Has anyone been watching the latest incarnation of MISS MARPLE on MYSTERY? I still don't think they've got it quite right yet. The eighties series was deathly slow. On the other hand, the pacing of the new series is too fast and the various visual flourishes call too much attention to themselves. The one that's playing tonight, THE MOVING FINGER (with Ken Russell in a supporting role) is probably one of the better ones I've seen (along with SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES) while 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON and MURDER AT THE VICARAGE are pretty awful.

I actually liked the Margaret Rutherford series.

I liked the Joan Hickson series, which ran from 1984 - 1992. But I always thought Hickson was a little too sharp to pass for a doddering old lady whom no one would take seriously. The new series stars Geraldine McEwan, who seems closer to Christie's version of the character.

I'm not a big fan of Agatha Christie, actually. Her books are tissue thin on character development. But they do make a good basis for tv adaptations. I'm told that the new series strays from the novels, plotwise. Having not read many of them, I wouldn't know. But it is good to see some new stories being adapted in addition to the usual. How many times have they revisited THE 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON? I'm pretty sure THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY and BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS [which introduces Tuppence Beresford, Christie's version of Nora Charles] haven't been done before.

Tonight's episode is NEMESIS, which was one of the better Hickson adaptations. It will be interesting to see how the McEwan version compares.