Difference between revisions of "Miss Marple: 4:50 from Paddington"

From SVR Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Standard headings added)
(6 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
4.50 from Paddington is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.50_from_Paddington Wikipedia] (retrieved 7 January 2017)</ref> A friend of Miss Marple's sees a woman being strangled in a passing train running parallel to her own. When police cannot find a body and doubt the story, Miss Marple enlists a professional housekeeper to go undercover.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/ Internet Movie Database] (retrieved 7 January 2017)</ref> This version is a full length BBC TV movie from 1987 featuring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.  
+
__NOTOC__
 +
[[File: Miss_Marple_DVD.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Miss Marple DVD box set]]'''4.50 from Paddington''' is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957.<ref name=wikipedia>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.50_from_Paddington 4.50 from Paddington on Wikipedia] (retrieved 7 January 2017)</ref> Mrs. McGillicuddy, a friend of Miss Marple's, sees a woman being strangled in a train running parallel to her own. When police cannot find a body and doubt the story, Miss Marple enlists professional housekeeper Lucy Eyelesbarrow to go undercover.<ref name=IMDB>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/ Internet Movie Database] (retrieved 7 January 2017)</ref>  
 +
 
 +
The BBC produced a series of twelve made-for-TV films between 1984 and 1992 under the original series title of "'''Miss Marple'''", all starring Joan Hickson as Jane Marple. '''4:50 from Paddington''' was the ninth of the series and was first broadcast on 25 February 1987. It also featured Mona Bruce as Mrs. McGillicuddy and Jill Meager as Lucy.
 +
 
 +
The series is available on BBC DVD as 'The Miss Marple Collection'. The Internet Movie Database lists the individual films under the longer title of 'Agatha Christie's Miss Marple:'<ref name=IMDB/>.  
  
 
==Filming on the SVR==
 
==Filming on the SVR==
Filming saw the most intense use of the railway since [[The Seven-Per-Cent Solution]], involving multiple locos and use of the re-laid section of the [[Stourport Branch | Stourport branch]], necessary to film the sequences of parallel running trains.
+
Filming saw the most intense use of the railway since [[The Seven-Per-Cent Solution]], involving multiple locos and use of the re-laid section of the [[Stourport Branch | Stourport branch]], necessary to film the sequences of parallel running trains.  
 +
 
 +
For the main scene, [[80079]] was the locomotive on the first train, the “4.33 stopping at all stations to Brackhampton”, while former resident [[6960|6960 Raveningham Hall]] was the locomotive for Mrs. McGillicuddy’s 4.50 train. The two locomotives and their trains were filmed running parallel from the window of [[Bewdley South signal box]] and in a head on view of the two smokeboxes. Shots of the crime taking place on the adjacent train were filmed from the window of Mrs McGillicuddy's compartment.
 +
 
 +
In a second scene, Miss Marple and Mrs McGillicuddy retrace the journey to Brackhampton looking for possible locations where a body might have been thrown from the train. Their train, hauled by [[4566]], was filmed in the vicinity of [[Safari Park|Safari Park Curve]] with Burlish Top visible in the background. Having established that an embankment near 'Rutherford Hall' was the only possible location, they arrive at Brackhampton ([[Bewdley|Bewdley platform 2]]), where the two ladies alight from their compartment on [[GWR 5883 Brake Third]].<ref group="note">The carriage number is visible on the opened door. The carriage was also the subject of an article in SVR News 149, Winter 2004-05</ref>
 +
 
 +
At Miss Marple's request, Lucy Eyelesbarrow secures temporary employment at the Hall to investigate. While searching the embankment for clues, 6960 is briefly seen again at the head of a passing train.
 +
 
 +
A small anachronism; the film includes several references to the crime taking place on the day of the launch of Sputnik I, dating it to October 1957. After 1951 [[Carriage and Wagon numbering |GWR carriages were renumbered]] with additional letters to account for the introduction of Mk 1 stock. However the GWR carriages seen on the 4.33 at Paddington still have (fictional) GWR-style numbers like 6041 rather than the period correct W6041W.
 +
 
 +
==Other information==
 +
Several other film and television versions of the novel have been produced, among them the 1961 movie "''Murder, She Said''" starring Margaret Rutherford and a 2004 episode of the ITV series ''Marple'' starring Geraldine McEwan.<ref name=wikipedia/>
  
 +
Both Bewdley and 6960 Raveningham Hall were used again during filming of the eleventh in the series, [[Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors]].
 +
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
[[List of film and TV productions filmed on the Severn Valley Railway]]
+
*[[List of film and TV productions filmed on the Severn Valley Railway]]
 +
*[[Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors]]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
<references />
 
<references />
 +
 +
==Notes==
 +
<references group="note"/>
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/ Internet Movie Database] (retrieved 7 January 2017)<br>
+
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/ Internet Movie Database] (retrieved 7 January 2017)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaZMecZQl_c YouTube] (retrieved 7 January 2017)
+
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04gw10z Episode guide on www.bbc.co.uk]
 +
*[http://www.bewdleystation.co.uk/OnFilm.html Still images from the film on the Bewdley Station web site]

Revision as of 16:24, 10 August 2020

Miss Marple DVD box set
4.50 from Paddington is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957.[1] Mrs. McGillicuddy, a friend of Miss Marple's, sees a woman being strangled in a train running parallel to her own. When police cannot find a body and doubt the story, Miss Marple enlists professional housekeeper Lucy Eyelesbarrow to go undercover.[2]

The BBC produced a series of twelve made-for-TV films between 1984 and 1992 under the original series title of "Miss Marple", all starring Joan Hickson as Jane Marple. 4:50 from Paddington was the ninth of the series and was first broadcast on 25 February 1987. It also featured Mona Bruce as Mrs. McGillicuddy and Jill Meager as Lucy.

The series is available on BBC DVD as 'The Miss Marple Collection'. The Internet Movie Database lists the individual films under the longer title of 'Agatha Christie's Miss Marple:'[2].

Filming on the SVRSevern Valley Railway

Filming saw the most intense use of the railway since The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, involving multiple locos and use of the re-laid section of the Stourport branch, necessary to film the sequences of parallel running trains.

For the main scene, 80079 was the locomotive on the first train, the “4.33 stopping at all stations to Brackhampton”, while former resident 6960 Raveningham Hall was the locomotive for Mrs. McGillicuddy’s 4.50 train. The two locomotives and their trains were filmed running parallel from the window of Bewdley South signal box and in a head on view of the two smokeboxes. Shots of the crime taking place on the adjacent train were filmed from the window of Mrs McGillicuddy's compartment.

In a second scene, Miss Marple and Mrs McGillicuddy retrace the journey to Brackhampton looking for possible locations where a body might have been thrown from the train. Their train, hauled by 4566, was filmed in the vicinity of Safari Park Curve with Burlish Top visible in the background. Having established that an embankment near 'Rutherford Hall' was the only possible location, they arrive at Brackhampton (Bewdley platform 2), where the two ladies alight from their compartment on GWR 5883 Brake Third.[note 1]

At Miss Marple's request, Lucy Eyelesbarrow secures temporary employment at the Hall to investigate. While searching the embankment for clues, 6960 is briefly seen again at the head of a passing train.

A small anachronism; the film includes several references to the crime taking place on the day of the launch of Sputnik I, dating it to October 1957. After 1951 GWR carriages were renumbered with additional letters to account for the introduction of Mk 1 stock. However the GWRGreat Western Railway carriages seen on the 4.33 at Paddington still have (fictional) GWRGreat Western Railway-style numbers like 6041 rather than the period correct W6041W.

Other information

Several other film and television versions of the novel have been produced, among them the 1961 movie "Murder, She Said" starring Margaret Rutherford and a 2004 episode of the ITV series Marple starring Geraldine McEwan.[1]

Both Bewdley and 6960 Raveningham Hall were used again during filming of the eleventh in the series, Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 4.50 from Paddington on Wikipedia (retrieved 7 January 2017)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Internet Movie Database (retrieved 7 January 2017)

Notes

  1. The carriage number is visible on the opened door. The carriage was also the subject of an article in SVRSevern Valley Railway News 149, Winter 2004-05

Links