At Bertram's Hotel

Geraldine McEwan shines again.!

It was an unbelievable surprise to see reviewers leaving such low scores for this version of Miss Marple, as low as 3s..???

I understand everyone deserves to lay down their own opinion in reviews but, 3s, that is outrageous..!

Have you all been watching the same drama that I have been watching? It seems unlikely..:( 'Miss Geraldine McEwan' is absolutely fantastic and, her ability to convince an ordiance of the reality of the character is flawrless..! She is absolutely convincing, energising, meticulous, methodical, and lovably humorous.!.

Joan Hickson played 'Miss Marple' in a completely different narrative and style..! I found some of her episodes of 'Miss Marple' were slow, dreary and drowsy, that really took too long to take off I would end-up switching over..sorry.. There is no comparison to Miss Geraldine McEwans' version of Marple, no way shape or form does her Miss Marple character appear like a nosy old woman, poking her nose where it doesn't belong; even though she does:) She is a meticulously minded woman whom has trodden the depths of society:):):) 'Quoted' by 'Miss Marples' friend Dolly bantry in episode "Body in the Library" (played by Joanna Lumley) Geraldine McEwan has made my Sunday afternoons a much more pleasant one having these wonderful episodes of 'Marple' to watch..! I have enjoyed immensely all of the episodes with Miss Geraldine McEwan playing 'Miss Marple', I just hoped she would have remained with and continued until the end of series six; that would have been superb..!!! I do not know why she ended her role at the end of series three, disappointed for sure..! Maybe to encapsulate, start from the beginning of series one, "Body in the Library" that way, you can watch and have all twelve episodes to treasure:)

Miss Marple takes a holiday, staying at the posh Bertram's Hotel in London. The hotel has sentimental value to her as she remembers going there as a child and is very fond of the place. At the hotel she meets a range of celebrities, including Louis Armstrong. One such celebrity is Bess Sedgwick whose husband died recently, leaving his entire estate to her. Her two daughters are there too. She starts getting death threats and when a maid dies the police think that Ms Sedgwick was the actual target. Miss Marple and Inspector Bird investigate but the real sleuth is maid Jane Cooper...

Quite intriguing with a touch of sentimentality and romance thrown in too. Rather complex, almost to the point of being far-fetched. The murderer revelation has many detours and red herrings...

Miss Marple takes a back seat in this one, leaving the detective work to Jane Cooper. This makes for some tense, and sometimes amusing scenes, and generally works. The episode would have been a lot less interesting if Miss Marple was doing all the detective work.

Quest stars include Stephen Mangan as Inspector Bird, Martine McCutcheon as Jane Cooper and Polly Walker as Bess Sedgwick.

Bertram's has clearly been flattened and a cheap hotel put up in its place.

I know you're not supposed to compare versions, but this totally cops out when compared to the BBC's. I'll start on the positives, it looks gorgeous, the hotel is ultra smart, as are the costumes, Francesca Annis gets to wear some gorgeous outfits, she's also the best element to the episode, she's really good. The music is brilliant throughout the episode, Mica Paris provides some fine vocals. Stephen Mangan is fun as DI Bird, he's a very likable actor. I actually thought Martine McCutcheon was quite good, her character was rather sweet, and she was given quite a meaty part. Mickey Gorman's shooting scene worked really well, it looked excellent.

The disappointments, this episode should all be about Bess Sedgwick, and when I heard the wonderful Polly Walker was cast I was so excited, but what a massive disappointment the part itself turned out to be, I found her a little flat too. Caroline Blakiston had rocked the part and made her so interesting and exciting. Some of the changes to the script didn't work, Canon Pennyfather's character and the whole Nazi story was really poor. What a waste of Peter Davison's talents he's barely used. I didn't like Emily Beecham's turn as Elvira, it was a little flat. Where was Miss Gorange? She is a key part and should have been in it. The ending should have been the best bit...it's not.

Too many bad bits to make it good, but it's watchable enough. They got the mix of style over substance wrong, it's a sumptuous looking episode, but the story was tampered with a little too much. 6/10

Many of my fellow reviewers seemingly hated this film and gave incredibly low scores. Even more people/IMDb-users liked it and gave favorable ratings, but apparently didn't write a comment. Shame. Of the eight TV-movies I've seen in the "Agatha Christie's Marple" series thus far, "At Bertram's Hotel" is by far my favorite! This is partially because it's based on one of the sole novels by my idol-author that I haven't read yet (so, I also couldn't get annoyed by the changes in the script versus the book), and partially because it's the first instalment where Miss Marple is the genuine heroine of the story. She's the star of the series, no doubt about that, and she always flawlessly resolves the mystery, but in a few of the previous films (notably "The Moving Finger" and "The Sittaford Mystery") she wasn't much more than a supportive character.

Here, in "At Bertram's Hotel", Miss Marple doesn't just solve an ingenious and convoluted murder plot, she also clears up another handful of vile crimes that are secretly taking place within the walls of a prestigious London hotel, and - en passant - tutors a bright chamber maid to become a genius sleuth like herself. There isn't a dull moment in this film, the finale is downright head-spinning and recreation of the post-WWII era is very impressive. The acting performances are excellent, although there aren't any really big names in the cast this time.

Don't read any of the reviews from beforehand (except mine, of course) since they might discourage you to see this massively entertaining whodunit, and I guarantee you will miss out!

Frankly, i think Joan Hickson established the standard for Miss Marple in the 1980s and early 90s. If I remember correctly, she was actually portraying a character younger than herself. (She played Marple into her mid-80s.) She did it wonderfully -- a great example of an actor coming into her own in later years.

Geraldine McEwan is an excellent actor, but she falls into the trap so many have playing Marple -- she plays it too lightly. Hickson took the role more seriously, gave it more gravity, and conveyed the essence of Miss Marple -- somewhat reclusive, quiet, wise observer. Miss Marple has an almost Buddhist quality. I have only seen Hickson capture that.

As for this episode another reviewer is right on the mark -- the audio mix is terrible. For some reason, British television productions chronically suffer from this problem (not always, but typically).

Here, the sound mix makes the program almost unwatchable, not simply because it drowns out everything else, but because the scoring is abysmally syrupy and overwrought.