released on bluray and, I believe, on dvd. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be available to find anywhere, I think it was maybe only released in america. This set is literally the 2005 version with slightly updated box and disc art, to show the later BBC logo, the content of the discs is unchanged. I think that's a shame, the episodes are perfectly watchable as they are, but I've seen bits of the remaster and they're absolutely beautiful, I can't for the life of me think why they would rerelease the set but not use the far superior picture quality. I have heard that the HD versions are possibly on Britbox, so anyone that has that I would suggest to maybe watch them there. The boxset is a nice thing to have, though, I much prefer physical medium. Other than that though this is a great set, one of the best murder mystery series out there, and a must see for fans of Agatha Christie's books. It is to Marple what the Suchet series was to Poirot.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Joan Hickson is irightly regarded as the finest Miss Marple ever. She captures the character to perfection and the supporting cast is equally strong. The adaptations are very good and reasonably faithful to the books, the only real drawback is picture quality. It's only available as 4:3 and somewhat shows it age, but if you can accept this go for it, you won't be disappointed and it's far superior to the more recent God awful Marple from ITV.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
We always loved Joan Hickson in the role of Miss Marple and are so pleased to have bought the collection
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
With more and more stations, there is less and less to watch on TV. Thank goodness for people like you. Our scattered collection of Miss Marple has now been replaced with a complete collection. No missing episodes, brill ! Thank you.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Very enjoyable. This set of DVDs is if high quality and, unlike some others on offer, does not have subtitles permanently on show - they can be turned on and off at will.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
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