MARPLE JUST BUTT OUT!

Don't you just loathe the new "Marple"? I have been restrained when discussing the new Marple in the past. However after watching several episodes of the new Marple (note the missing Miss, which upsets me greatly), I have come to be increasingly annoyed with her meddling.

Never before have I felt that Miss Marple was a meddler. Take "By the Pricking of My Thumbs". In the book this is a Tommy and Tuppence case. Tuppence is strong enough and bold enough to go hunting around the countryside for the missing Mrs Lancaster and the spooky house depicted in the painting left to her by her husband's aunt. It is creepy read, with Tuppence finding the house and creeping around it, discovering the china doll in the chimney piece, and eventually discovering Mrs Lancaster hiding in an annex of the house. There are rumours of child abuse and kidnapping, and it's all very scary.

So how come ITV turned this sinister tale into a cartooned Marple episode? Oh it angers me, that Tuppence played by Greta Scattchi is portrayed as a drunk, unappreciated by her husband Tommy, and to top it all Tuppence has to deal with an increasingly doddery Miss Marple. Miss Marple is the shrewdest detective I know. Ok sometimes she played the fool, but she was never doddery. And just to end, the evil child catching Mrs Lancaster, is dressed up as red riding hood, with not even a hit of menace.

Listen ITV stop mixing up Agatha Christie's detectives. Honestly one of these days Miss Marple will find herself interfering in one of Poirot's cases and then ITV will have a guilty conscience. Just imagine it, it wouldn't be pleasant!