Between Christmas and New Year there seemed to be an awful lot of Agatha Christie mysteries on the TV, and a particularly large number of Miss Marple episodes.
Mrs B has a liking for all things Christie and a fondness for Miss Marple stories in particular. I can take them or leave them, but in the past it meant that I had to sit through them from time to time just to keep my wife happy.
Of course, these days, with Sky+, they can be recorded, so that she can watch them any time she likes, preferably when I'm out of the house.
Scanning through the TV schedules on the program planner, I noticed the plethora of all things Marple that seemed to be showing late December and early January, so I decided to record them all for Mrs B.
The problem was that there were so many of them, that once they'd been recorded, it left us very low on Sky+ disc space. So it had become a matter of urgency for Mrs B to watch them as soon as possible. She's taken to watching one early in the morning, while the kids are still in bed; I'm usually busy tweeting early in the morning, but I must admit to watching with occasional glances toward the TV and to listening, if only with one ear.
Today though, everything seemed a little familiar, until I realised that what we were watching was "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side." This was the Joan Hickson version, but a couple of mornings ago, we'd watched the Geraldine McEwan version of the same story.
The two productions had been adapted differently, so there were a lot of variations in the storyline, if not in the plot, which of course had to be basically the same, so as to at least have the same victims and the same murderer as the original written work, but I couldn't see how anyone could possibly take pleasure in watching the story being told when they already knew the outcome. Surely, the pleasure of a whodunnit is working out who done it (or is that just me?)
It started me wondering if the people who they make these programmes for are actually Agatha Christie fans, who've read the books, or people who don't read, who just need their fix now that Inspectors Morse and Frost have left them wanting.
When I read, I'll occasionally come across a book that I've enjoyed so much, that I'll make a point of reading it again at a later date. Of course there'd be no point in doing that with Agatha Christie novels, because you'll already be aware of all the spoilers.
I remember an episode of Red Dwarf, where Holly, the ship's computer came across exactly that problem, but having an IQ of 6000 (or at least 'an IQ with a six in it',) he'd thought of a foolproof solution to this minor setback.
I've dug out the script for the scene in question. The transcript is reproduced below. (Acknowledgements to Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.) It always makes me titter. I hope you enjoy it:
HOLLY: Busy, are you, Dave?
LISTER: Hol! I'm watching the film.
HOLLY: Just wondered if you're a bit bored?
LISTER: No, no. I'm watching the film.
HOLLY: You're not bored, then?
LISTER: No! Go away!
The film reappears on the screen. Holly appears on the screen again, interrupting the movie.
HOLLY: I've just finished reading everything. I've now read everything that's been written by anyone ever.
LISTER: Would you go away?
HOLLY: You know what the worst book ever written by anyone ever was?
LISTER: I don't care!
HOLLY: "Football, It's a Funny Old Game" by Kevin Keegan.
LISTER: Holly, would you let me watch the film?
The film reappears on the screen. Holly reappears on the screen, interrupting the movie again.
HOLLY: I'm at a loose end now. I don't know what to do with meself.
LISTER: Holly, why don't you just read everything all over again.
HOLLY: I was thinking it might help pass the time if I created a perfectly functioning replica of a woman, capable of independent decision-making and abstract thought and absolutely undetectable from the real thing.
LISTER: (Sitting up eagerly) Well why don't you, then?
HOLLY: Because I don't know how. I wouldn't even know how to make the nose. Heh.
LISTER: Holly, is there something that you want?
HOLLY: Well, only if you're not busy. Would you mind erasing some of my memory banks?
LISTER: What for?
HOLLY: Well, if you erase all the Agatha Christie novels from my memory bank, I can read 'em again tonight.
LISTER: How do I do it?
HOLLY: Just type: "holmem. password override. the novels christie, agatha", then press erase.
Lister jabs two-fingered on a keyboard.
LISTER: I've done it.
HOLLY: Done what?
LISTER: Erased Agatha Christie.
HOLLY: Who's she, then?
LISTER: Holly, you just asked me to erase all Agatha Christie novels from your memory.
HOLLY: Why should I do that? I've never heard of her.
LISTER: You've never heard of her because I've just erased her from your smegging memory.
HOLLY: What'd you do that for?
LISTER: You asked me to!
HOLLY: When?
LISTER: Just now!
HOLLY: I don't remember this.
LISTER: Oh, I'm going to bed. This is gonna go on all night.
Who are you and why did you write this? *giggles*
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