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Easter eggs
Hidden details in every movie and series: 69 in total. Tap a poster to see its eggs. Titles you haven't marked as seen stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- CameoThe future Marple was already there
Joan Hickson, who would play the BBC's Marple more than 20 years later, shows up here as the housekeeper Mrs. Kidder.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesHer husband on screen
Mr. Stringer, Marple's loyal sidekick, is Stringer Davis, Margaret Rutherford's real-life husband. He doesn't exist in the books.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRutherford Hall got renamed
In the book the house is Rutherford Hall. To avoid repeating the star's surname, the film called it Ackenthorpe Hall.
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- ReferenceA case that belonged to Poirot
The film adapts After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel. Marple takes the Belgian detective's place.
source ↗ - ReferenceMarple name-drops her own author
Early on, Marple mentions Agatha Christie by name, as if she were just another mystery writer.
source ↗ - SetupThe line that becomes a title
Marple uses the phrase "murder most foul," from Hamlet. Keep it in mind.
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- ReferenceAnother borrowed Poirot
It's based on Mrs McGinty's Dead, another Poirot case. The film changes both the plot and the characters.
source ↗ - ReferenceA playbill in-joke
A playbill for one of the company's shows advertises Murder She Said by Agatha Christie, the title of the series' first film.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA real theater
The theater scenes were shot at the Palace Theatre in Watford, then run by Jimmy Perry, co-creator of Dad's Army.
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- Behind the scenesA story with no book
It's the only film in the series that doesn't adapt a novel. The script is original and borrows a few ideas from They Do It with Mirrors.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSword fight
In the climax, Rutherford, then past 70, takes on the killer with a sword. You won't find that scene in any Christie book.
source ↗ - CameoThere was one more cameo
This was Rutherford's last film as the lead, but she plays Marple again in a cameo in The Alphabet Murders (1965), with Tony Randall as Poirot.
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- Behind the scenesChristie's note
In 1946, after seeing Joan Hickson in a play, Agatha Christie sent her a note saying she hoped Hickson would one day play her dear Miss Marple.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWhere St. Mary Mead is
Marple's village was filmed in Nether Wallop, Hampshire.
source ↗ - SetupMeet Inspector Slack
David Horovitch debuts here as Inspector Slack, who can't stand Marple's meddling. He's back in four more stories.
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- ReferenceThe title comes from a poem
"The Moving Finger" is a line from Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, about the finger that writes and moves on.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesMarple shows up late
In the book, Marple only arrives near the end. The narrator is Jerry Burton, a pilot recovering from a crash.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesDirected by a film veteran
It's directed by Roy Boulting, who made well-known 1950s British comedies with his twin brother, John.
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- CameoBefore he was Lewis
Kevin Whately is in the cast. Two years later he became Sergeant Lewis on Inspector Morse.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA continuity slip
Here Inspector Craddock has never met Marple. In the series' last story, he turns up as her nephew.
source ↗ - ReferenceBook number 50
The 1950 novel was billed as Agatha Christie's 50th book.
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- ReferenceSing a Song of Sixpence
The title and the deaths come from the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence," blackbirds and pocket full of rye included.
source ↗ - CameoA Doctor in the cast
Peter Davison, fresh off playing Doctor Who, is in the cast, alongside Timothy West and a young Tom Wilkinson.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesEnd of the first batch
It was the fourth and last story of the BBC's first season, which turned four novels into ten episodes.
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- ReferenceWhere it all began
The 1930 novel is the first Miss Marple book. The narrator is the vicar, Leonard Clement.
source ↗ - CameoThe vicar from Yes Minister
Paul Eddington, Jim Hacker from Yes Minister, plays the vicar.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA Christmas present
It aired on Christmas Day 1986 as a 110-minute TV film. The series dates the story to 1954.
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- Behind the scenesWritten in the war, released later
Christie wrote the book during World War II and put it away. It came out in 1976, after her death, as Marple's last case.
source ↗ - SetupWatch the play
A line from John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, heard at the theater, unlocks Gwenda's memory.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSeason two
It opens the BBC's second season, which turned four novels into eight episodes.
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- CameoThat husky Ealing voice
Joan Greenwood, star of the Ealing comedies, plays Selina Hazy, an old acquaintance of Marple's.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesNew producer
Guy Slater produced the early episodes. George Gallaccio then took over as producer for the rest of the run.
source ↗ - ReferenceA hotel out of time
In the book, Bertram's is a slice of Edwardian London that seems frozen in time. That's what makes Marple suspicious.
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- Behind the scenesOut of order
The BBC made Nemesis before A Caribbean Mystery, the reverse of the books. That's why Jason Rafiel's thread is confusing in airing order.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo Rafiels
Frank Gatliff plays Rafiel here. In his other story, the part goes to Donald Pleasence.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe last one Christie wrote
Nemesis (1971) was the last Marple novel Christie wrote, though not the last one published.
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- ReferenceHickson back in the same story
In 1961, Joan Hickson played the housekeeper in Murder She Said, the film of this same book. Now she's Marple.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe American title
In the US the book came out as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!, after what Marple's friend saw from the train.
source ↗ - SetupSlack's back
Inspector Slack is back, still grumbling about Marple getting involved.
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- Behind the scenesChristie's hotel
It was shot at the Coral Reef Hotel in Barbados, the same hotel Agatha Christie had visited.
source ↗ - CameoDonald Pleasence as Rafiel
Donald Pleasence plays the cranky millionaire Jason Rafiel.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesIt was meant to be her last
Joan Hickson said she wouldn't do another one after this. She changed her mind and came back for two more.
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- Behind the scenesSlack's secret
Here we learn that Inspector Slack secretly practices magic tricks.
source ↗ - CameoMovie-star cast
Jean Simmons and Joss Ackland are in the cast.
source ↗ - ReferenceIdeas that had hit the screen before
Margaret Rutherford's Murder Ahoy! (1964) had already borrowed from this book, on a ship that took in young offenders.
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- ReferenceTennyson in the title
The title comes from Tennyson's poem The Lady of Shalott, the mirror cracking from side to side.
source ↗ - ReferenceDedicated to Rutherford
Christie dedicated the book to Margaret Rutherford, the Marple of the 1960s films, "in admiration."
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe farewell
It was Joan Hickson's last time as Marple, at the end of 1992. Gwen Watford returns as Dolly Bantry, and Claire Bloom plays star Marina Gregg.
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- CameoJoanna Lumley as Dolly
Joanna Lumley of Absolutely Fabulous plays Dolly Bantry in The Body in the Library. She's back in the role later in the series.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesLiberties with the book
The ITV series changes the books far more than the BBC one did. The Body in the Library, for one, adds an affair between two women that isn't in the novel.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesHoliday season
All four episodes aired between December 12, 2004, and January 2, 2005, right through the holidays.
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- CameoTeaming up with Tuppence
By the Pricking of My Thumbs is a Tommy and Tuppence book. In the show, Tuppence investigates alongside Marple.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesMarple where she never was
The Sittaford Mystery had no Marple either. The show drops her into a snowstorm and ties the crime to the victim's past in Egypt.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA different era
The Moving Finger shifts the time period and adds a suicide attempt that isn't in the book.
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- Behind the scenesCases without Marple
Ordeal by Innocence and Towards Zero were non-Marple novels. The show wrote her into both.
source ↗ - CameoLouis Armstrong at the hotel
In At Bertram's Hotel, one of the characters is Louis Armstrong.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesGoodbye, McEwan
It was Geraldine McEwan's last season. It started in September 2007, and the final episode, Nemesis, didn't air until January 1, 2009.
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- Behind the scenesA new Marple
Julia McKenzie takes over the role this season and stays until the end of the series.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe late episode
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? didn't air in the UK until June 2011, after season five.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesHalf borrowed
Of the four episodes, Murder Is Easy and Why Didn't They Ask Evans? come from non-Marple books.
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- ReferenceA short story goes feature-length
The Blue Geranium is a short story, not a novel. The show stretched it into a 90-minute episode.
source ↗ - CameoDolly returns
Joanna Lumley is back as Dolly Bantry in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo more borrowed
The Pale Horse and The Secret of Chimneys had no Marple in the books.
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- CameoIan Fleming and the real James Bond
In A Caribbean Mystery, Ian Fleming appears as a character, along with ornithologist James Bond, whose name Fleming borrowed for 007.
source ↗ - ReferenceTwo stories in one
Greenshaw's Folly combines two Christie stories: the title one and The Thumb Mark of St. Peter.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesNo season seven
After this season, the BBC picked up the Christie adaptation rights, which shut the door on a seventh season at ITV.
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- Behind the scenesMarple well ahead of her years
Angela Lansbury was about 55 when she played Marple. Four years later she became another famous sleuth, Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote.
source ↗ - ReferenceA movie within the movie
It opens with a black-and-white mystery shown in the village hall. Marple solves it before the screening ends.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesOld Hollywood in force
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak and Tony Curtis are in the cast. The barbs between Taylor's and Novak's characters are among its best-remembered scenes.
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