Evie Ballantine

Evie Ballantine is a non-canonical character created for the ITV 2006 adaptation of Sleeping Murder. In the 1930s, during the time of Kelvin Halliday, Evie was an entertainer who was a member of the "Funnybones" troupe. She had an act playing on the xylophone while tap-dancing. When the troupe folded up, Evie pursued her own career and by the 1950s had become a successful recording artiste and singer on the London stage under the name "Eve Ballantyne". Evie Ballantine is portrayed by Sarah Parish.

Evie played an important role in establishing an alibi for herself and fellow entertainer Jackie Afflick during the night of the disappearance of Helen Marsden. Evie had always been interested in Jackie Afflick but he kept rejecting her. Matters came to a head that night when Evie attempted to take an overdose of drugs. Jackie Afflick found her unconscious in his room and drove her to see Dr James Kennedy who gave her an emetic. After that, Evie slept the night off. Dr Kennedy did not bring Evie to a hospital because the drug she had used was benzedrax, an illegal drug. It turned out that Jackie Afflick had been a pusher of illegal drugs. He supplied benzedrax to Evie because as she said, she needed a lift in order to keep up her high energy stage act. Dr Kennedy also asserted that treating Evie gave him an alibi but Miss Marple cast some doubt on this because he could have sneaked away while Evie was asleep.