By the Pricking of My Thumbs
- Episode aired Feb 19, 2006
- TV-PG
- 1h 42m
Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.Miss Marple joins forces with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford to find the murderer of Tommy's Aunt Ada.
Photos
- Aunt Ada
- (as Clare Bloom)
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- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMiss Marple does not appear in Agatha Christie's original novel, which was an adventure featuring her other sleuths, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. In order to make the story part of the Marple series, the time period was moved from post-war to sometime near the end of the war. This conveniently places Tommy still in the military intelligence service abroad, and his part of the story was re-written for Miss Marple.
- GoofsTowards the end, Septimus Bligh is pulling the ropes of two of the church bells. While it is possible for a single person to chime two bells. Each bell in a church tower is a different pitch. The two bells Septimus Bligh had the same pitch and is therefore not possible.
- Quotes
Tommy Beresford: [Tuppence asks Tommy to drive so she can continue reading her copy of Macbeth. Tommy chuckles in response] I was in Macbeth at my prep school. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day."
Tuppence Beresford: [gets in car on passenger side] I heard you were marvelous.
Tommy Beresford: Who from?
Tuppence Beresford: You.
Tommy Beresford: Hmm.
[gets in car and starts engine]
Tommy Beresford: "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
- Crazy creditsIn the closing credits Claire Bloom is misspelled "Clare Bloom". In the opening credits the spelling is correct.
- ConnectionsVersion of By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2005)
The Beresfords visit Tommy's Aunt Ada at the nursing home in which she is living, where they hear of a supposed murder of a child in bygone years. A week or so later Tuppence is told of said Auntie's sudden death and treats the news with suspicion. Then she learns that Ada's friend Mrs Lancaster (June Whitfield, the BBC radio Miss Marple) had suddenly disappeared that same evening. Whilst Tommy is away on MI6 business, Tuppence and Jane Marple (who had also been a-visiting at the home) join forces to solve the mystery.
I read this Tommy and Tuppence tale years ago, but it's storyline has faded from my memory, so I can't tell (apart from the fact that Jane Marple wasn't in the novel) how much this production has veered from the original. Plot-wise, "By the Pricking of my Thumbs" is not a bad whodunit, but the under-played performances from the top stars on display here were sadly lack-lustre. It was only a yawn or two that actually kept me awake. Overall this production is only slightly better than "Sleeping Murder" (which was nothing but utter carnage).
I just cannot understand why there is a pathological insistence, particularly in this series, of wanting to change something purely for the sake of change? Will there next be an attempt to have Poirot solving Marple mysteries, and vice-versa, or will Superintendent Battle solve the lot? And will someone then come up with the idea of the collecting together Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Supt Battle, Parker Pyne, Mr Quinn, Tommy & Tuppence, and calling them "The Seven Scanner Eyes"? Why can't they leave Dame Agatha alone? Would they have the gall to treat Charles Dickens in such a scandalous way? Can I suggest Wilkins Micawber to solve "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"? I don't think that anyone can deny Dame Agatha Christie's place in classical literature, even if most of her works are "only" murder mysteries. (Let's face it, one of the founders of the "whodunits" genre was Wilkie Collins, a contemporary and close friend of Charles Dickens, and even the latter dabbled.) I'm sure Christie worked out her plots in precise detail, which is probably why they've stood the test of time, whereas lesser authors' works have been forgotten. Which is all the more reason why they should not be taken apart and tarted up. Especially by screen writers who couldn't hold a candle to her, and are not fit to hold her pen.
- benbrae76
- Aug 28, 2006
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Panna Marple: Dom niespokojnej starosci
- Filming locations
- Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey, England, UK(Sir Philip Starke's manor house)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro