Sleeping Murder

Straight from the first episode, it was made clear that the peculiarity-trademark of ITV's "Agatha Christie's Marple" series was going to be small but significant plot and denouement changes to the original novels. Throughout the whole first season, these changes didn't bother me one bit. "Sleeping Murder" kicks off season two, and I must say the changes in the script versus the original book are suddenly becoming very plentiful and big. It's still a respectable adaptation, no worries, but a bunch of supportive characters undergo a metamorphosis, or are simply being replaced, and the final twist - albeit admirably shocking - isn't half as plausible and impactful as in the book. I sincerely hope the writers didn't attempt to improve Agatha Christie's writings, because...well, that just isn't possible. The fundaments of the intriguing whodunit story are luckily still intact. It's an engaging mystery, with lovely English seaside locations and a good pacing. For the second time, though, the performance of the great Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple is only secondary to that of another strong woman. After the ravishing Amanda Holden in "4:50 from Paddington", it's the stunningly gorgeous Sophie Myles who steals the show here. What an angel.

Gwenda Halliday moves to England from India and moves into a house in a seaside village. She will soon be married and needs to renovate the house first. However, she keeps getting the strange feeling that she's been in the house before even though, as far as she is aware, she has never been in England before. Then a view of a part of the house sparks an image of a murder in her mind, and she gets extremely agitated. Her assistant, Hugh Hornbeam, is worried about her and calls in a friend, Miss Marple. It turns out Ms Halliday has previously lived in England, in that same house.

Quite intriguing, especially as the mystery involves a potential murder committed nearly 20 years previously. "Potential" because we don't even know if there was a murder, adding to the intrigue.

Quite engaging too. We have some interesting relationship drama and the plight and backstory of Gwenda is quite engaging. Some colourful characters too and a touch of romance.

Great cast, with some big names: Paul McGann, Dawn French, Geraldine Chaplin and Martin Kemp (of Spandau Ballet fame). The standout for me is the gorgeous Sophia Myles, who plays Gwenda.

It starts off incredibly bright and vibrant with the Indian dancers, you can't beat a bit of Julian Wadham. The music is quite nice too. We get a glimpse of young Gwen, and the sad tail of her mother's death. They clearly tried to do something different, and it's all started off really well.

Sadly it starts to go a little off the boil...

Sophia Myles is a beautiful girl and makes a very good Gwen, but her realisation that she's been in that house before is forced through too quickly, it feels rushed. Sophia does act her scenes out brilliantly though and her terror at the flashback is truly well done.

The Theatre scene is stunning, DAME Harriet Walter on stage, joyous, once again Myles is up to the mark.

Charles Vanstone's voice overs are cringe worthy, and serve no real purpose. Where did he get that ridiculous voice from!!

Una Stubbs is how can i put it, unusual in the role I have to admit, and she looks like Geraldine's grandmother, which way have they done her up!!!! Geraldine herself looks a big ragged in Sleeping Murder, she's wearing some dubious cotton seconds.

I hated the Funnybones, each of them are actresses and actors of some quality, but they are given a shambles of a script. Sarah Parish is marvellous through, definitely the best of the bunch, Dawn French is NO singer.

I am a lifelong fan of Hickson's versions, and they are glorious, I did not want to do the usual comparisons because they are totally different, but they are leagues apart. Personally I was always a fan of changes to the scripts and updates, I know the JH version and the book so well, I welcome a few changes, good ones that is, largely they got them wrong here.

I'm one of the few that loved McEwan's Jane Marple, I loved the twinkle in the eye, but she was very poorly written for in this one.

It get's a 6, largely because of the performances of Sophia Myles and Phil Davies, without them it would have been a 5. The script is a little disjointed, it could have been so good, especially with the stellar cast. The last 20 minutes are the high point, really good. Shame the rest wasn't the same quality.

This series continues working hard to be the 'weird' version of Miss Marple. The producers and writers do everything they can to be perversely (and I choose the word advisedly) different from previous versions. Admittedly the earlier Joan Hickson version of this story was not that great and the heroine had a very insipid husband. He's been abolished here, along with her New Zealand upbringing. Instead, a new character, Mr Hornbeam, has been brought in, who is a definite asset and well acted.

The plot has really been through the wringer and has been made confusing and hard to follow. Somebody seems to have thought they could out-Christie Christie. But Christie is always clear. Here the exact relationships in the Funnybones troupe are not easy to grasp and the cascade of complex plot information in the long 'all the cast in the library' scene at the end is very hard to understand and digest.

Also, there are lots of seemingly casual phone calls to India. This was far from easy in those days, when overseas calls had to be prebooked and waited for and the line quality was often poor. When a lot of care has been taken over period accuracy it is a shame to see this anachronism.

And why is Julian Wadham (the heroine's father) in the shadows playing her fiancé -- at least I think it's him? This is very misleading. Couldn't they afford another actor?

It's quite fun to watch, but I still wonder what the producers are thinking of.

The book is without doubt the creepiest Marple book, and one of my favourite Agatha Christies. This adaptation is good, but could have been much better, had it been a lot closer to the source material. I didn't like the inclusion of the Funnybones group, and other characters were left out entirely, and those who were left in were quite badly altered. Though I must give credit to Sophia Myles, who did give Gwenda a very nervous edge, especially during the Duchess of Malfi performance, with the line "Cover her face" which creeped me out in the Joan Hickson version, but not really here. The acting was okay, but I wish they made Kennedy Scottish like they did in the Joan Hickson adaptation. As much an excellent actor Phil Davis is, he wasn't my idea of Kennedy. He was too young, compared to the Kennedy in the Joan Hickson version. This is beautifully shot, with some creepy moments in the beginning, but somehow falls rapidly downhill after The Duchess of Malfi scene. As most of the commentators had established already, the biggest letdown was the ending. In alternative to the genuinely frightening one in the book and the Joan Hickson version, it was turned into a Poirot- like charade with ghastly plot changes. Also it seemed rushed, and almost nonsensical, though I was touched that Gwenda found love at the end, despite the fact she's married in the book. In conclusion, this version could have been better. See the Joan Hickson version instead. Sorry I'm comparing this to the Joan Hickson series, but that did a much better job conveying the much-needed creepiness of the book. 6/10 Bethany Cox