Geraldine McEwan schmeisst hin! Eilmeldung

[Japp]

McEwan retires as Miss Marple

Published Wednesday 23 January 2008 at 14:40 by Matthew Hemley

ITV is searching for a new actress to play Miss Marple in the popular drama series, after Geraldine McEwan announced she was retiring from playing the amateur detective.
Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple on ITV

Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple on ITV Photo: ITV / Granada

McEwan said it was time “to pass the baton on” after playing the title role since 2003 and having made 12 films.

She said: “It has been a marvellous experience to inhabit this role for the last few years, and I am sure that my successor, whomever she may be, will thoroughly enjoy her time with the production team - and with the extraordinarily talented group of writers and actors that they come up with for each series.”

ITV director of drama Laura Mackie said McEwan’s interpretation of Agatha Christie’s famous character was “a key part in the enormous success and popularity the series has enjoyed”, but added she was looking forward to working with Agatha Christie Ltd on the future books in the mystery series.

McEwan was the sixth actress to take on the character, following in the footsteps of Gracie Fields, Margaret Rutherford, Angela Lansbury, Helen Hayes and Joan Hickson. 

Ten of the 12 films she appeared in have been shown on ITV, with the remaining two set to be screened.

ITV said the search for a new Marple would begin next week.

[Sephiroth90]

wenn ich mit allem gerechnet hätte, aber nicht damit... Ich glaub es wird schwer für ITV eine gute Nachfolgerin zu finden. Aber ich bin gespannt wer es wird. Hoffentlich diesmal eine die mehr wie Joan Hickson ist. Also ich meine größer und ein wenig verhuschter als McEwan. ^^

[Japp]

ich hoffe, das die suche schnell über die bühne geht und die 2 neuen Marple gedreht werden können.
Ich glaube neue Poirots wirds erst danach geben.

[Christian]

Dank an Japp für die Eiltmeldung. Sehr interessant. Mich hat Geraldine McEwan nie überzeugt, schon ihre Stimme fand ich ziemlich nervig. Mal sehen, wer jetzt kommt. Da das Casting von Geraldine McEwan damals sehr lange gedauert hat, fürchte ich, dass es auch diesmal so sein wird.
Schade, dass die BBC seinerzeit nicht auch noch die Kurzgeschichten mit Joan Hickson verfilmt hat. Joan Hickson hätte das damals gerne gemacht. Ich finde Joan Hickson als Miss Marple kam dem Original bisher am nächsten.
Die Qualität der Drehbücher die Geraldine McEwan in dem Statement so lobt, ist meiner Ansicht unterschiedlich. Von schrecklich ("The body in the library") bis recht gut ("4.50 from Paddington" und "Murder at the vicarage"). Auch die Besetzung ist - trotz prominenter Namen - nicht immer optimal gewesen.

[Christian]

Mehr dazu im Guardian (auch ein paar Namen von Nachfolgern werden genannt:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/ja ... television

Die Times:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 241131.ece

[mark]

Danke Christian für die englischen Zeitungslinks -- kommt mir ja sehr entgegen!
Ich finde, es kann nur besser werden, bei der Suche nach einer "new spinster detective".
Ich wußte gar nicht, daß Joan Hickson auch die anderen Kurzgeschichten hätte verfilmen wollen. Ich hatte, ehrlich gesagt, diese Kurzgeschichten fast völlig vergessen.Poirot ist selbst in der Erinnerung übermächtig
"The Thirteen Problems" hätte man auch in der Art wie Tommy & Tuppence verfilmen können.

[Agarallo]

Mir hat Geraldine McEwan in der Rolle der Miss Marple sehr gut gefallen.
Anfänglich war ich auch sehr skeptisch. Da schwirrte Joan Hickson noch zu sehr
in meinem Gedächtnis.
Spätestens bei "THE MOVING FINGERS" musste ich meine Meinung revidieren, denn dieser
Film ist meiner Meinung nach besser als das "Orginal" mit Joan Hickson.
Aber das ist ja nur meine Meinung.
Die Forumsmitglieder halten ja Joan Hickson für die beste Miss Marple.
Da hat es eine neue Miss Marple sowieso schwer.
Eine Kopie von Joan Hickson wäre doch sehr einfaltslos!
Und für Deutschland gibt es ja nur eine "wahre" Miss Marple: M. Rutherford..
Die Geschmäcker sind also verschieden!

[mark]

...sehr diplomatisch.

[Japp]

Does Miss Marple have to be an elderly spinster? The Agatha Christie estate is considering a younger model for the role after Geraldine McEwan laid down her knitting needles.

The actress, 75, announced her retirement as the sleuth after appearing in 12 mysteries for ITV. The Jane Marple dramas are a lucrative export, with sales to 100 countries.

ITV, with the Christie estate, is looking for a new actress to follow in the footsteps of Gracie Fields, Margaret Rutherford, Helen Hayes, Angela Lansbury and Joan Hickson.

McEwan was 70 when she accepted the role but in the competitive commercial television world, an actress below pensionable age could attract a younger audience.

An ITV spokesman said: “We will search far and wide for a new Marple. There could be a younger Marple, with actresses aged 50-plus being considered.”

Candidates for the role include Victoria Wood, 54, who won the Best Actress Bafta last year for her role in the ITV1 drama Housewife, 49. Julie Walters and Geraldine James, both 57, are also being considered.

A debate over ageism in television was fuelled by the replacement of Nick Ross, 60, as Crimewatch presenter by Kirsty Young, 39, who made her debut last night.

The Marple films are co-produced by Granada, Agatha Christie Ltd and WGBH Boston with a global audience in mind. A big name from the “ Cranford generation” of seasoned British actresses would attract viewers.

Dame Judi Dench and Dame Eileen Atkins, both 73, are expected to be approached. Prunella Scales, 75, will also be considered, as will Anna Massey, 70.

Sue Johnston, 64, who stars in Waking the Dead, could emerge as the compromise candidate to inhabit the murderous village of St Mary Mead.

Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson and chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd, said: “Geraldine has been a wonderful Miss Marple – the sixth actress to play her on screen in my lifetime.

“I think she brought a humanity and playfulness to the role that worked beautifully. We will miss her but are looking forward to seeing what new aspects of Jane Marple’s character our new Miss Marple might be able to explore.”

Marple appeared in in 12 novels and 20 short stories over a period of 41 years, beginning with The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930. The apparently frail woman, whose unflinching deductions from the most gruesome murder scene left local police flummoxed, soon became a favourite.

The Christie estate is owned by Chorion, an intellectual property company that has introduced the novels to a new generation through computer games and mobile platforms.

Chorion has arranged for Agatha Christie to feature in a period-set episode of Doctor Who next year; she will be played by Fenella Woolgar. An estimated two billion Christie novels have been bought.McEwan, who has filmed two final mysteries for ITV, said: “Of course, it is terribly disappointing to have to pass the baton on, but it has been a marvellous experience. I am sure that my successor will thoroughly enjoy her time with the production team.”


Case history

10 million Downloads recorded for the Death on the Nile computer game

23,000 Performances of The Mousetrap – the longest-running show in the West End

1 billion Christie books bought in Britain – and a further billion worldwide

64 Per cent share in Agatha Christie Ltd bought by Chorion in 1998

66 Novels managed by the Christie estate

154 Short stories managed by estate

100 Television dramas produced

24 Feature films produced

Source: Times database

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 241131.ece

[Japp]

Miss Marple: Murder is easy. Finding a new Marple isn't
At 75, the glorious, stork-like Geraldine McEwan is folding up her knitting, handing back her gardening trowel and giving us all a chance to solve ITV's latest mystery - who will play the new Miss Marple?

Miss Marple
Losing our Marple: Geraldine McEwan

It's a poisoned chalice, in every sense. Readers have very firm ideas of how favourite fictional characters should be portrayed on screen. Should James Bond be more like Sean Connery, Roger Moore or Daniel Craig? Is David Suchet or Peter Ustinov closer to Hercule Poirot?

In print, the spinster sleuth of St Mary Mead - who featured in a dozen novels and 20 short stories - is described as a tall, thin woman with a pink, wrinkled face, pale blue eyes and snowy white hair.

Her innocuous appearance, meandering conversation and ever-present knitting needles often mislead people into thinking she was a dithering old maid. Her creator, Agatha Christie, explained that "she expected the worst of everyone and everything, and was, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right".

Jane Marple has been portrayed by many leading actresses, including Margaret Rutherford (whom Christie thought too boisterous and loud), Angela Lansbury and Helen Hayes. In the early 1960s, Christie met the young Joan Hickson, who was playing a bit part in a Rutherford mystery, Murder, She Said, and told her: "Some day, I would like you to play my Miss Marple." And she did. Her television interpretation, from 1985 to 1992, is considered by many to be the ultimate Miss M.
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So who's next? The names that have been tossed into Geraldine McEwan's recently unpinned straw hat include a brace of Dames - Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins, each dramatic gold but perhaps a touch predictable. Sue Johnston, of the BBC sitcom The Royle Family, may be in the running because of her shrewd responses to Trevor Eve's know-all boss in drama Waking the Dead.

But in 1930, when Agatha Christie first introduced Marple, the idea that a quiet village spinster - a pensioner - would have an opinion worth listening to, let alone a mind sharp and analytical enough to solve crime, was shocking and exceptional.

Now, with the sudoku-smart, honed and toned babyboomers reaching the Miss Marple years, with no signs of a knitting pattern, a perm or pair of sensible brogues in sight, isn't it time we chose a Miss Marple for the 21st century?

An ITV spokesman says that "there could be a younger Marple, with actresses aged 50?plus being considered". Victoria Wood, at 54, is a favourite, after her triumph as the wartime mother in ITV's Housewife, 49; Geraldine James, at 57, with her firm, no-nonsense delivery, is a nice idea.

But let's widen the net and consider other suspects who could turn St Mary Mead upside down. I'd love to see the village baddies cowering before Penelope Keith's brisk and fearless interrogation. Emma Thompson, with her Joyce Grenfell stride and chatty friendliness, would surely inspire confidence. Penelope Wilton has that rare ability to quietly express every emotion, and her Marple would be full of intelligence and perhaps an inner sadness.

A popular choice would be Lynda Bellingham, whose warmth and "everywoman" appeal belies a clever actress - rather as Miss Marple's period persona made her easy to underestimate. Choose Joanna Lumley and the character could be redrawn as a glamorous divorcée. She has sparkled in many period dramas and her smile would extract a confession quicker than a wobbly tooth.

Naturally, Joanna's collaborator on Ab Fab, Jennifer Saunders, springs to mind. Clever, funny and modern, but with that unmistakable whiff of olde England, it's hard to choose between them.

Perhaps we don't have to. Miss Marple, traditionally, had no family but why not discover a long-lost sister, Edina Marple? The only worry is, if these two Marples were invited to the vicarage, would they be able to stop at one sherry?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main. ... ple125.xml

[Japp]

January 25, 2008
Young feet wanted to fill old brogues

The news that ITV could be looking for a younger woman to play Miss Marple will no doubt come as a shock to the purists.

After the retirement of Geraldine McEwan from the role at 75, the company has admitted that it may make the spinster sleuth more youthful – arousing suspicions that it is “younging down” to make the stories appeal to a wider audience.

But don’t worry, they are not getting Gemma Atkinson, the former Hollyoaks babe, to play a bikini-clad Miss Marple (well, not yet). An ITV spokesman said that “actresses aged 50-plus are being considered”.

Which raises the question: how old is Miss Marple (motto: “The young people think the old people are fools, but the old people know the young people are fools”)?

Her creator, Agatha Christie, gave little away. But as the average life expectancy for women at the time of the character’s creation was less than 63, it would be reasonable to think that anyone over 55 would then have qualified as “old” – and a 75-year-old such as McEwan would have seemed like Aesop’s aunt.

Which means that the television executives are sticking closer to the Christie original than you might have thought. And, possibly, than they might have thought, too.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 245844.ece

[Sephiroth90]

Eine jüngere Miss Marple Das passt ja gar nicht Dann könnten die auch gleich eine ganz neue Detektivin erfinden und die in irgendwelche Agatha Christie Bücher reinschmeißen. Ich meine das besondere an Miss Marple ist doch, dass sie wie ein altes verwirrtes Großmütterchen rüberkommt und das sie deshalb alles erzählz bekommt, weil keiner ihr misstraut oder sie klug hält. Und wenn denn dann aufeinmal eine 50 Jährige, womöglich noch sehr aktive, Miss Marple kommt, dann ist das genau das Gegenteil von der richtigen Miss Marple. Also einfach eine neue Detektivin mit dem Namen Marple...

[mark]

Also gegen eine 50jährige hätte ich nichts. Könnte man ja etwas älter schminken -- einigen wir uns auf 60
Ein bißchen altmütterlich in der Art und schon paßt das schon. Meine bescheidene Meinung Weiß auch nicht, wie viele 80jährige gute Schauspielerinnen "auf dem Markt" sind.
Mit Joopi Heesters wollte ich z. B. nicht drehen mögen. Jeden Morgen könnte man in der Zeitung von seiner Todesanzeige überrascht werden.

[Agarallo]

Wo wir wieder bei Joopi wären! Der scheint sich bei dir im Gehirn eingenistet zu haben!
Habe gegen eine 60jährige Miss Marple auch nichts einzuwenden. Die "Maske" kann eine 30jährige
auf 100 schminken und man würde es als echt abnehmen!
Auf die Gesten kommt es an. Wie altjüngferlich die neue Miss Marple ausfallen soll ist allerdings
Geschmacksache.

[mark]

Habe ich Joopi hier schon mal erwähnt?
Falls ja, bitte jetzt keine Liste mit Linkverweisen dorthin.
Muß immer, leicht gehässig, grinsen, wenn ich von ihm im TV höre. Seine 40 Jahre jüngere Frau hat sich ja so wasvon verplant, als sie den alten Zotzel geheiratet hat. Wie sagte doch Lady Macbeth im gleichnamigen Shakespeare-Stück: " Wer hätte gedacht, daß der alte Mann noch so viel Blut in sich gehabt?" Die dachte doch bestimmt nicht, daß sie mit 50 noch immer nicht geerbt haben würde.
Nun wieder zurück zu Miss Marple!