Marple (TV Series)

The Murder at the Vicarage (2004)

Geraldine McEwan: Miss Marple

Photos 

Quotes 

• Miss Jane Marple : What is this, Mary?

  Mary Hill : Soup.

  Miss Jane Marple : Does it have a name?

  Mary Hill : Bits-and-bobs-and-odds-and-sods-and-the-meat-ration's-been-cut-again soup.

• DI Slack : [to a constable as Miss Marple is some distance walking away]  I don't know whether to buy her a box of chocs or kick away her stick.

  Miss Jane Marple : [still walking away]  I prefer the chocolates.

• DI Slack : Look, it's easy to imagine all kinds of things after the event, but the simple fact is...

  Miss Jane Marple : Murder is never simple. We would be foolish, stupid, to ignore any possibility.

  DI Slack : 'We?'

  Miss Jane Marple : [smiling]  Did I say that? Hm. So sorry.

• Miss Jane Marple : [realizing who committed the murder and how it was done, smiling]  How clever!

  [then frowning] 

  Miss Jane Marple : How wicked!

• Miss Jane Marple : We're all very ordinary in St. Mary Mead, but ordinary people can sometimes do the most astonishing things.

• Miss Jane Marple : You don't like Mr. Clement, do you?

  DI Slack : Nothing personal. Vicars in general remind me of marriage.

  Miss Jane Marple : [understanding]  Ah, of course.

  DI Slack : Of course what?

  Miss Jane Marple : Miss Hartnell's cousin's maid is walking out with a butcher's boy from Melchester who delivers to your mother-in-law. Mrs. Slack has been staying with her for a... little holiday, I gather?

  DI Slack : [frowning]  A little, two-month, six-day, holiday so far.

  Miss Jane Marple : [wincing]  Oh, dear.

  DI Slack : Hmmm.

• DI Slack : Nothing gets past you, Miss Marple, does it?

  Miss Jane Marple : [dryly]  Hardly ever.

• Lawrence Redding : I'll have to leave, you know, for Anne's sake.

  Miss Jane Marple : That's very brave.

  Lawrence Redding : Yes, well, I'll soon be over it.

  Miss Jane Marple : You won't, not for a long while.

  Lawrence Redding : Nothing gets past you, Miss Marple, does it?

  Miss Jane Marple : [smiling]  Hardly ever, young man.

• DI Slack : The chief constable sends his regards.

  Miss Jane Marple : How lovely. I have been of some assistance to him from time to time.

  DI Slack : He said.

• Lawrence Redding : And how would you do it, Miss Marple?

  Miss Jane Marple : I never speak lightly of murder, Mr. Redding. I hate to tempt fate.

• Miss Hartnell : Where's Lettice this morning?

  Miss Jane Marple : Mr. Redding's painting her.

  Miss Hartnell : On a Sunday? You don't think...?

  Miss Jane Marple : Oh, he does have a way with him, but she's just a girl. I'd plumb for an older candidate if there is someone.

• Miss Jane Marple : Why does Inspector Slack think the Colonel was shot at twenty past six?

  Dr. Haydock : He'd started writing a note to the vicar saying he couldn't wait. He put the time on it.

  Miss Jane Marple : Had he?

  Dr. Haydock : And the clock stopped at just gone 6:20. He knocked it off the desk when he took the bullet.

  Miss Jane Marple : Oh, dear. I'm afraid I must put a cat amongst the Inspector's pigeons.

• Miss Jane Marple : [referring to Colonel Protheroe]  If he was shot at a quarter to seven, why would he have stopped in the middle of a sentence at twenty past six?

• DI Slack : [Miss Marple reveals that the note Colonel Protheroe left behind may have been altered]  Thank you, Miss Marple. That means that he could have been shot after 6:20, and the murderer just put that onto the note, and then altered the clock...

  Miss Jane Marple : To the time when Mrs. Protheroe came here in answer to her anonymous telephone call, and Mr. Redding's gun is the murder weapon.

  [snaps her fingers] 

  Miss Jane Marple : I think they were being, um... set up as pasties.

  DI Slack : [correcting]  "Patsies," it is.

  Miss Jane Marple : Thank you, Inspector.

• [In Miss Marple's home, Mrs. Protheroe is attempting unsuccessfully to convince Inspector Slack that she killed her husband, when the phone rings, and Slack answers it] 

  DI Slack : St. Mary Mead, two - yes, speaking. Is that definite? Right.

  [hangs up] 

  DI Slack : I don't like my time wasted, Mrs. Protheroe. The bullet that killed your husband was fired from Mr. Redding's gun.

  Anne Protheroe : But... he did it for me!

  DI Slack : He didn't do it for anyone! I released him half an hour ago. Just happened to be carrying his gun, which I don't believe. And more important,

  [to Miss Marple] 

  DI Slack : and something you didn't think of: if the Colonel was shot at a quarter to seven, why did he stop the note like that at 6:20?

  Miss Jane Marple : [feigning surprise]  Oh, yes.

• DI Slack : [believing Lawrence Redding killed Colonel Protheroe]  I've got a confession. And if the bullet that killed the Colonel doesn't match Redding's gun, I'll eat my handcuffs. Sometimes, the simple explanation is the right one.

  Miss Jane Marple : Last night's wasn't.

• Miss Jane Marple : You are quite sure?

  Mrs. Price-Ridley : I always put a pound note into the box on the anniversary of poor Bruce's passing.

  Miss Jane Marple : I know, but perhaps this time...

  Colonel Protheroe : Oh, come on, Miss Marple! If Marjorie said she put a pound in, then she did! So where's it gone? Well, I thought you'd be straining at the leash to sniff out the culprit. You do have a reputation to maintain.

  Miss Jane Marple : My reputation, Colonel Protheroe, if I have one, and how very kind of you to suggest I do, is neither here nor there. I merely wonder if it's a little early to talk of culprits.

  Colonel Protheroe : Nonsense!

  Anne Protheroe : [touches his shoulder in an effort to calm him]  Lucius...

  Colonel Protheroe : Anne, don't paw me! Now, look, I'm a churchwarden, and I was in intelligence. I know when something smells fishy! This could be just the tip of the iceberg! Eh... Vicar!

  [marches off to confront the vicar]