Jan 30, 2022
Spider's Web (BBC, 1982)
"I love you."
"Oh, I'm so glad."
"Well that's entirely the wrong answer. You're supposed to say: 'I'm so sorry', in a deep, sympathetic voice."
"Oh, but I'm not sorry, I'm delighted. I like people to be in love with me."
#spider's web#agatha christie#single play#classic tv#play adaptation#1982#bbc#Basil Coleman#penelope keith#robert flemyng#thorley walters#elizabeth spriggs#david yelland#john barcroft#holly aird#jonathan newth#brian protheroe#david crosse#mark draper#lee fox#shown as a kind of festive treat on boxing day '82‚ this tv movie adapted Christie's most successful stage work (ludicrous outlier The#Mousetrap not included). Spider's Web was written in the mid 50s around the same time as the better remembered Witness for the Prosecution#and was written at the behest of Margaret Lockwood‚ who was looking for a starring role a little lighter than the villainous femme fatales#she was then becoming associated with. Keith works hard to capture that same breeziness and slightly giddy flights of fancy that Lockwood#was ultimately so taken with (she stayed with the stage version and even shot a tv version‚ presumed lost). A fairly direct adaptation of#the stage play (Christie is the only credited writer) this is undeniably stagey and doesn't try hard to hide its theatrical roots: the#action is almost entirely confined to one room. Still‚ it's a fun bit of Christie nonsense with a charming cast (Barcroft is a rather#overlooked actor im quite fond of and he does good work as the exasperated detective) and ingenious plotting and twists that will be#familiar to any Christie fan. Particular shout out to Spriggs‚ who does a simply wonderful transformation late in the play‚ which entirely#changes the way you view her earlier performance‚ and to Yelland (later a Poirot regular!) for holding his own against more experienced act