It wasn't until 1985 that Joan Hickson revived the story for TV in the BBC's adaptation and it was then adapted again almost twenty years later, in 2004, starring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple. Set in "present day", it is one of the few stage plays to feature Miss Marple. It was later adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon and opened in London at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1977 after a try out in Brighton. This story was the first Miss Marple to be adapted for television in 1956, with Gracie Fields in the starring role, alongside Roger Moore. Agatha Christie even allowed herself a small inhouse joke - the vicarage cat in A Murder is Announced received the rather grand name Tiglath Pileser, after an Assyrian king whose warrior artefacts were discovered on one of her and husband's archaeological excavations. This is one of Christie's most successful conjuring tricks, the physical mechanics actually tested out on her own neighbours in Wallingford, and as usual some of the best, and in retrospect, most infuriating clues are verbal: in this case, you could even say typographical. Miss Marple, on holiday in nearby Medenham Wells, is ably assisted by Inspector Craddock who went on to appear in Sanctuary, 4.50 from Paddington and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. More than a simple murder mystery, this is a story of redemption set in the throes of post-war muddle and discomfort.
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