I liked Geraldine McEwan and Joan Hickson, too. This might not have been the best way to close out the series. And when she turns up unannounced near the end of the episode, apparently having gone walking through the woods alone at night, well… I mean, really, in Rome? (Mike and Ellie on their honeymoon and Miss Marple and her friend on holiday at the same hotel? What are the odds?)Ībout halfway through the episode it occurred to me that screenwriter Kevin Elyot might have been having a laugh as he figured out where else he could shoehorn her into the action. But the fact that Miss Marple turns up absolutely everywhere Mike happens to be is just implausible. It’s also not too far-fetched for them to meet again in a local tea shop. Now, I can accept that Miss Marple might have bumped into Mike Rogers while walking through a village one afternoon. If you like her, you enjoyed a double dose of her last night.) Mike and Ellie (Joanna Vanderham) see someone they recognize. (Ellie is played by Joanna Vanderham, who also stars in The Paradise on Masterpiece Classic. Bad things happened there some time ago, and they’re about to happen again.
The fact that the land is said to carry a gypsy curse doesn’t deter Mike and Ellie, but perhaps it should. They marry, they purchase a plot of land on which to build their dream home, and Mike’s schoolmate, Robbie (Aneurin Barnard), is the architect who designs it for them. Mike does turn out to be a swell guy, once he meets Ellie, who’s beautiful and rich and even more smitten with him than Miss Marple is. Nevertheless, she’s the great judge of character, not I.
He doesn’t seem like the sort Miss Marple would warm to so quickly. She’s taken with him immediately, which raises a question for me because Mike is standoffish. That’s where Miss Marple (Julia McKenzie) encounters him. Flash forward a few years and Mike’s wearing a chauffeur’s uniform and meandering down the street in an English village. We meet him as a schoolboy trying unsuccessfully to rescue a friend who’s fallen into a frozen pond. Our protagonist/narrator is Mike Rogers (Tom Hughes, aka Nick from Silk). She'll be wearing black leather pants next, if she isn't already.”Īgatha Christie didn’t put Miss Marple into Endless Night, quite rightly, as she doesn’t belong there. Said The Observer at the time, “…the suspense is kept up all the way and Miss Christie's new demi-tough, streamlined style really does come off. Published in 1967, the novel was a hit with readers, not least because it was such a departure from Agatha Christie’s familiar style. The most pertinent right now is: What is she doing in this story?Įndless Night is a real suspense tale, told from the point of view of an opportunistic young man. Note: This post contains affiliate links, so I may receive a small commission from sales generated (at no additional cost to you).Miss Marple (Julia McKenzie) and Mike (Tom Hughes): She’s everywhere he wants to be.Miss Marple raises lots of questions.
I have Death on the Nile waiting on my Kindle, so I should probably read that one soon! I will forever love reading Agatha Christie, even with the bad taste Endless Night put in my mouth. I had to tap back a couple of pages and re-read to see if I had missed some crucial information. I read this one on my Kindle, so I “flipped” to the next page and the twist was just there. I gave Endless Night three stars because she did get me with the twist! If I had predicted it, it definitely would have only gotten two. It was all told in the first person, which was completely fine, but it was very stream of consciousness rather than story driven. To me, it felt like a high schooler’s diary. It was a very slow start and felt like it was written very poorly. It certainly is not on my list of Agatha Christie favorites. I mean, AC considers this one of her favorites? As we say in the south, bless her heart. It honestly surprised me all of the hype and praise that Endless Night has gotten.