Toby Atkin-Wright

Watched Marple today. Only superficial resemblance to the source material. Why do ITV squander their fine cast and production values on such tripe? At least the Poirot production team manage to avoid the temptation to fiddle so much.

With a murder mystery, the plot, character interactions, and motivations are central to defining the work. The setting is incidental. Yet they created a period setting of 1951 (for a novel published in 1971) and then took the plot all over the place.

The 39 Steps was equally 'inventive' but I found it more satisfying, perhaps because it maintained an excitement throughout, and because there hasn't yet been a faithful adaptation of the novel. What is so hard about filming a short, exciting thriller? And why do film-makers need to add a love interest?

Watched Marple today. Only superficial resemblance to the source material. Why do ITV squander their fine cast and production values on such tripe? At least the Poirot production team manage to avoid the temptation to fiddle so much.

With a murder mystery, the plot, character interactions, and motivations are central to defining the work. The setting is incidental. Yet they created a period setting of 1951 (for a novel published in 1971) and then took the plot all over the place.

The 39 Steps was equally 'inventive' but I found it more satisfying, perhaps because it maintained an excitement throughout, and because there hasn't yet been a faithful adaptation of the novel. What is so hard about filming a short, exciting thriller? And why do film-makers need to add a love interest?