I was looking forward to the new adaptation of Sleeping Murder for a long time - and rarely have I been so sorely disappointed and affronted by a television programme! It's the utterly inexplicable changes to the book that made this adaptation not only hard to follow but also exasperating for any fans of Agatha Christie. I simply fail to see the point in changing the nationalities of characters, their relation to each other, and even the means of Miss Marple's involvement - which is tenuous and peripheral throughout.
While the more recent adaptations of Poirot seem to be taking on the darker tone of the original books, this version of Marple appears to have an insatiable urge to 'jolly-hockey-stick' up the story to the point where it's an embarrassing parody of the original and a grave injustice to the author's legacy. Given the success of the 1980s adaptation of Sleeping Murder starring the excellent Joan Hickson, it's not surprising that the programme-makers might want to change elements of the story in order to justify the remake - but this just felt like it was cashing in on the names of Agatha Christie and Marple, with no respect for and little understanding of what made the book and the earlier TV programmes so memorable.
While the more recent adaptations of Poirot seem to be taking on the darker tone of the original books, this version of Marple appears to have an insatiable urge to 'jolly-hockey-stick' up the story to the point where it's an embarrassing parody of the original and a grave injustice to the author's legacy. Given the success of the 1980s adaptation of Sleeping Murder starring the excellent Joan Hickson, it's not surprising that the programme-makers might want to change elements of the story in order to justify the remake - but this just felt like it was cashing in on the names of Agatha Christie and Marple, with no respect for and little understanding of what made the book and the earlier TV programmes so memorable.