Miss Marple is back with another case and a stellar cast in The Secret of Chimneys

15 September 2009

Julia McKenzie, returning as Agatha Christie’s famous spinster sleuth Miss Marple, is once again joined by a glittering cast in her sixth film, The Secret of Chimneys, for ITV1.

The Secret of Chimneys stars Jonas Armstrong (Robin Hood, The Street), Michelle Collins (Hotel Babylon, EastEnders), Stephen Dillane (Macbeth, The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall), Edward Fox (Oliver Twist, Day of the Jackal), Adam Godley (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Cor Blimey!), Anthony Higgins (Judge John Deed), Mathew Horne (Gavin and Stacey, Horne and Cordon), Ruth Jones (The Street, Gavin and Stacey), Dervla Kirwan (Law & Order: UK, Doctor Who) and Charlotte Salt (Tudors, Beowulf).

A lavish weekend party sees Miss Marple (Julia McKenzie) accompany Lady Virginia Revel (Charlotte Salt) to her family home of Chimneys – a house which was once prized for its diplomatic gatherings until a rare diamond was stolen from the premises over twenty years ago.

The tenacious career politician, George Lomax (Adam Godley), has persuaded Virginia’s father, Lord Caterham (Edward Fox), to host an evening for an important Austrian Count, Ludwig Von Stainach (Anthony Higgins).

Virginia, the daughter of Miss Marple’s late cousin, must decide by the end of the weekend whether to accept a marriage proposal from George Lomax or to follow her heart and the courtship of another more adventurous suitor, Anthony Cade (Jonas Armstrong).
 
Dismayed by the odd array of guests, including socialist spinster Miss Blenkinsopp (Ruth Jones), Caterham’s formidable eldest daughter Bundle (Dervla Kirwan) and the quietly inscrutable maidservant Treadwell (Michelle Collins), Lomax castigates his affable assistant Bill Eversleigh (Mathew Horne), who also has a soft spot for Virginia.
 
It becomes apparent that Count Ludwig has taken a personal interest in Chimneys and a contract for the sale of the house is drawn up with Caterham. That same evening, in the middle of the night, the house guests are stirred from their beds by security and the Count cannot be found. The sound of a gunshot is heard from a secret passageway in the house and Count Ludwig is found dead in the arms of Anthony Cade. Why is Cade at Chimneys? And is Virginia’s suitor being framed for murder?
 
A Chief Inspector (Stephen Dillane) arrives from Scotland Yard to investigate, enlisting Miss Marple’s help.  Together they discover a coded message in the pocket of the dead Count which could hold the key to the mystery. But when the bones of a young servant, murdered over twenty years ago, are uncovered Miss Marple begins to realise that the secret of Chimneys is darker than even she had realised.

The Secret of Chimneys has been adapted by Paul Rutman and is to be directed by John Strickland. Karen Thrussell produces both current Marple and Poirot series.