Marple

Geraldine McEwan debuts as a nimbler, wittier Marple in four classic cases. In The Body in the Library, she and Dolly Bantry look into a dancer's body found at Gossington Hall and end up at the Majestic Hotel. In The Murder at the Vicarage, nursing a sprained ankle, she helps Inspector Slack when the hated Colonel Protheroe turns up dead in the vicar's study. In 4.50 from Paddington, a friend sees a strangling from a train window, and the trail leads to the wealthy Crackenthorpe family. In A Murder Is Announced, a newspaper ad sets up a killing, and Marple digs into false identities tied to an industrialist who died ten years earlier.

1. 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.

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2. 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.

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3. Behind the scenesHoliday season

   All four episodes aired between December 12, 2004, and January 2, 2005, right through the holidays.

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