Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2011)

I gave up on this mess when they we 1/4 way through and had introduced at least 8 new characters in a remote family castle that all could have been guilty. Screams coming from a detached house, etc., etc, I haven't read the Christie book, went to the 'net to find out at where this thing was going and discovered the only thing in common with the book was the title. Liked Hickson more as Miss Marple as well. This one presents as nothing so much as being an old busy body who needs to mind her own business.

Like her predecessor Geraldine McEwan, the new Miss Marple, Julia McKenzie, has a great deal to overcome. The main issue is the skewed adaptation of Agatha Christie's original. While I do love Christie and Miss Marple, I'm actually getting a great deal of enjoyment out of this series. Yes, it's NOT Miss Marple to the word, and "Evans" never was a Marple Story. I read the book a few months ago and in my opinion, that book wasn't one of Christie's best. It's not a biggie with me that they've placed Miss Marple in it or they've made changes to the story. I simply enjoy watching mysteries made in England and set in other time periods. There's murder without buckets of blood and tons of gore on the screen, like we get here in the states. They murder each other while being beautifully dressed and serving tea and scones. Miss Marple cuts below the facade and gets her man.....or woman. She does't drop a stitch either. All in a day's work.

It has taken me a long time to bite down the horrid re-writes of Agatha Christie's books. This series has done many hatchet jobs and made her books into garish, horrible episodes. However, I've accepted this and focused mainly on the visuals and the acting, not the story.With that in mind, I actually enjoyed "Why Didn't They Ask Evans." Yes, there are many issues like the first 30 minutes barely showing Miss Marple at all, and the story re-writes. But that was done to Geraldine McEwan in "Bertrams Hotel", with a created hotel maid summing up the crime. Yes, I have the book and it wasn't a Marple story, but neither were many done in the first three seasons.I do enjoy Julia McKenzie in this role and think she is almost as good as Joan Hickson, who did a superb job. The young actors sleuthing the crime with her were also very good. They kept the actual ending of who was "Evans." The visuals of the English countryside were stunning! And they kept the background music appropriate.

This novel of Christie's is one of my favorites for its charm, it's wonderful characters of Frankie and Bobby and it's immensely witty plot. It was wonderfully adapted already into a magnificently faithful version which had superb costumes, but the way. This mishmosh bore no resemblance to the novel and was poorly acted as well. Why would any writer think they could take an Agatha Christie title and then just change it around into something better? When Perfection has been reached, there is no where else to go. If the writer is such a great writer, let him write his own mystery story.Please, please stop making these awful, embarrassing adaptations and leave Agatha intact before someone who doesn't read her books tunes in and thinks this is really her work. They will wonder why her reputation has lasted nearly 100 years.