June Whitfield returns as the deceptively mild spinster sleuth in three full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations.
Agatha Christie, the acknowledged 'Queen of Crime' (The Observer)
was born in Torquay in 1890. During the First World War she worked
as a hospital dispenser, and it was here that she gleaned the
working knowledge of various poisons that was to prove so useful in
her detective stories.
Her first novel was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which
introduced Hercule Poirot to the world. This was published in 1920
(although in fact she had written it during the war) and was
followed over the next six years by four more detective novels and
a short story collection. However, it was not until the publication
of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd that Agatha Christie's reputation
was firmly established. This novel, with its complex plot and
genuinely shocking conclusion, attracted considerable public
attention and has since been acknowledged by many experts as a
masterpiece. In 1930 the sharp-witted spinster sleuth Miss Marple
made her first appearance in The Murder at the Vicarage. In all,
Agatha Christie published over 80 novels and short story
collections.
The brilliance of Christie's plots, and her enduring appeal, have
led to several dramatisations of her work on radio, television and
film. In 1930 she was one of a number of crime writers asked to
contribute a chapter to a mystery, Behind the Screen, that was
broadcast on BBC radio on 21st June that year. More recently, June
Whitfield portrayed Miss Marple on BBC Radio 4, whilst John Moffat
starred as Hercule Poirot. On screen, Peter Ustinov, David Suchet,
Margaret Rutherford, Joan Hickson, Geraldine McEwan and Julia
McKenzie have all memorably played Agatha Christie's famous
sleuths.
As her play The Mousetrap (the longest-running play in the history
of theatre) testifies, Agatha Christie's detective stories are
likely to appeal for a long time to come.
Agatha Christie was awarded a CBE in 1956 and was made a Dame of
the British Empire in 1971. She died in 1976.
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