Unlike with the first two instalments, "The Body in the Library" and "Murder at the Vicarage", I was slightly more cautious with my personal expectations towards this "4:50 from Paddington". The sole reason for this being that the original Christie novel already got turned into a fantastic film version, namely "Murder She Said" from 1961 and starring the unsurpassable Margaret Rutherford as the presumptuous Jane Marple.
My wariness was unnecessary, thank goodness, and the episode even turned out to be my favorite thus far! It seems to be a trademark throughout this 2004 TV-series to alter a number of plot aspects, but always in a respectable and acceptable fashion, so that the genuine Agatha Christie spirit remains intact. In this wonderfully convoluted whodunit, Miss Marple's friend swears she witnessed how a woman got strangled in a train that was on a parallel stroke of rails next to hers. There isn't any body or traces of a crime whatsoever, but Miss Marple digs deeper. She sends her gorgeous niece Lucy to work as a maid at Rutherford Hall, which is the only estate located next to the railway where the body might have been thrown out of the train. Lucy stumbles upon a complex family situation at the estate, and lots of potential murderers, but meanwhile the body still hasn't turned up.
Apart from the genius source material, this episode benefices mostly from marvelous sets and locations (the Rutherford estate is truly awesome) and stellar performances from the ensemble cast. Geraldine McEwan is terrific as Jane Marple, but this time she stands in the shadows of the stunningly beautiful Amanda Holden as her equally perceptive and sly niece Lucy. The always reliable David Warner appears as the family Patriarch, and there even is a minuscule cameo for Jenny Agutter during the opening sequence.
My wariness was unnecessary, thank goodness, and the episode even turned out to be my favorite thus far! It seems to be a trademark throughout this 2004 TV-series to alter a number of plot aspects, but always in a respectable and acceptable fashion, so that the genuine Agatha Christie spirit remains intact. In this wonderfully convoluted whodunit, Miss Marple's friend swears she witnessed how a woman got strangled in a train that was on a parallel stroke of rails next to hers. There isn't any body or traces of a crime whatsoever, but Miss Marple digs deeper. She sends her gorgeous niece Lucy to work as a maid at Rutherford Hall, which is the only estate located next to the railway where the body might have been thrown out of the train. Lucy stumbles upon a complex family situation at the estate, and lots of potential murderers, but meanwhile the body still hasn't turned up.
Apart from the genius source material, this episode benefices mostly from marvelous sets and locations (the Rutherford estate is truly awesome) and stellar performances from the ensemble cast. Geraldine McEwan is terrific as Jane Marple, but this time she stands in the shadows of the stunningly beautiful Amanda Holden as her equally perceptive and sly niece Lucy. The always reliable David Warner appears as the family Patriarch, and there even is a minuscule cameo for Jenny Agutter during the opening sequence.