History Series / MissMarple1984

* GilliganCut: In "The Body In The Library", Dolly Bantry is woken up by a hysterical maid rushing into the bedroom to babble about a [[TitleDrop body in the library]], then rushing out again in tears before Mrs Bantry has any chance to ask what she's talking about. Wondering what in the world she's just heard, Mrs Bantry then nudges her husband awake and insists he go downstairs to check. A grumpy and half-asleep Colonel Bantry insists she dreamt the whole thing and he's not going downstairs to do something so obviously silly...

-->''(immediate cut to Colonel Bantry stumping down the stairs in his robe, only to be met by their butler informing him of said body.)''

* PoorCommunicationKills: In "The Body in the Library" the police are so focused on the murder case that they miss two important reports. When Slack interviews George Bartlett about the murder, he mentions that his car's been stolen, but Slack's uninterested. Meanwhile, villager Malcolm reports a body to PC Palk, who assumes Malcolm's learning disability means he's reporting the same crime they're already aware of. [[spoiler:Malcolm's actually found a second body - in the burnt wreckage of Bartlett's car]].

* {{Sexophone}}: Any time Lucky Dyson shows up in "A Caribbean Mystery".

* FamedInStory: In "A Caribbean Mystery", the local police inspector knows all about Miss Marple -- to Mr Rafiel's astonishment, when he happens to mention the name of the little old lady who's taken an interest in the case.

* ShoutOut: In "The Body in the Library", Ray Starr dismissively refers to Inspector Slack as Lestrade, the name of the detective who always failed to keep up in ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: A very subtle version. The credits use paintings of idyllic English village life (initially almost entirely in black and white, with just a faint hint of colour), zooming in to show a hidden corpse and malicious expressions. It's only when it pans past a gated garden that it's animated, with the visible garden moving behind the bars of the gate.

* ShoutOut: In "The Body in the Library", Ray Starr dismissively refers to Inspector Slack as Lestrade, the name of the detective who always failed to keep up with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''.

* JumpedAtTheCall: Dolly Bantry is a mystery novel fan and a little unimpressed when her husband insists she shouldn't be enjoying the discovery of a body in their library. One of her first actions is to collect Miss Marple so that she can start looking at the case before the police arrive.

* ShoutOut: In "The Body in the Library", Ray Starr dismissively refers to Inspector Slack as Lestrade, the detective who always failed to keep up with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''.

* JumpedAtTheCall: Dolly Bantry is a mystery novel fan and a little unimpressed when her husband insists she shouldn't be enjoying the discovery of a body in their library.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: A very subtle version. The credits use paintings of idyllic English village life (initially almost entirely in black and white, with just a hint of colour), zooming in to show a hidden corpse and malicious expressions. It's only when it pans past a gated garden that it's animated, with the garden shifting behind the bars of the gate.

* DeathByAdaptation: In this adaptation of 'mLiterature/MurderAtTheVicarage'', [[spoiler:Anne Protheroe]] ends up committing suicide out of remorse.

* AgeLift: In the book of ''Nemesis'', Miss Barrow and Miss Cooke are said to be "middle-aged". In the adaptation they're bikers aged around thirty.

* DeathByAdaptation: In this adaptation of "Literature/MurderAtTheVicarage", [[spoiler:Anne Protheroe]] ends up committing suicide out of remorse.

* FamedInStory: In "Literature/ACaribbeanMystery", the local police inspector knows all about Miss Marple -- to Mr Rafiel's astonishment, when he happens to mention the name of the little old lady who's taken an interest in the case.
* FingertipDrugAnalysis: Jackson is seen performing it on "Literature/ACaribbeanMystery".

* GilliganCut: In "Literature/TheBodyInTheLibrary", Dolly Bantry is woken up by a hysterical maid rushing into the Bantrys' bedroom to babble about a [[TitleDrop body in the library]], then rushing out again in tears before Mrs Bantry has any chance to ask what she's talking about. Wondering what in the world she's just heard, Mrs Bantry then nudges her husband awake and insists he go downstairs to check. A grumpy and half-asleep Colonel Bantry insists she dreamt the whole thing and he's not going downstairs to do something so obviously silly...

* HandOfDeath: At the climax of "Literature/TheBodyInTheLibrary", the murderer is only seen as a black-gloved hand until the moment they are apprehended.

* MakeoverMontage: In "Literature/TheMovingFinger", Megan's makeover is shown as a series of black-and-white photographs.

* {{Sexophone}}: Any time Lucky Dyson shows up in "Literature/ACaribbeanMystery".

* AdaptationalHeroism: In ''Nemesis'', Jason Rafiel is made into an activist working to help the homeless, rather than merely a former delinquent.

The titular Miss Marple, played by Creator/JoanHickson, is an elderly lady who's drawn into various investigations as an amateur sleuth, using the wisdom accumulated from a quiet village life to understand the murderers and criminals who cross her path. Miss Marple takes the view that there's little that's unique about such cases - the things that drive killers are the same things seen elsewhere in normal life, part of human nature, but now writ large.

Examples from normal village life often act as analogies to the murder's motive and approach, allowing her to uncover them.

The BBC produced 21 episodes, adapting 12 books. Five episodes towards the end of the series were standalone feature length adaptations, released annually for Christmas - whereas the remainder were shorter and split novels into multiple episodes.

Although positioned as a series, the episodes are standalone mysteries, with each one covering a different novel - and

''Miss Marple'' is a British detective series produced by Creator/TheBBC, based on Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/MissMarple'' novels.

The BBC produced 12 episodes, spread across three seasons.

[[redirect:Literature/MissMarple]]