Quotes

[on her late husband Hugh Cruttwell] Like everybody in that situation feels, I miss him very much but I get on with life. I'm blessed with two children and seven grandchildren, and Marple has been a lovely thing for me to be very occupied with.

During the war, my mother used to take me to the local repertory theatre on a Monday night, and we used to get two seats for the price of one, for ninepence, in the gods. I also had speech classes at grammar school - elocution, they called it in these days - and the teacher gave me a speech by Lady Macbeth to learn, which might seem pretty inappropriate for the age of ten.

I imagine there must be people who don't like the changes but I personally feel that probably Agatha Christie wouldn't mind. A book becomes something else once it's dramatized. But what you want to be is faithful to the original essence of Agatha Christie - which I hope we do - and to Miss Marple.

I'm not a workaholic but I love working, and Marple is really hard work but very stimulating.

I think Marple is a sort of heightened reality; you can't really say they're like everyday life. I think Agatha Christie must have had a sense of humor, the way she places this elderly, very middle-class figure in a country village, but solving all these horrific crimes.

[on portraying Miss Marple] I've spent all my life playing roles that illustrious people have played before me. Actors don't really think about who's played it before. I mean, I saw some of the Joan Hickson ones and I thought she was terrific, but it has nothing to do with me. I relate to the part myself, and I think the interest is seeing characters coming through other actors' emotional and imaginative response.