After having lived in India all her life, Gwenda Halliday moves to England to find a house for her and her husband-to-be to move into after their marriage. She finds the perfect house in a seaside resort called Dillmouth. However, shortly after having moved in, strange things begin to happen. She requests that a door be knocked through, only to discover that there originally had been a door there. Then she decides on a certain wallpaper for the nursery, only to discover that a previously unopened cupboard was decorated in exactly that wallpaper. She also sees the vision of a dead woman in the hall. As her fiance is still in India, he requests that Hugh Hornbeam, a colleague, helps Gwenda find out what is going on. Hugh calls in Miss Marple.
Miss Marple suspects that Gwenda has previously been in the house, and when they check, it seems that Gwenda did live there for a while with her father after the death of her mother in India. Her father had been about to marry again, to a woman called Helen, but Helen disappeared before the wedding. Miss Marple suspects that Helen was murdered and that it is her body that Gwenda has seen in the hall. Slowly, they piece the story together, with the help of Gwenda's uncle James. Did Gwenda's father kill Helen? Or was it one of the theatre group with which she was involved?
Sleeping Murder is my favourite Agatha Christie story of all time. It is cleverly written and is completely believable. What a pity the screenwriter, Stephen Churchett, decided to re-write large sections of the story, which made it into something little more than a farce. The main differences are the addition of the theatre group, which doesn't exist in the book, although some of the characters in it are in the book but with different backgrounds. Another is that Gwenda is already married in the book and so the ridiculous attraction between her and Hugh does not happen. Also Gwenda's Uncle James is not a blood relation of Gwenda at all in the book, unlike in this film - he is simply the brother of Helen. I really cannot see what the changes that the director and screenwriter have made have brought to this story and it is largely for this reason that I did not enjoy this film as much as I would usually.
I always feel quite sorry for Geraldine McKewan. As the latest Miss Marple, she has had to follow in the footsteps of the much-loved Joan Hickson; no easy feat. I personally think she is good as Miss Marple. As we have discovered in previous episodes, her background has been tampered with, but again, that is the fault of the director rather than the actress and I think that she does well as the slightly twittery, but really very smart, Miss Marple. In any case, her role in this film is actually quite small; Gwenda is really the main character.
Bearing this in mind, it is a shame that Gwenda's character has also been greatly tampered with. In the book, she is an innocent 21 year old. In the film, she is an overbearing, bossy girl who needs a good slap. I didn't like Sophia Myles in the role at all. I felt absolutely no sympathy for her and thought that she deserved the nasty fiance she had left behind in India rather than the quite sweet Hugh Hornbeam (slightly overdone by Aidan McArdle, but cute nevertheless). As Gwenda's desire for the truth is what drives this story, this lack of sympathy really did make the story fall a bit flat.
Then there is the whole host of stars thrown at the film in the hope of making it better than it is. First, there is Phil Davis, who plays Uncle James. I like Phil Davis. He was great in Rose and Maloney and Bleak House. Here, he is nothing more than a boring lump of a man who brings absolutely nothing to either the part or the story. Frankly, he is totally unconvincing. Dawn French has been completely miscast as one of the theatre group members. She barely ages from the time when Helen was alive to Gwenda's quest for the truth and just really seems pointless in the role. Paul McGann as her husband, Dickie, also wastes his talent. Sarah Parish, who plays Evie, a singer/dancer/xylophone player, totally overplays the part and turns it into more of a comedy than anything else. Even Una Stubbs, who plays the housekeeper, doesn't show much talent. The only one that didn't rile me was Martin Kemp, who plays another of the theatre group and that was only because he was clearly playing himself.
In many ways, I can understand why the director of a new series starring a new Miss Marple might want to try and make it distinguishable from the Joan Hickson ones. However, it would have been much better to write a completely new story rather than try to rewrite a classic. Nor is this the only time that the Marple stories have been badly messed around with. Another episode, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, isn't even a Miss Marple story - it stars Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, although it has been rewritten to include Miss Marple. I think this urge to revamp everything is a very bad move.
Trying to imagine that I don't know the original story, I suppose this isn't all bad. It is quite watchable and I love the concept of a woman slowly beginning to remember what happened during her childhood. However, if you're a diehard Miss Marple fan like me, then you'll probably find it quite hard to stomach. Just about recommended, with reservations, for those who haven't read the book. If you have, I'd stick to the Joan Hickson one, which is much closer to the original story.