# Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye (1985)

> Miss Jane Marple, the shrewd elderly amateur sleuth, hunts a killer who leaves nursery rhyme clues after a businessman is murdered with a handful of grain in his pocket.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/66212

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 2
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Agatha Christie
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Joan Hickson, Timothy West, Tom Wilkinson, Peter Davison, Clive Merrison, Rachel Bell, Fabia Drake, Frances Low
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087924/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: genteel, measured, wry, suspenseful, civilized

## What critics say

Critics broadly praise the faithful Christie adaptation, its genteel period atmosphere, and Joan Hickson's performance as Miss Marple, while finding the pace deliberate.

## Synopsis

Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye (1985) is a British two-part miniseries adapted from Agatha Christie's novel and presented by BBC One. Joan Hickson plays the sharp, unassuming amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple, who turns her eye for village behaviour toward the murder of a businessman found with a handful of grain in his pocket. Tom Wilkinson appears as Detective Inspector Neele, the official investigator whose methods Marple quietly outpaces, while Timothy West plays the wealthy Rex Fortescue, whose household of relatives becomes a nest of resentments and secrets. Each episode is built from interviews, overheard remarks and small domestic contradictions, so the engine of the story is a single puzzle unfolding across a family that has every reason to lie. The atmosphere is genteel and measured, with polite drawing rooms, a restrained pace and a whodunit's steady accumulation of red herrings. Fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot, Murder, She Wrote and Midsomer Murders will find the same blend of cosy English settings, amateur deduction and civilised menace. Its violence stays offscreen and its appeal rests on the pleasure of watching a clever old woman outthink everyone in the room.

## Shows like Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye

- [Murder Most Puzzling (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/198822)
- [Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984)](https://ember.film/tv/66208)
- [Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985)](https://ember.film/tv/66211)
- [Campion (1989)](https://ember.film/tv/18308)
- [Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985)](https://ember.film/tv/66210)
- [Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/66216)
- [Agatha Christie's Marple (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/5763)
- [Death Valley (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/169746)
- [Midsomer Murders (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/725)
- [And Then There Were None (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/57205)

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