More Poirot & Marple on ITV1

Separate announcements today have revealed that 5 more Poirots and 3 more Marples are on their way.

From The Telegraph:

Five new films, based on a mixture of novels and short stories, will go into production next year.

Suchet said: ''I'm more than delighted to be reprising my role as Poirot. It's been my life's ambition to bring this amazing canon of works to completion on ITV.

The new films include Curtain, which is Poirot's last case and sees the detective, immobilised with arthritis, call on his old friend Captain Hastings to help him as they return to the scene of their first ever case to try to prevent another murder.

And in an ITV press release:

ITV is delighted to announce that acclaimed stage and television actress Julia McKenzie will return to her role as Miss Marple.

Three Marple films including Caribbean Mystery have been commissioned from ITV Studios and Agatha Christie Ltd.

A Caribbean Mystery will be the first film to be shot during the summer of 2012 with two further films Endless Night and The Seven Dials Mystery produced during the autumn of 2012.

Criminally Minded Cranford?

It often appears to the outside world that Britain has about 12 actors who appear in all tv shows but this impression wasn't helped by the 2009 Christmas specials with four actors from Cranford appearing in various criminal dramas within a few days of each other:

Cranford - Tom Hiddleston - Wallander

Cranford - Tim Curry - Poirot

Cranford - Julia McKenzie - Marple

UPDATE:

Cranford - Alex Jennings - Marple

Marple cast news - A Pocket Full of Rye

Julia McKenzie will make her debut in A Pocket Full of Rye and as usual for Agatha Christie productions a hoard of well known actors will be joining her including Rupert Graves, Matthew McFadyen, Helen Baxendale, Wendy Richard and Ralf Little. From Yahoo:

A Pocket Full of Rye will see Miss Marple trying to solve her most compelling case yet.

Wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue (Kenneth Craham) collapses after his breakfast, poisoned by an extract from yew berries. A pocketful of rye is found in his jacket. Nobody seems too upset, as Rex was universally disliked as a tyrant, especially by his children.

Inspector Neele (McFadyen) is despatched to the house to investigate. Maid Gladys who was trained by Miss Marple, is acting strangely, and writes to her former employer for help. Yet the call for help has come too late: Rex's glamorous and cheating young wife also falls foul of the poisoner. And Gladys is found strangled, 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?

Graves and McFadyen appeared together in last year's Death at the Funeral, (along with Keeley Hawes from Ashes to Ashes):

The new Miss Marple is announced

After regenerating, Miss Marple will now look like Julia McKenzie:


From the Granada International website:

ITV today announced that Julia McKenzie has taken over the iconic role of Miss Marple. Julia will begin filming A Pocketful Of Rye at the end of this month.

Geraldine McEwan, the last actress to take on the nation's favourite spinster sleuth, retired last month after three hugely successful series. The hugely popular Emmy Award nominated ITV films have been sold to over 100 territories worldwide and peaked in the ratings at 10 million viewers.

Star of stage and screen, Julia McKenzie most 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. On stage Julia recently starred in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic, and has many award wins and nominations to her name, 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 McKenzie said: "I'm very excited but also slightly daunted by the enormous responsibility that comes with taking on such an iconic role. Just about everybody in the world knows about Miss Marple and has an opinion of what she should be like, so I'm under no illusions about the size of the task ahead. And I suppose I'll have to remind myself how to knit!"

Read the rest of the press release here.