The Blue Geranium – Agatha Christie – TV Adaptation

I posted a few days ago about the fact that I had read The Blue Geranium in preparation of seeing it on ITV last night. So what is my theory about the TV version. A very good version but to make it television there were a few things missing.

• Where was Dolly Bantry? Miss Marple is invited to dinner at her house where she meets Sir Henry Clithering again. She does not seek him out.
• Where was Colonel Bantry? It was him who told the story of George Pritchard, his wife and the wallpaper.
• The reason for the murder was love and although this was shown in the programme it was more focussed on greed than anything else.
• The murderer and the method was correct.
• Extra characters and threads of stories (some red herrings perhaps?) were added, presumably to flesh a short story out into a 2 hour programme.  The detective, the mysterious Eddie Seward and his past life, the previous relationships of George Pritchard and his brother, plus their wives Mary and Phillipa.
• There were three flowers that would turn blue, and took place over three subsequent 3 full moons. I am sure the programme only covered 2 flowers and there was no mention of the moon. Odd considering the victim was very much intro astrology and mystical beliefs.

All this aside, it was a good adaptation and Sharon Small who played Mary Pritchard did it very well, as did her husband Toby Stephens. In fact all the characters were played well whether they featured in the original story or not. That is why I think this programme is so successful.

(L-R) Toby Stephens (George Pritchard) Julia McKenzie (Miss Marple) Caroline Catz (Hester) Sharon Small (Mary Pritchard)

Julia McKenzie has grown on me as Miss Marple, and oddly enough my way of telling is whether she can knit for real. If you do not know how to knit, I really believe you cannot fake it, especially when you are knitting but listening and talking to what is going on without looking down at your knitting. As soon as I saw her knitting in previous TV adaptations I knew she was right for the role.

I look forward to the next adaptation and perhaps when I have read some more of the stories, I will be back to do some Book versus TV type reviews. I would like to hear what others thought?