By the Pricking of My Thumbs
- Episode aired Feb 19, 2006
- TV-PG
- 1h 42m
Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.
Photos
- Aunt Ada
- (as Clare Bloom)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMiss Marple does not appear in Agatha Christie's original novel, which was an adventure featuring her other sleuths, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. In order to make the story part of the Marple series, the time period was moved from post-war to sometime near the end of the war. This conveniently places Tommy still in the military intelligence service abroad, and his part of the story was re-written for Miss Marple.
- GoofsTowards the end, Septimus Bligh is pulling the ropes of two of the church bells. While it is possible for a single person to chime two bells. Each bell in a church tower is a different pitch. The two bells Septimus Bligh had the same pitch and is therefore not possible.
- Quotes
Tommy Beresford: [Tuppence asks Tommy to drive so she can continue reading her copy of Macbeth. Tommy chuckles in response] I was in Macbeth at my prep school. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day."
Tuppence Beresford: [gets in car on passenger side] I heard you were marvelous.
Tommy Beresford: Who from?
Tuppence Beresford: You.
Tommy Beresford: Hmm.
[gets in car and starts engine]
Tommy Beresford: "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
- Crazy creditsIn the closing credits Claire Bloom is misspelled "Clare Bloom". In the opening credits the spelling is correct.
- ConnectionsVersion of By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2005)
"By the Pricking of My Thumbs" is one of the Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple series, filmed in Australia with excellent production values and scripts that veer wildly from the source material.
Christie wrote a very good mystery here, which is intact, and that's what saves this thing. The writer has seen fit to make this a joint mystery. Originally, the story was a Tommy and Tuppence story (here played by Anthony Andrews and Greta Scacchi), but now Miss Marple is also involved, working with Tuppence to solve the crime.
The plot concerns Tommy's feisty Aunt Ada (Claire Bloom), whose biting tongue drives Tuppence from the room in the nursing home where she lives. While waiting for Tommy, Tuppence meets a strange woman, Miss Lawrence, who talks of a child dying behind a fireplace and makes other strange statements. Aunt Ada dies, but beforehand, she sends a note to Tommy hinting of some chicanery at the nursing home where she lives. A post-mortem reveals that Aunt Ada was poisoned. Plus, the mysterious Miss Lawrence has disappeared.
The writer has added some unnecessary subplots and fooled around with a few of the characters, but nothing compares with what is done to poor Tommy and Tuppence. Tommy is now an important government man who is out of town a lot, and Tuppence is a drunken, lonely housewife. Give me a break. Andrews and Scacchi are both top-notch actors, and these roles are beneath them. I much prefer the series I saw on PBS with Francesca Annis as Tuppence.
Geraldine McEwan is a bit too worldly for Miss Marple, but this series isn't one that sticks to the novels.
If you like your Christie pure and unadulterated, I'd skip this.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Panna Marple: Dom niespokojnej starosci
- Filming locations
- Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey, England, UK(Sir Philip Starke's manor house)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro