As fans of Agatha Christie I think many people would be disappointed with this set. Nearly all the stories have been heavily re-written in an attempt to introduce a somewhat more modern and sprightly `Miss Marple`. One can only guess at the reason for many of the alterations, they seem to serve no useful purpose yet change the whole background to the stories. Two of the stories are not originally `Miss Marple ` at all and are only vaguely recognizable as Christies work. A noticeable feature is the introduction into several of the stories of a female - female relationship which Ms Christie neither wrote nor intended to be assumed : see `The body in the Library`, `A murder is Announced`, and `The Sittaford Mystery`. Why this has been done is open to interpretation!
All that said, the supporting casts in all the stories are second to none with superb performances by Geraldine McEwan, Zoe Telford, Mel Smith and many others. As long as you don't expect purist Agatha Christie then… more »

As fans of Agatha Christie I think many people would be disappointed with this set. Nearly all the stories have been heavily re-written in an attempt to introduce a somewhat more modern and sprightly `Miss Marple`. One can only guess at the reason for many of the alterations, they seem to serve no useful purpose yet change the whole background to the stories. Two of the stories are not originally `Miss Marple ` at all and are only vaguely recognizable as Christies work. A noticeable feature is the introduction into several of the stories of a female - female relationship which Ms Christie neither wrote nor intended to be assumed : see `The body in the Library`, `A murder is Announced`, and `The Sittaford Mystery`. Why this has been done is open to interpretation!
All that said, the supporting casts in all the stories are second to none with superb performances by Geraldine McEwan, Zoe Telford, Mel Smith and many others. As long as you don't expect purist Agatha Christie then this is a good box set to while away long cold winter evenings.