Agatha Christie: Marple (ITV1): EARLY in the proceedings, it appeared that Miss Marple had lost her marbles. "It brings to mind little Tony Timson and our new schoolmistress - she opened the drawer and a frog jumped out," twittered the spinster sleuth after the body of a blonde was found littering the carpet at Gossington Hall.

Everything, including a comment like that, made perfect sense once the guilty parties were exposed in an ending that would've surprised even Agatha Christie as writer Kevin Elyot had introduced elements of his own into the plot. Liberties had been taken with Miss Marple, notably introducing a spot of lesbianism into the story and even - hold on to your hats - a girl-on-girl kiss.

Miss Marple herself has not been tipping the velvet, you'll be pleased to hear, but there does appear to be a man in her past. She was seen fondling a photograph of a handsome chap in uniform, hinting that before the series ends, we'll have found out a bit about her past.

Some might accuse the makers of sensationalism in a bid to get good ratings but it all seemed perfectly justified to me. Christie's whodunit novels are easy to read but today's audiences are more used to bent coppers, sadistic killers and police chases than a little old lady in tweeds pottering about St Mary Mead behaving like a Home Counties Poirot.

Elyot's adaptation, Andy Wilson's direction and the acting of the starry cast managed to keep the balance between seriousness and parody. It was funny without making you lose the desire to find out who did it.

All four of the new Marple TV films have been cast to the hilt, with nearly every role filled by a familiar face. How some of the women managed to say anything considering the amount of lipstick they were wearing I don't know, although what I took for period detail could have meant I needed my TV colour adjusting.

For many, Joan Hickson is Miss Marple, something of which the BBC has reminded us of late by repeating films featuring the late actress as the amateur sleuth. Geraldine McEwan fills her sensible shoes admirably, an innocent-looking expression hiding a keen mind and sharp intelligence. She may look as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but this is a woman who lives on the wild side by drinking ginger wine "with just a splash of Scotch".

Joanna Lumley's Dolly kept reminding us how good her friend Jane Marple was at detective work and that her mind "has plumbed the depths of human iniquity".

As she investigated, people said things like "I was vexed, I can tell you", while events were described as "the sort of thing you read about in the Sunday papers". Women were called as "a little on the cheap side" and men had "the most disarming twinkle".

No sooner had one recognisable face exited than another appeared. Some had remarkably little to do. I don't think James Fox said more than a few lines as Arthur Bantry, a man who found pigs soothing in a crisis. Well, he was married to the excitable Dolly.

But I did worry about his eyesight. Asked if he recognised the dead blonde sprawled on the floor in his library, Arthur replied: "I don't know her from Adam." He was lying - her figure and general appearance clearly indicated she was more Eve than Adam.

Published: 13/12/2004