She's just a little old lady with grey hair and a twinset. But ITV1 sleuth Miss Marple seems to have extraordinary pulling power…
The cast list for the new series, which hits screens in December, reads like a who's who of acting.
Take The Murder At The Vicarage. In it, you'll find Blackadder star Tim McInnery as the vicar, with Tipping The Velvet's Rachael Stirling as his glamorous young wife and League Of Gentleman's Mark Gattis as the nervous curate.
Lock Stock's Jason Flemyng pops up as a dashing artist while veteran Sir Derek Jacobi takes the role of odious Colonel Protheroe, who wakes up one morning to find that he's dead.
The murder is investigated by Ballykissangel hunk Stephen Tompkinson — Inspector Slack — and along the way viewers will spot cake star Jane Asher rubbing shoulders with Pink Panther legend Herbert Lom.
Then we come to A Murder Is Announced… This time, the sharp-witted spinster, played by 72-year-old Geraldine McEwan, is surrounded by other terribly famous women.
My Family's Zoe Wanamaker becomes posh Letitia Blacklock, whose home is the venue for a murder advertised in the local paper. Singing star Elaine Paige and Spooks beauty Keeley Hawes play pals who live with her, while actresses Frances Barber and Claire Skinner are Marple's mates. And Cherie Lunghi plays a nosy villager.
Meanwhile, comedian Catherine Tate is an angry Jewish refugee servant and Love Actually's Sienna Guillory is Letitia's distant cousin.
After the murder occurs at the appointed time, funnyman Alexander Armstrong arrives in the guise of DI Craddock to investigate.
We already know that Body In The Library, which was filmed first, features Jamie Theakston, Little Britain's David Walliams and Ab Fab's Joanna Lumley. Now it just remains to be seen who in the world of acting is left to be cast in the final film, The 4.50 From Paddington.
"People are falling over themselves to appear in the series," says our insider. "They want to be in something they know will be remembered as a classic."
