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« Roush Dispatch
New (and Some Old) Faces on Mystery!
Kenneth Branagh by Mike Marsland/WireImage.com
This summer, PBS’s rechristened Masterpiece Mystery! series is saying farewell to some favorite franchises, with the final installments of Foyle’s War (starting tonight), which I recently reviewed, and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. To fill the gap, Mystery! is turning to some old friends for next summer’s line-up, specifically Agatha Christie’s renowned sleuths Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and introducing a new crime-solver. Kenneth Branagh will star and co-produce a series based on Swedish novelist Henning Mankell’s Inspector Kurt Wallander books, which Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton describes as being in the Inspector Morse tradition.
On the Christie front, there will be four episodes each of the Poirot and Marple series. David Suchet will reprise his role as the Belgian Sherlock, and Eaton says Suchet has expressed interest in filming every single Poirot story before he’s finished. And they’ve found yet another new Miss Marple for the next go-round. Taking over the role of the spinster sleuth: Julia McKenzie, most recently seen as one of the delightful villagers in the Masterpiece Classic miniseries Cranford.
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Jul 13, 2008 2:23 PM
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I'm probably one of the few 20 year old American kids who likes Poirot! That and Matlock I could stay up late for with my folks when I was younger! They need to bring back his friends Hastings and Japp though. Suchet is superb but I've seen he ones where he's off and his own and the dynamic of his disagreeing friends can't be copied
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Jul 13, 2008 4:49 PM
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Dropping the "Inspector Lynley" series is one of the stupidest moves of which I've ever heard. "Mystery!" wants to spruce things up and give us new shows by going back to "Poirot" and "Miss Marple?" Come on - please rethink this!
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Jul 13, 2008 5:27 PM
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This is terrific news. Kenneth Branagh is wonderful in just about anything he does.
What I would really love to see is the remaining seven Brother Cadfael novels turned into movies featured the great Sir Derek Jacobi. The thirteen movies that were done are wonderful, and there are seven novels left that need to be filmed.
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Jul 14, 2008 12:44 AM
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I'm with wombat141. The Lynley shows are among the best of the British mystery shows. Mismanagement of their series is a specialty of PBS. They often neglect the first seasons of shows and they don't help with sequencing at all. They run a show (the title escapes me) that deals with the dynasties and history of Korea but by not letting us know where they are in the timeline they make it difficult to get an understanding of who and what we are watching; even numbering the shows would help.
But one of my biggest criticisms of PBS is how they cut the end of movies before the credits roll. They don't need to squeeze those extra minutes to please sponsors and by showing films that are not often seen elsewhere they must be trying to appeal to those of us who have an deeper interest in film than many. They don't give us a chance to identify those familiar but unnamed faces or actors who may be much older or much younger versions of actors we know but aren't certain about. And their cowardly bowing to censorship is a disgrace.
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Jul 14, 2008 2:21 AM
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Say what? They are dropping The Inspector Lynley Mysteries? Why in the world would they do that? Has the series been cancelled in England? If not, then whoever made the decision is a fool!
Agatha Christie was the first novelist I ever read - and I love her work - but the reality is that younger viewers will not tune in to watch Poirot and Miss Marple.
I'll give Branagh a chance because he is great, but I am sad to hear about these changes.
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Jul 14, 2008 4:09 AM
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The BBC announced in February 2007 that Inspector Lynley Mysteries was a late series, so PBS is stuck with their lot in life in that respect. The initial source material had been exhausted some time before, anyway.
I've loved many of the franchises they've shown before, especially the Geraldine McEwan Marples, though I've never seen any of the Suchet Poirots. I usually watch them during late-night rebroadcasts, so I hope my local station, anyway, keeps showing those. I wish they'd do more multi-episode single novel adaptations like they've done in the past, too, instead of relying entirely on series.
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Jul 14, 2008 7:28 AM
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It is too bad that the BBC decided to quit on the Inspector Lynley series but Staley you're wrong about the source material: author Elizabeth George published a new novel about Lynley, Careless in Red, early this year. And original source material never stopped the Inspector Morse series when they far outstripped Colin Dexter's books; as long as the producers have the rights to the characters they can write original material.
I am sorry that Geraldine McEwan won't be returning to Miss Marple--I enjoyed her portrayal, which wasn't that of a dotty old busybody. Although I'm frankly tired of Christie. I'm sure there are other classic mystery writers the BBC (or others) could choose that haven't been dramatized to death (no pun intended).
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Jul 14, 2008 9:53 AM
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I wasn't saying that there could never be anymore Inspector Lynley books, just that the programme (as the Brits call them) was doing original stories on their own because they'd caught up with the author.
So much of my attention to these shows depends on whether or not I like the sleuth. I love Miss Marple, but Morse and Lynley and some others bored me.
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Jul 14, 2008 10:19 AM
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I'm looking forward to the Billie Piper (Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Dr. Who) Mystery! episodes that are based on Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart books.
Are the Agatha Christie shows brand new announcements? I'd been peeking at PBS's webpage once a month or so and I don't remember seeing them listed.
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Jul 14, 2008 10:21 AM
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I am shocked that they are not bringing back Lynley  . I am however excited that they are doing more Agatha. But... come on... why don't they just keep the other Marple that they have been using! I just don't get it!! I can't wait to see the new Kenneth Branaugh material!
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Jul 14, 2008 10:42 AM
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I dearly love Morse and miss John Thaw fiercely. Although I enjoy Ispector Lewis, he's no Morse. I also enjoy Foyle, Lynley, and Dalglish (sic).
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Jul 14, 2008 10:52 AM
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Guess its time for me to (finally) buy those Lynley mysteries on DVD. I don't care if I've seen them before - but I look forward to those shows whenever they come on. It was nice being able to plan that for the next X # of Sundays I knew what I was watching!
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Jul 14, 2008 11:41 AM
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I'm a younger viewer (by PBS standards, I'm practically an infant), and I am thrilled they are bringing back Poirot, one of my all-time faves. I liked the Joan Hickson Marples, but never warmed up to the updates, nor did I ever really love Lynley (though I don't much care for the novels, so perhaps not a surprise).
I really wish they'd show Dalziel and Pascoe--I love the novels and I know the shows are out there, but they don't play anywhere in the US and they don't seem to be available on Region 1 DVD.
Also, liking the new Alan Cumming intros (and that they've kept some of the Gorey animation at the start). Much better than the inane and wooden ramblings of Gillian Anderson from Masterpiece Classic, even if she was great in Bleak House.
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Jul 14, 2008 12:02 PM
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I'm actually tickled that this many folks watch Mystery on a regular basis; among my friends I'm the only one who watches, and my grandmother is the only one with whom I can discuss the episodes! So thanks for the updates, Matt; it's one of the few summer series I watch!
I'll miss Lynley, but as I've never been disappointed by anything Mystery's offered, I'll gladly watch anything they put up. I only wish it was easy to rent some of the series I've missed - most of the Foyle's Wars, most of the Morse, etc.
Now if they could only do a few more Mrs. Bradleys with Dame Diana Rigg - I just caught those on DVD and they were fabulous!
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Jul 14, 2008 1:36 PM
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