Miss Marple BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations

This post details the Miss Marple BBC radio drama episodes starring the multi-talented June Whitfield as the indomitable sleuth, Miss Jane Marple.

With all of the BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations based on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels or short stories.

For more Agatha Christie books, video games, board games, audiobooks, TV and film – new releases and best of lists, see my posts below.

Miss Marple BBC Radio Dramas

You’ll notice that the radio plays are not in the same order as the original source material so some of the recurring character stories don’t follow the original timeline. But I’ve listed the BBC dramas in the order they were broadcast as they have their own internal timeline. For example the BBC’s 3-part Miss Marple’s Final Cases series was written as a way of bringing the overall series to a proper conclusion.

All of these radio dramatisations are now available to download and listen to from audiobook platforms including Audible and Apple for mobile, tablet, smart devices and computer. Plus 7 of the 15 Miss Marple dramatisations are available in one audiobook collection, as detailed below.

1. The Murder at the Vicarage

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: December 1993 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Rev Leonard Clement – Francis Matthews, Griselda Clement – Imelda Staunton, Dr Haydock – Nigel Davenport | Broadcast as 5 half-hour episodes.

Plot: In the sleepy little English country village of St Mary Mead, all is not as it seems. Under a seemingly peaceful exterior lurks intrigue, guilt, deception – and murder…

Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing landowner, is the most detested man in the village. Everyone, even the vicar, wishes he were dead. And very soon he is – shot in the head in the vicar’s own study… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC The Murder at the Vicarage audiobook from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

2. A Pocket Full of Rye

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: February 1995 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Inspector Neele – Nicky Henson, Rex Fortescue – Derek Waring, Percival – Peter Yapp, Jennifer – Natasha Pyne | Broadcast as part of the BBC Radio 4 Saturday Playhouse series.

Plot: Wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue is found dead with rye grain in his pocket. His death is followed in quick succession by a woman dying while eating bread and honey, and a maid in her garden…

Inspector Neele, in charge of investigating the spate of murders, consults with Miss Marple, who has an interesting and surprising theory to offer. She senses the murderer is dispatching his victims on the basis of the children’s nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’. [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC A Pocket Full of Rye audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

3. At Bertram’s Hotel

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: December 1995 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Inspector Davy – Frederick Jaeger, Sir Ronald Graves – Patrick Allen, Canon Pennyfather – Maurice Denham, Bess Sedgwick – Sian Phillips | Broadcast as 5 half-hour episodes.

Plot: Miss Marple, Agatha Christie’s deceptively mild spinster sleuth, is being treated to a few days’ holiday by her niece, staying at Bertram’s Hotel, a dignified, unostentatious establishment tucked away in a back street of busy Mayfair…

Here is a place where sedate upper class ladies, retired military gentlemen and the higher echelons of the clergy can indulge in the comforts of a bygone age. But Miss Marple begins to feel uneasy. Something sinister lurks beneath the polished veneer. Why are so many major crimes associated in some way with the hotel or somehow implicate eminently respectable people staying there? [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC At Bertram’s Hotel audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

4. 4.50 from Paddington

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: March 1997 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Mrs McGillicuddy – Joan Sims, Lucy Eyelesbarrow – Susannah Harker, Detective Inspector Craddock – Ian Lavender, Luther Crackenthorpe – John Woodnutt, Emma Crackenthorpe – Janet Maw | Broadcast as part of the BBC Radio 4 Saturday Playhouse series.

Plot: Elspeth McGillicuddy is down from Scotland for a holiday and boards the 4:50 train from Paddington station to visit her friend, Miss Marple. During the journey, another train pulls alongside, and through the window Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a tall, dark man strangling a blonde woman…

She reports what she has seen, yet no one takes any notice. There is no report of any murder, no dead woman found on any train, and the police have no record of any persons reported missing that matches the description… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC 4.50 from Paddington audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

You might also like: Agatha Christie: 4.50 from Paddington PC Game Review.

5. A Caribbean Mystery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: October 1997 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Major Palgrave – Windsor Davies, Dr Graham – John Rowe, Canon Prescott – David King, Miss Prescott – Jenny Lee | Broadcast as 5 half-hour episodes.

Plot: As Miss Marple sat basking in the Caribbean sunshine, she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened…

Eventually, her interest was aroused by an old soldier’s yarn about a strange coincidence. Infuriatingly, just as he was about to show her an astonishing photograph, the Major’s attention wandered. He never did finish the story… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC A Caribbean Mystery audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

6. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: August 1998 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Chief Inspector Craddock – Ian Lavender, Marina Gregg – Gayle Hunnicutt, Jason Rudd – James Laurenson, Dolly Bantry – Pauline Jameson | Broadcast as an Agatha Christie Special.

Plot: After the death of her husband, Dolly Bantry sold Gossington Hall to the former film star Marina Gregg and her husband.

When the glamorous couple decide to throw a benefit party for the local hospital, the grounds are thronged with curious visitors, and for one of them, the day ends in tragedy… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

7. Nemesis

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: November 1998 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Mr Rafiel – George A. Cooper, Cherry – Jane Whittenshaw, Mr Broadribb – Geoffrey Whitehead, Esther Anderson – Yvonne Edgell | Broadcast as 5 half-hour episodes.

Plot: Miss Marple is totally shocked to receive a letter from the recently deceased Mr Rafiel, an acquaintance she had met briefly on her travels…

The letter leaves instructions for Miss Marple, whom Mr Rafiel had recognised as a natural detective, to investigate a crime after his death. There are absolutely no details about the crime, however, nothing about who is involved, or where or when it had been committed. Miss Marple, of course is thoroughly intrigued… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC Nemesis, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

8. The Body in the Library

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: May 1999 | Main cast: Miss Jane Marple – June Whitfield, Colonel Melchett – Richard Todd, Dolly Bantry – Pauline Jameson, Colonel Bantry – Jack Watling, Sir Henry Clithering – Graham Crowden, Conway Jefferson – John Hartley | Broadcast as part of the BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play BBC series.

Plot: Dolly Bantry, mistress of Gossington Hall, is enjoying a pleasant doze when suddenly her dreams take a strange turn. The housemaid Mary is telling her that there is a body in the library. As she wakes up, it turns out to be true…

But who is the strange young blonde sprawled on the library floor? Enter St Mary Mead’s resident sleuth, Miss Mary Marple. [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC The Body in the Library audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

9. A Murder Is Announced

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: August 1999 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Inspector Craddock – Ian Lavender, Sir Henry Clithering – Graham Crowden, Letty Blacklock – Sarah Lawson, Dora Bunner – Judy Cornwell | Broadcast as 5 half-hour episodes.

Plot: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30pm. Friends please accept this, the only intimation.’ Nestled among the usual notices about dogs for sale and appeals for domestic help, the startling entry in the personal column of the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette has the the entire village agog with curiosity.

Is it a game? And who is meant to attend? [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC A Murder Is Announced audiobook available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

10. The Moving Finger

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: May 2001 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Jerry Burton – Nicholas Boulton, Joanna Burton – Clare Corbett, Mrs Calthrop – Patricia Scott, Megan Hunter – Annabelle Dowler | Broadcast as part of the BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play BBC series.

Plot: Recuperating from a flying accident, Jerry Burton needs to take a break somewhere peaceful. He and his sister rent a house in the little village of Lymstock, where they know no-one and hope to be able to relax…

Their quiet life is shattered, however, by the arrival of an obscene anonymous letter accusing them of impropriety. Jerry refuses to take it seriously and throws it on the fire. But he soon discovers that theirs is by no means the first unpleasant missive: a number of other village residents have been similarly harassed. Suspicion is rife, and matters are brought to a head by the suicide of one of the letters’ recipients… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC The Moving Finger, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

11. They Do It with Mirrors

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: July 2001 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Carrie Louise – Ursula Howells, Ruth Van Rydock – Jill Balcon, Lewis Serrocold – Peter Howell, Edgar Lawson – Rhys Meredith | Broadcast as 5 half-hour episodes.

Plot: Miss Marple is told that her old friend, Carrie, is in danger and she goes to stay with her at Stoneygates, a home for maladjusted adolescents. While she is there, tragedy strikes as Carrie’s step-son, Christian Gulbrandsen, is shot dead…

There are at least seven suspects and two more murders follow. But the man with the obvious motive has a cast-iron alibi, as he could hardly be in two places at once – or could he? [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC They Do It with Mirrors, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

12. Sleeping Murder

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: December 2001 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Dr James Kennedy – Julian Glover, Gwenda Reed – Beth Chalmers, Giles Reed – Carl Prekopp | Broadcast as part of the BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play BBC series.

Plot: Gwenda Reed arrives from New Zealand, travelling ahead of her husband with the task of finding the perfect place to make their base. In the quiet village of Dilmouth, she finds a house with immediate appeal. A few renovations will convert it into her ideal home…

Then things get very strange indeed. Wanting porch stairs, Gwenda hires a builder to put them in – only to find some old steps, covered up by bushes. She decides on a connecting doorway between the drawing-room and the dining-room, but discovers one already there, now plastered over. When she opens the painted-over doors of an old cupboard to find wallpaper exactly the same as she had imagined, she begins to wonder if she is going mad… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC Sleeping Murder, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

13. Tape-Measure Murder

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: September 2015 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Bunch – Rosie Cavaliero, Inspector Slack – Stephen Critchlow, Miss Hartnell – Jessica Turner, Miss Politt – Alison Pettit | Episode 1 of 3 in the BBC Miss Marple’s Final Cases based on Agatha Christie short stories.

Plot: Gossip spreads through St Mary Mead of a murdered wife and a husband under suspicion. Then Miss Marple is called as an alibi… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC Tape-Measure Murder, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

14. The Case of the Perfect Maid

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: September 2015 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Raymond West – Raymond Coulthard, Lavinia Skinner – Claudie Blakley, Emily Skinner – Tracy Wiles, Inspector Slack – Stephen Critchlow | Episode 2 of 3 in the BBC Miss Marple’s Final Cases based on Agatha Christie short stories.

Plot: Miss Marple uncovers a mystery when she looks into the curious sacking of a lady’s maid. Her investigative skills are also required when her nephew, crime writer Raymond West, arrives on the doorstep with a severe case of writer’s block… [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC The Case of the Perfect Maid, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

15. Sanctuary

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4: September 2015 | Main cast: Miss Marple – June Whitfield, Bunch – Rosie Cavaliero, Inspector Slack – Stephen Critchlow, Edna – Alex Tregear | Episode 3 of 3 in the BBC Miss Marple’s Final Cases based on Agatha Christie short stories.

Plot: Miss Marple and her god-daughter, Bunch, arrive at the local church to discover a dying man. His last words provide the clues to unlock an unsolved crime. [Source: Amazon]

*Listen to BBC Sanctuary, part of More from Marple’s Casebook audiobook collection available from UK Audible, US Audible and Apple Audiobooks.

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