While playing golf on the Welsh coast with his friend Dr Thomas (Bernard Miles) in 1934, Bobby Jones (James Warwick) finds a man who has apparently fallen over the side of a cliff onto the seaside rocks below. His enigmatic dying words are, “Why didn’t they ask Evans?”
The dead man is identified by his sister, Mrs Cayman (Mitzi Rogers), as Alex Pritchard, who had recently returned to the UK from abroad and was on a walking tour.
Bobby and his amateur sleuth friend, Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent (Francesca Annis), soon conclude that illicit opioid drugs are at the core of the mystery.
Suspicion falls on a certain Dr Nicholson (Eric Porter), who runs a country clinic for drug addicts.
The mystery revolves around a will and numerous false or stolen identities. But just who is Evans? and what should he or she have been asked?
Made by London Weekend Television for £1 million, this first-ever TV adaptation of an Agatha Christie book has a shoal of red herrings to confuse the plot.
John Gielgud puts in a brilliant, if short, appearance as Bobby’s father (a vicar), while Connie Booth (fresh from Fawlty Towers) looks as bewildered by the plot as the viewers.
Much of the plot centres around the fictional Welsh seaside town of Marchbolt, and most of the town’s scenes were filmed in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.
A 2009 remake bizarrely introduced Miss Marple to the plot – Names were changed, characters were deleted, combined or made up, backstories altered, and motivations were radically different.
Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent
Francesca Annis Bobby Jones
James Warwick Reverend Jones
John Gielgud Dr Thomas
Bernard Miles Dr Nicholson
Eric Porter Moira Nicholson
Madeline Smith Roger Bassington-ffrench
Leigh Lawson Sylvia Bassington-ffrench
Connie Booth Henry Bassington-ffrench
James Cossins Tommy Bassington-ffrench
Eirik Barclay Badger Beadon
Robert Longden Rose Pratt
Doris Hare Mrs Rivington
Joan Hickson Dr George Arbuthnot
Rowland Davies Mrs Cayman
Mitzi Rogers Mr Cayman
John Pennington Mrs Roberts (as Lynda Marchal)
Lynda La Plante Mr Roberts
Frank Tregear Postmistress
Deddie Davies Mr Spragg
John Horsley Mr Owen
Leon Sinden Nurse Fletcher
Elaine Wells Julie
Annette Robertson Earl Of Marchington
Raymond Francis Nurse Villard
Sally Grace Reeves
Christopher Cregan Mr Askew
Michael Stainton Barker
Hugh Morton Mary
Debbie Armstrong Constable Browning
Norman Mitchell Ticket Inspector
Artro Morris Doctor
Terence Soall Alan Carstairs
Roy Boyd Ross
Mischa De La Motte Fred Pratt
Colin Cunningham PC Bunner
Derek Hollis
You May Also Like
Jonathan Creek 1 9 9 7 - 2 0 1 6 (UK) 32 x 50 minute episodes Pugnacious…
The dead man is identified by his sister, Mrs Cayman (Mitzi Rogers), as Alex Pritchard, who had recently returned to the UK from abroad and was on a walking tour.
Made by London Weekend Television for £1 million, this first-ever TV adaptation of an Agatha Christie book has a shoal of red herrings to confuse the plot.
Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent
Dr Nicholson
Rose Pratt
Mr Spragg
