Top Telly - Marple: Pocket Full of Rye

Julia McKenzie is joined by a stellar cast as she debuts in her role as Britain’s favourite spinster sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Helen Baxendale, Joseph Beattie, Ken Campbell, Lucy Cohu, Ken Cranham, Rupert Graves, Laura Haddock, Rose Heiney, Ralf Little, Matthew Macfadyen, Anna Madeley, Ben Miles, Hattie Morahan, Wendy Richard, Prunella Scales and Liz White all join Julia in A Pocket Full of Rye.

Wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue (Ken Cranham) collapses and dies after his breakfast, poisoned by an extract from yew berries. A pocketful of rye is found in his jacket. No one seems too upset, as Rex was universally disliked as a tyrant, especially by his children – flamboyant traveller Lancelot (Rupert Graves), bookish Elaine (Hattie Morahan) and uptight businessman Percy (Ben Miles). In fact, Rex’s home, Yew Tree Lodge – with its collection of servants and housekeepers, each with their ear to the ground, seems a much happier place without him.

Inspector Neele (Matthew Macfadyen) is despatched to Yew Tree Lodge to investigate. The house-maid, Gladys (Rose Heiney), who was Miss Marple’s former maid, is acting strangely and writes to Marple for help. Yet the call has come too late and Rex's glamorous but unfaithful young wife Adele (Anna Madeley) also falls foul of the poisoner. And Gladys is found strangled, with a peg on her nose. The case appears to be echoing the children’s rhyme ‘Sing A Song of Sixpence’. The question is: who will be next?

Renowned for her work with Stephen Sondheim, Julia has starred in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic, and has achieved numerous awards, both on Broadway and in the West End. She won an Olivier for her performance as Mrs Lovett in the National Theatre production of Sweeney Todd. Julia has recently appeared in Cranford as Mrs Forrester and the critically acclaimed Notes on a Scandal. Earlier credits include Fresh Fields, Bright Young Things and Blott on the Landscape.

Julia McKenzie is the seventh actress to take on the much-loved character on screen, following in the footsteps of Geraldine McEwan, Gracie Fields, Margaret Rutherford, Angela Lansbury, Helen Hayes and Joan Hickson.

Mathew Prichard, Chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd and Agatha Christie’s grandson, said “I am delighted that Julia McKenzie is playing Miss Marple, one of my grandmother’s, and the British public’s favourite fictional characters. She has that wonderful combination of homeliness, intelligence and compassion that is so appealing and effective in solving mysteries. The British public is in for a treat with this story and another three more, not to mention marvellous casts to support Julia. My grandmother would have been very proud that her work still commands such outstanding professional support in the twenty-first century.”

The Marple films are co-produced by ITV Studios and Agatha Christie Ltd, a Chorion company, and US network WGBH. Mammoth Screen’s Michele Buck and Damien Timmer executive produce Marple on behalf of ITV Studios. Phil Clymer, formerly Chorion’s Director of TV & Film and Rebecca Eaton of WGBH are Executive Producers.

Christie remains the most popular novelist in history, with her work being published in 50 languages in over 70 countries and more than two billion of her books sold to date. As well as the renowned Poirot and Miss Marple series, Christie also wrote the detective series Tommy and Tuppence and a wealth of other murder mysteries and thrillers between 1920 and 1976 including the bestselling And Then There Were None and the record breaking play The Mousetrap. LWT began broadcasting Agatha Christie's Poirot in 1989 and the BBC was previously the producer of the Miss Marple dramas.

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Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye starring Julia McKenzie

When wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue dies a pocketful of rye is found in his jacket

Starring Julia McKenzie, Helen Baxendale, Joseph Beattie, Ken Campbell, Rupert Graves and Wendy Richard