It's a crime

I have just finished watching ITV's adaptation of "At Bertram's Hotel", one of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries. I don't know what the producers and directors were thinking, but I've just witnessed one of the most overacted and corny versions of the murder mystery ever seen. Perhaps I was just expecting too much. The light on the top of the taxi right at the end of the programme, illuminated with the words "The end" summed up the whole experience for me. If all adaptations follow the same route, I fear it is the end for people's understanding of the brilliance of Agatha's original stories. For all that Geraldine McEwan brings to the role of Jane Marple, I regret to inform the world that there will never be an actress who excels in the role in the way that the late Joan Hickson did. In fact, Agatha Christie herself told Ms Hickson that she would be perfect for the role. She was right. The versions produced by the BBC in the 1980s and early 1990s were true to the original books and in my opinion are the definitive adaptations. ITV simply murdered the story, a truly criminal affair.