User Reviews

A friend of Miss Marple, Mrs Elspeth McGillicuddy, is traveling down to meet Miss Marple on the 4.50 from Paddington. On the way she witnesses a murder when her train draws alongside another train briefly traveling in the same direction. Mrs McGillicuddy reports her sighting to the Railway Police but no body is found. Miss Marple suspects that the body was thrown off the train near the grounds of Rutherford Hall. Miss Marple recruits the services of her niece, Lucy Eeylesbarrow (played by Amanda Holden), to infiltrate the staff at Rutherford Hall and investigate the large, wealthy and dysfunctional Crackenthorpe family whose ancestral home it is. She also gets the local police, in the form of Inspector Tom Campbell (John Hannah), involved.

An interesting whodunnit. Quite novel in how we first are aware of the murder - viewed from another train - and in the fact that we initially don't have a body, thus no victim. Gets more intriguing as you get into it, plus the dysfunctional nature of the Crackenthorpe family makes for some interesting family drama too.

Cast delivers in spades. Amanda Holden is wonderful and gorgeous as Lucy. John Hannah gives his usual solid performance as the inspector. Cast also includes Jenny Agutter, Griff Rhys Jones (of Not The 9 O'Clock News fame) and David Warner.

Attractive and enjoyable rendition based on Agatha Christie novel with snooping Miss Marple (Geraldine McEwan) investigating a strange murder takes place on board a train , but the authorities don't seem inclined to believe her . Elspeth McGillicuddy (Pam Ferris) , an old friend of Miss Marple's, witnesses a strangulation murder in a passing train through the window of her coach compartment . When a Police Inspector can't find a body along the tracks and doubts the validity of the story, Miss Marple and Elspeth locate the area where the body was probably thrown from the train, the isolated manor house of an aged, cantankerous millionaire, Luther Crackenthorpe (David Warner) , whose wife (Jenny Agutter) was some years ago dead . Miss Marple recruits a professional housekeeper , her niece named Lucy Eyelesbarrow (Amanda Holden) , to apply for a job on the estate in hopes of locating the corpse, as she goes undercover as a domestic . But her arrival becomes clouded in tragedy , another murder takes place , someone being poisoned by a drink. Then is found a strange body at a crypt , the police and Miss Marple are brought in . Police Inspector Tom Campbell ( John Hannah) takes on a renewed interest but it is left to Miss Marple to solve the mystery . Obviously someone in the large household is involved, but who? . There are various suspects , all family Crackenthorpe , such as : Niamh Cusack as Emma Crackenthorpe , Ben Daniels as Alfred Crackenthorpe , Charlie Creed-Miles as Harold Crackenthorpe , Ciarán McMenamin Ciarán as Cedric Crackenthorpe . Later on , Police Inspector Campbell and Miss Marple join forces and they set about investigating the murders , threats and a twisted intrigue associated with the case .



The plot is plain and simple : a friend of Miss Marple's, witnesses a strangulation murder in a passing train through the window of her coach compartment and dottie detective Miss Marple helped by her niece set out in investigating it ; as she recruits a professional housekeeper named Lucy Eyelesbarrow to apply for a job on the estate in hopes of locating the corpse , posing as as maid at a state near she thought the body was dropped ; as who is the killer ? ; and things go wrong when there appears another killed corpse .The episode is a detective story in which you are the detective . In the picture there is mystery , emotion , suspense , actors's interpretations are acceptable and luxurious environments.The support cast is pretty good, such as : John Hanna , Ben Daniels , David Warner , Rob Brydon , Celia Imrie ,Rose Keegan , Jenny Agutter , Pip Torrens as Noël Coward and special mention for Pam Perris as the veteran and bestest friend ever . The movie gets a lush costume design and adequate production design . Colorful and sunny cinematography by Martin Fuhrer , as well as evocative score by Dominik Scherrer . This Miss Marple episode was efficiently directed by Andy wilson .

The trustworrthy and dottie Miss Marple was firsly played in cinema by Margaret Rutherford who had made the role famous during the 1960s in classic titles as : ¨Murder she said¨ , ¨Murder at gallop¨,¨ Murder most foul¨, ¨Alphabet murders¨, and Murder ahoy¨ this one is the last and least appealing . Following Angela Lansbury with the film Crack Mirror (1980) by Guy Hamilton became the second actress to play Miss Marple on the big screen, after Lansbury was the fourth if one counts TV where Gracie Fields and Inge Langen also played Marple. Subsequently in TV was starred by Joan Hickson who played a successful series . And finally Agatha Christie's Marple series starred by Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple . Rating : Decent and acceptable , well worth watching . The flick will appeal to suspense lovers and Agatha Christie novels buffs .

This is one of the best of The Marple series. It was pacey, dark, ultra stylish and somehow fresh. I remember it being on during the Christmas break a few years back, and somehow it feels Christmassy. The music adds to the darker tone in this episode, body in the library and Murder at the Vicarage had been quite light, they opted for a much darker tone.

It looks so wonderfully of the period, everything from the train carriage, to the Crackenthorpe's Mansion right down to the fashion, the outfits look superb, in particular the hat belonging to Elspeth McGillicuddy, where on earth they found it, but it's really cool.

Amanda Holden shines through brightly, she is such a pretty girl, I can believe in her Lucy being an object of desire. Her interplay with Geraldine, Michael Landes and John Hannah is so good. David Warner is so good (as always) and Griff Rhys Jones has the big moment.

The series has done a great job in attracting big stars into cameo roles, and here we were treated to Rob Brydon's railway Inspector, he adds a wicked bit of humour in, Pip Torrens as Noel Coward, and a fab turn from Celia Imrie as Madame Joilet. Charlie Creed Miles does a good job in making the viewer hate him.

All in all this is one of the best entries in the season, very enjoyable, 9/10

This is a fairly solid adaptation, but I do think the book is better. There were a lot of things I really liked here, such as the really creepy scene, when Lucy Eyelesbarrow finds the body in the dark. I did like Amanda Holden as Lucy, and John Hannah as the inspector. Geraldine McEwan acquits herself well here, as I didn't like her in Body in the Library very much. The episode was beautifully shot, with a faithful solution, however I didn't like the murderer's motive for killing Alfred. Also in the book, the murderer kills another person, I won't say who, in case people haven't read it. I thought David Warner and Niamh Cusack did respectively with their roles, though I wasn't so sure about Griff Rhys Jones as Quimper, he just felt out of character. Despite the rather preposterous accent I liked Pam Ferris here as Mrs MacGuillicuddy, though she was underused. All in all, an enjoyable though flawed adaptation, with a 7/10. Bethany Cox

Geraldine McEwan brings a mischievous spunk and sparkle to the title role, leading a great cast through a well-paced and deliciously fun adaptation of one of Dame Agatha's best-known stories. As a fan of the earlier BBC Marples, I was somewhat wary of how these could be improved upon. I'm happy to say that the producers don't seem to have set out to make a better version of Joan Hixson. Instead, they have brought a fresh vision to the whole enterprise, based on the idea that Agatha Christie meant to delight us, to entertain us. This production is artful, classy, and exuberant (see the Noel Coward scene), and the actors are intent on having fun with their roles. Are we romanticizing a wee bit the realities of English country life? Absolutely, and the result is near perfection.

These new versions maybe a little different from the original stories, but I still really enjoy them. Geraldine McEwen is marvelous and I love seeing the many wonderful character actors and actresses that show up in the cast (I just loved Joanna Lumley's spot in "The Body in the Library".)As an true fan of the Margaret Rutherford versions, is it just me or is the theme song of these new versions very similar to M. Rutherford's theme song? Its almost like a tribute to those wonderful, classic versions. Has anyone else noticed this? Seeing the English gardens and the stately homes are almost enough to warrant watching the series just by themselves. The setting and characters seem perfect. I have seen four of the episodes so far, can't wait to see them all.

This isn't really too bad. But it feels so different from what one would imagine after reading the book. So I guess, those who haven't read the book would likely enjoy this movie more. Except most people probably wouldn't watch this unless one has read the book.

One thing I can't seem to get over is why is Miss Marple so perky and vivacious, almost as if she's going to break into a song and dance number or a comedy act. Is this done deliberately to appeal to a wider and modern audience? Nothing wrong with that. I do appreciate a good sense of humor. In Mrs. Christie's books, I get the impression that Miss Marple is a very "classy" lady, very genteel. There is nothing wrong with Geraldine McEwan's portrayal of an elderly lady, I do like her, but it just doesn't feel like The Miss Marple. If the series were called Geraldine McEwan Series instead, it would be more enjoyable and less irritating to be reminded how different the stories are from the books.

As a made of TV movie, I'd give it an 8. While as an Agatha Christie book made for TV, I'd give it, at most, a 4. Suddenly reminds me, how much I appreciate Mrs. Christie's writing abilities.

After watching all 8 episodes of the first two seasons of Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple I also found myself a little perplexed by the lightness of her character. It isn't that she isn't a deep person, not at all, but she plays Miss Marple as a more genteel and fading old lady than is indicated in the books. Joan Hickson's tougher, crustier version is perhaps a bit closer to the mark but I find her less interesting somehow than McEwan.

There seems to be a common message in all these episodes, at least the producers appear to have latched on to something. That is: don't kill love or you will die, one way or another.

I won't comment on all 8 episodes other than to say that they are all very well-produced and acted, with the kind of casting we will never see in the USA. I can't imagine American 'Stars' playing tiny one-scene, bit-parts like Steven Berkoff and Claire Bloom and other fine English theatrical legends do in this series. If you want to see how some of the great actors of the past 40 years have 'turned out' then don't miss this series. It is interesting and gratifying to see Rita Tushingham, Geraldine Chaplin, Anthony Andrews, Charles Dance, Leslie Phillips and (especially) Ken Russell once again on film. More recent leading actors from the 80s and 90s are also present, Greta Scacchi (looking jowly but still beautiful) and James Wilby, showing their ages with dignity, sans face-lifts in the British fashion of growing older with dignity.

In this version of '4:50 From Paddington' which I have only seen in the Margaret Rutherford bowdlerization from the 1960s, we are closer to the original story. As in all these episodes we are treated to some fine comedic touches. In this one, Rose Keegan almost steals the show in the tiny role of the lisping Lady Alice. I'd like to have seen more of her. The star names here, as in the other episodes, don't always have the most interesting parts. David Warner appears here as the head of a highly dysfunctional family and there really isn't too much he can do with the part, but he delivers some of his lines with acidic spitfire which helps to make him three dimensional in what could easily have been a one-note performance.

These shows are not Hitchcock but they're excellent TV fare and well worth watching if you are a Marple fan. Christie's stories are so universally known that adaptation in various ways cannot hurt them. It's good to see other 'takes' on them and with new people playing her famous characters.

Recommended unless you can't see anyone playing Marple except Joan Hickson. In that case don't waste your time.

Agatha Christie must be turning in her grave with the recent daft tarting up of her excellent plot, i.e. the reconstruction of the crime in the denouement of "4-50 from Paddington". (I refer to the series "Marple" starring Geraldine McEwan, not to be confused with the previous series starring the excellent Joan Hickson.) To have made this said reconstruction possible the two trains would have needed to be timed to the second, an event I find extremely implausible. Just as Agatha Christie would have.

Even in the Fifties people were complaining of late trains and the British railway system in general.

Geraldine McEwan brings a pleasant quirkiness into the character, and in her own way is quite as good as the aforementioned Miss Hickson, but oh dear, if producers and directors must tart up old novels I wish they would retain the story lines and keep them sensible.

What a ride these ITV Marple versions are! Sticking with the tradition that a different adapter, director and crew handle each episode means that they vary considerably. All are produced lavishly in parts, and rarely scrimp on sets. All have the same actress playing Marple.

But the approach to material, the notion of what matters, the cinematic philosophy all change from one to the other and to my mind vary as much among them as between one of these and one by another producer. Here we have respect for the complexity of the mystery. Because the story incidentally involves trains at the beginning, we have lush, overblown references to the Lumet version of a Poirot classic. The similarities are striking and obvious. And very, very effective. The energy of this beginning is not sustained, but it does blast the beginning, and the energy of the locomotive is somewhat imparted to the huge hulk of a house.

As all these are, the time is reset to be after the war, a generation or more after the books. I'm not sure what it says about a time and place that there are so many and such great houses; the point here is to serve as an inhumanly grotesque representation of the wealth that is the presumed motive.

In most of these episodes, they show extreme sensitivity to casting, putting actors in roles that resonant with what we know of them. Here we have Jenny Agutter as the mother who dies (naturally) at the very beginning. Her role — only hinted at — recalls her history in adventure. We first saw her in the amazing "Walkabout."

Someone in the editing shop knows how to use filters effectively.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

As with all of the Agatha Christie stories on film, this one strays a bit from the novel but not enough to be as severely criticized as some other comments would suggest. Most of the storyline is intact, it being the tale of Mrs. McGillicuddy (PAM FERRIS), who witnesses a murder from a train window and inspires Jane Marple (GERALDINE McEWAN) to do some detective work, tracing the murder to the Crackenthorpe estate.

David WARNER, who made such an indelible impression on me as the villain of TITANIC, is the crusty invalid, Mr. Crackenthorpe, head of the family, all of whom become suspects when Miss Marple's friend, Lucy, (AMANDA HOLDEN) agrees to be a housekeeper at the estate so that she can search the grounds for the murdered woman's body.

All of it is extremely watchable due to some gorgeous color photography of exteriors and interiors and some likable performances from the splendid cast. JOHN HANNAH is amusing as the detective aided by Miss Marple and all of the suspects become rather interesting characters before the story reaches its conclusion.

One of the better entries in the series, although I have to add that GERALDINE McEWAN is just a bit too droll as Miss Marple, never giving the impression that she has the capability to do any real detective work but merely giving the impression that she's a charming and sweet little old lady.

Unlike with the first two instalments, "The Body in the Library" and "Murder at the Vicarage", I was slightly more cautious with my personal expectations towards this "4:50 from Paddington". The sole reason for this being that the original Christie novel already got turned into a fantastic film version, namely "Murder She Said" from 1961 and starring the unsurpassable Margaret Rutherford as the presumptuous Jane Marple.

My wariness was unnecessary, thank goodness, and the episode even turned out to be my favorite thus far! It seems to be a trademark throughout this 2004 TV-series to alter a number of plot aspects, but always in a respectable and acceptable fashion, so that the genuine Agatha Christie spirit remains intact. In this wonderfully convoluted whodunit, Miss Marple's friend swears she witnessed how a woman got strangled in a train that was on a parallel stroke of rails next to hers. There isn't any body or traces of a crime whatsoever, but Miss Marple digs deeper. She sends her gorgeous niece Lucy to work as a maid at Rutherford Hall, which is the only estate located next to the railway where the body might have been thrown out of the train. Lucy stumbles upon a complex family situation at the estate, and lots of potential murderers, but meanwhile the body still hasn't turned up.

Apart from the genius source material, this episode benefices mostly from marvelous sets and locations (the Rutherford estate is truly awesome) and stellar performances from the ensemble cast. Geraldine McEwan is terrific as Jane Marple, but this time she stands in the shadows of the stunningly beautiful Amanda Holden as her equally perceptive and sly niece Lucy. The always reliable David Warner appears as the family Patriarch, and there even is a minuscule cameo for Jenny Agutter during the opening sequence.

As I've stated, it's been eons since I read the Agatha Christie books, so I'm not good at picking up nuances, missing plot points etc. that others are as they watch this series. However, I am more familiar with this particular story, "What Mrs. McGillicudy Saw" or 4:50 from Paddington.

In this one, a friend of Mrs. Marple's witnesses a murder when her train passes another train. Marple eventually figures out where the train was and figures the body, since they never found it, was thrown onto Rutherford House, an estate. She gets her niece Lucy, a beautiful young woman, to take a job there and find the body.

I thought this adaptation was pretty good - at least the murderer was the same -- I understand in some adaptations, they've actually changed the identity of the killer as well as the reason for the murder. This is as I remembered it.

I enjoyed David Warner as the bedridden head of the household; all the performances were good and the production values top-notch. Geraldine McEwan still doesn't seem like Miss Marple to me, but she's an excellent actress nonetheless.

I particularly enjoyed this episode of Miss Marple, but I wanted to comment on the whole series. Geraldine McEwan is the most superb Miss Marple to ever hit the screen. I have never been particularly fond of the Miss Marples of the past.. the episodes seem to violent, the Miss Marples are abrupt, etc. It was such a pleasant surprise to watch Geraldine so amazingly turn around my opinion. McEwan plays Jane Marple perfectly.. quiet and contemplative.. endearing, but always making stray comments that confuse everyone, and then settling everything beautifully in the end. So is so lovable.. Don't watch any other Miss Marples! You can't get better than this current one.. I look forward to many more episodes starring McEwan!

For an instant the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Mrs Mrs. McGillicuddy witnessed a murder - a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman's throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away.

But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses... and no corpse.

Miss Marple soon engages the services of a young woman who goes undercover as a housekeeper to investigate. Whilst the investigations take place and the dead body is found dumped on the Rutherford Hall estate, it transpires the secrets of seemingly innocent family get revealed. But who is the murderer?

An impressive adaptation to one of my favourite Miss Marple books, which more or less follows the plot, presents the characters in fine fashion and keeps things interesting and the suspense bubbling. Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple hits her stride at this point, giving her own unique interpretation to the role and supporting her is an able cast.

Mrs McGillicuddy is on her way to see her friend Miss Marple when she looks out of the train window and sees, in an adjacent train, a woman being strangled by a man. Disturbed and doubted by the police she asks Miss Marple to look into it. With nothing but mockery from Inspector Awdry, the pair try to pinpoint the location of the murder and thus the possible places where the body would be dumped. The most likely would be the ample grounds of the Crackenthorpe estate but they can't go wandering around that looking for a body. So instead Marple turns to her niece Lucy Eyelesbarrow for help – getting her to take a job within the grounds to allow her to look around.

I was not actually that taken by the BBC's version of this story so I thought that maybe the ITV "light-entertainment romp" version would be more to my tastes. I say this despite having disliked every other "Marple" (as they call it) entry that I've bothered to try and watch. Here though it does start on familiar terms with a pacier delivery of the murder and setup of the film and in fairness it does continue at this pace throughout, which should make it more accessible that the significantly drier and dull BBC version. However in this opening we also get the thing that annoys me about the Marple films – the rather overdone and over-egged delivery across the board.

Here it first struck me with the portrayal of Mrs McGillicuddy as she is delivered a bit lecherous and in a rather crude comical way. It also opens with the overly-loud and ill-fitting dramatic music that continues throughout, even when it was not only unnecessary but totally unwelcome. The cast continue to force their performances as part of the hammy, star-studded, light-entertainment and this does rather overdo things. I can understand what McEwan was asked to do and she does it well but this is different from it being good. She isn't in that context because she is far too giggly and she rarely is able to demonstrate her supposedly keen mind other than reading out the solution of the mystery – she doesn't bring it out other than that. The support cast is as usual full of well-known British faces, all of whom have been told to overact somewhat to induce an easy Sunday night. Jones, Warner, Brydon, Holden and Hannah all work well enough but Daniels is mixed while McMenamin, Ferris and a few others are rubbish.

Overall then a better entry in the Marple series but still full of the same problems. The plot is more accessible and lively than the BBC version but it comes at the expense of gaudy delivery, badly used dramatic music and too many performances that ham on the surface but offer little below. The least offensive of the Marple films that I have seen but still not very good.

One of my favourites among all Christie movies. So intense and complex. Funny, serious, tragic and still very down to earth, as always. I think this actress Geraldine McEwan does a really good job.