An enjoyable film but does not follow the book with different subplots and different characters brought in around the story. Pales in comparison to Joan Hickson and Caroline Blakiston versioning i
'At Bertram's Hotel' is a complex book and somewhat out of character for Christie, being set in a London hotel and involving organised crime. Any resemblance between that work and this ITV 'version' is purely coincidental, with the story mangled, new characters inserted and a general air of chaos. Even Louis Armstrong appears. The producers clearly have no idea about the sort of exclusive hotel Christie was writing about. The cast struggle, especially Geraldine McEwan as a somewhat bewildered Miss Marple. Mary Nighy and Emily Beecham add some class; Polly Walker and Francesca Annis do not. Martine McCutcheon is typecast as a common but clever chambermaid. To be avoided at all costs.
I have incresed the rating from one to two stars after seeing 'Towards Zero'. The novel is not a Miss Marple book at all, but features only the police and is a superbly plotted whodunit. The TV production has dropped Superintendent Battle, substituted a not very clever policeman and inserted Miss Marple into the action, albeit having her on a somewhat improbable sketching holiday. What we are left with is a fairly traditional whodunit among a small circle of characters. The cast is quite good, and the settings lovely without the excessive prettiness which sometimes mars this series. The clues are a lot more obvious than in the book, but it is still worth watching.