(As before, spoilers!)

When we left off with The Murder at the Vicarage, we ended on a challenging conclusion for any literary adapter: the novel, while a reasonably interesting mystery, is not a great example of a Miss Marple book. Specifically, it exhibits some rather large “deviations from type” that likely force an adapter to choose between 1) staying accurate to the text of the novel, which may create challenges with consistency in the rest of the series; or 2) staying accurate to the overall spirit of Miss Marple, even if it means deviating from the text in small or large ways. For The Murder at the Vicarage, this means the adapter might have to decide:

1. How important should the Vicar be to the investigation? In the book, the Vicar is the narrator, and therefore must stay involved in the investigation. For screen, however, this may not be necessary, as the script can simply follow Miss Marple.
2. How many additional characters and subplots (including the gaggle of other old ladies) should the script include? While the book spends time with a number of named characters, this could be tricky to adapt for screen. Changing this could help make the character work stronger and / or bring back some feasibility to alternate solutions.
3. How kind / patient / “fluffy” should Miss Marple be? In the book, Miss Marple is relatively sharp and snarky – still within the realm of “polite Victorian old lady”, but spicier than future iterations. Given that these adaptations are part of a broader series, adapters must choose between character consistency and strict book accuracy.
4. How involved should Miss Marple get in the denouement? In the book, Miss Marple arrives after Hawes is saved to explain the mystery to the investigators. However, in other works in the canon, Miss Marple often instigates or participates in catching a killer red-handed.
5. How accurate should the solution be? The solution to The Murder at the Vicarage is a little fiddly, involving a time-fuse that’s attached to a rock that, when dropped, explodes picric acid. While contemporary readers may have recognized picric acid, which was used as an explosive until WWI, modern viewers will probably not. Also – for the purposes of the plot, it’s not strictly necessary that the criminals use picric acid. Rather, they just need a way to establish a different time for the gunshot.

This is a long list of challenges for an adapter, and the choices are not obvious ones. Each choice contributes to a sense of book accuracy or overall character consistency for an adaption. Without an overall thesis for the adaptation, it’s possible to end up in murky territory, without successfully accomplishing either.

The Adaptations

Luckily, we have two attempts at adaptation that we can use to further understand what works – and what doesn’t. While the adaptions take different approaches to the five problems, both limit the Vicar’s role in the overall story. They also both change the mechanism for the simulated gunshot, with varying degrees of success.

Fundamentally, the BBC and iTV versions represent two different approaches to the adapter’s dilemma. The BBC team stays close to the text, streamlining the plot and making it a bit easier to follow. The iTV team instead aligns Miss Marple and other characters more closely with their character “prototypes”, with Miss Marple in particular becoming more sweetly ironic than snarky and sardonic.

The BBC version (1986)

The 1986 BBC adaptation is a reasonably faithful rendering of the novel, with a few specific changes. These seem designed to make the story easier to follow, and emphasize the “mystery” element by highlighting alternate suspects.

Character cuts: remove non-essential threads

We’ve lost Dennis and Colonel Melchett, and the other old ladies’ involvement is minimal. The adapters also cut Professor and Gladys Cram, who were not a particularly compelling part of the original story. This set of cuts serves to tighten up the story, making it easier to follow along with the remaining subplots.

Character changes: Spend time with alternative suspects

Many of the character changes further this goal of streamlining the story and creating a more engaging murder investigation. The script introduces Archer and Mrs. Lestrange sooner in the story, making them more believable alternate murder suspects. Archer becomes a more interesting character; we actually see him interacting with Mary (and sneaking furtively around the village). Mrs. Lestrange now has a romantic relationship with Dr. Haydock which, in my opinion, doesn’t add much to the story.

Expanding Archer and Mrs. Lestrange’s screen time comes at the cost of Lawrence Redding’s character. In the novel, Lawrence Redding is a clear village favorite – he’s friendly, charming, and sympathetic. When the Vicar describes him, it’s clear he sees Lawrence as a protagonist. This means that when Miss Marple reveals him as the real killer, he comes off as clever and savvy.

In this adaptation, however, Redding is slightly awkward and kinda dumb. This may be due to time constraints – as the adapters expand other characters’ screen-time, they reduce Lawrence’s role (and charisma). By trying to build up the other characters, the writers made the villains less compelling. While this may be a technically trickier mystery, it’s a potentially less entertaining one

Plot changes: few, but potentially costly

Plot changes: Beyond the changes described above, there are few meaningful changes. In some situations, the adapters insert moments that create plot holes – which strike me as writing errors, not adaptation ones. (For example, Lawrence shows distinct consternation after the Vicar leaves the shed, having caught Lawrence and Anne kissing. Since we know that their plot involved getting caught by the Vicar, this reaction doesn’t make sense. While it might make sense to a viewer in the moment, it’s confusing in retrospect – who is Lawrence acting for?)

The adapters also change the simulated gunshot, with Lawrence now playing a tape recording of a gunshot into a speaker. This requires nailing an extremely long cable through the woods to power the speaker, which rips Archer up one night – perhaps a way to keep Archer involved in the story? This replacement is nearly as confusing as the picric acid.

One notable difference, compared to the novel, is Anne’s elevated involvement in the murder plot. This culminates in Anne taking her own life out of guilt – rather than going all the way to trial as she does in the novel. This creates clear thematic changes by focusing on the psychological impacts of murder rather than the social ones. Rather than exploring the village as a microcosm of humanity, the adapters emphasize personal culpability and individual responsibility. This diminishes an element unique to cozy mysteries, which often emphasize a broader community in the context of a murder

Miss Marple: book-accurate – so, out of character

The adapters really lean into Miss Marple as vinegary and even slightly creepy. In this adaptation, Miss Marple snarks directly at Inspector Slack, and openly watches her neighbors’ comings and goings at the vicarage. She has no pretense of adhering to social norms, and even shows up at the crime scene uninvited. The screenwriters lean into the book’s characterization of Miss Marple, rather than introducing any of the sweetness and patience that typically distinguish her as a sleuth.

Overall, the BBC team chose to stay relatively faithful to the text of the novel. They streamline or change to make the plot flow a little smoother or keep the investigation a little more engaging. But even these mostly minor changes (and one large one) completely change the themes and emphasis of the story. The BBC’s version tells the story of a crime, that happens to take place in village; no longer is it the story of a village responding to a violent, unexpected crime.

The iTV version (2004)

In contrast to the BBC, the iTV team chose to adapt the story to more closely align with the broader series. This means they take more liberties with plot and characters, ensuring Miss Marple stays her sweet, patient, and involved self. They also keep in many more subplots, retaining the sense of a bustling village reacting to a sudden crime.

Very few characters were cut from the novel in this adaptation. We still have the gaggle of gossipy old ladies, Dennis and his pursuit of Lettice, and even Mrs. Archer. In the novel, this surfeit of characters made it difficult to keep track of more minor threads. However, because TV is such a visual medium, it’s a bit easier to keep track of who’s who here.

Where the BBC made changes to focus on the plot, the iTV team makes changes to focus on the characters, leading to a very different experience. While it’s impossible to list all of the modifications, major ones include:

Character changes: expand backstories

Many of the character changes, big and small, add depth and backstory to the characters. For example, the script changes the characters of the Professor and Gladys, adding an element of pathos. Instead of conducting a silver theft, the French Professor and his “granddaughter” are now scouring the Colonel’s house for incriminating paperwork related to a WWII war betrayal. This makes the two characters more sympathetic while still allowing them to serve a critical plot function (establishing timelines).

The iTV version spends a lot of time fleshing out Anne Protheroe. Anne remains quiet but has an expanded relationship with Miss Marple, allowing us to see a more human side of her story. In this version, she has a pre-war backstory with Lawrence, humanizing her infidelity even further. The adapters manage this by focusing screen time on Anne and Lawrence, with other suspects relegated to more minor roles.

Plot changes: actively incorporate Miss Marple

Most plot changes stem from character changes, with the iTV team only changing a few elements of the “core” plot. Perhaps the biggest change here is that Lawrence and Anne go even further to involve Miss Marple in their alibi. Instead of relying on her natural “curiosity” to ensure she notices them at the proper time, they each visit her on the day of the murder.

The team also changes the fake gunshot, with Lawrence simply shooting a cloth-muffled rifle out of the Vicar’s garden shed. This is a simple approach that refocuses the story on the characters, rather than spending time on the fiddly mechanics of a timed fuse.

Miss Marple: maintain the archetype – but add a backstory?

This version of Miss Marple hews much closer to the “canonical” character – more sweet and patient than her book counterpart. While she may say ironic things, they are always in an amused tone, with respect for those she interacts with. She’s great with people and listens very carefully to their points, using their evidence to draw interesting and surprising conclusions. The “contemporary” Miss Marple – the old lady, the investigator – is very close to the archetype expected by Marple fans.

However, in order to create a more parallel story, the writers add a backstory for Miss Marple. Apparently, Jane was once the mistress of a WWI soldier who died on the battlefield. This, in theory, allows her to understand more of Anne’s motivations. In practice, it almost de-mystifies Miss Marple by implying that she relies on personal experience rather than human expertise. (There’s a reason there’s no backstory for Miss Marple in the novels.) This story, if I remember correctly, is never referenced in the rest of the series. Perhaps the adapters realized that a blank past gives Miss Marple limitless potential (and allure) for future escapades.

In contrast to the BBC team, the iTV version creates an episode that feels like a Miss Marple book, even if it’s not fully text-accurate. Their changes create a portrait of a close-knit community, where Miss Marple could learn the ins and outs of human nature. The only place this fails is the introduction of Miss Marple’s backstory and the implication that Miss Marple solves the mystery relying on her own personal experiences. This is inherently limiting to the character – because it seems unlikely that Miss Marple always has an explicitly personal analogy to help her solve other crimes.

Conclusion: invent at your own risk

The BBC team and the iTV team went in completely opposite directions when it came to an adaptation strategy. BBC tried to stay as book-loyal as possible, while iTV tried to maintain consistency with other Miss Marple stories. Honestly, both approaches were generally fine – I don’t think there’s one right answer here. I personally prefer the iTV adaptation, as it’s more character-focused, but could see why someone might prefer the BBC version.

Where both approaches flounder is when the writers try to add their own content to the story. Whether it’s more minor inventions by the BBC team or the creation of a new backstory for Miss Marple by iTV, these introductions often create plot holes or other moments of confusion. (The tape recorder in the BBC adaptation was enough to break my immersion and sent me running to Google to figure out when tape recorders were invented.) Part of Agatha Christie’s skill is in creating the perfect small moments of foreshadowing. I imagine that’s a difficult skill to build, especially in the rushed environment of a writer’s room.

Careful cuts, on the other hand, seem easier to accomplish, especially when the entire story is established. This may be because you can “trace” a thread through the whole story and fully understand the ramifications of its removal. (I already anticipate eating my words – surely someone, while adapting Miss Marple, has cut critical elements to the plot or theme.)

Of course, these are just comments based on the first novel. It’s entirely possible that, taken in the broader context of the series, it will be easier to take a position on the “right” answer to the adapter’s dilemma outlined above. And so it’s time to get to the next book – I will see you soon with a review of The Body in the Library. Until then – stay cozy, and stay curious!