'Bertrams' has never been one of my favourite Miss Marple books. It's slow and unlikely and not much really happens. The new ITV McEwen version tries to remedy this by packing in lots of additional stuff and fails miserably. In my opinion, the BBC Hickson version does the reverse and improves on the original material. I think it's one of the best looking of the Hickson adaptations with great attention to detail and an effective musical score. It's very restrained but it works by sharpening the original characters. There are some lovely performances from Joan Greenwood, James Cossins and Preston Lockwood. Helena Michell is OK as a rather chilly Elvira but I can't heap enough praise on the terrific Caroline Blakiston who is superb as the crucially important character of Bess Sedgwick. Yes, her performance is over the top but then Bess as a character is over the top, lively and dynamic - a true adventuress and Blakiston captures this perfectly.
Joan Hickson is clever and astute once more as Miss Marple though George Baker is a trifle dull as Davy and I began to get a bit annoyed with his Gilbert & Sullivan quotes. Overall, a really good entry in this series and much better than McEwen.
Joan Hickson is clever and astute once more as Miss Marple though George Baker is a trifle dull as Davy and I began to get a bit annoyed with his Gilbert & Sullivan quotes. Overall, a really good entry in this series and much better than McEwen.