Geneviève Ranson

In Témoin muet, the French adaptation of Agatha Christie's Dumb Witness for the TV series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, Geneviève Ranson is the parallel character of Wilhelmina Lawson from the original story. Her portrayal is slightly different in this adaptation. Here she is the secretary, and not the companion of the wealthy old lady Emilie Longuet, the Emily Arundell parallel. Like in the original, Emilie dies and leaves her entire estate to Geneviève but the backstory is different. Geneviève Ranson is portrayed by Nathalie Richard.

Many years ago, in 1938, Geneviève had married a man named Hubert Dambreuse. However, just three days later, Hubert was run down in an accident and killed by a car. The driver was Emilie Longuet. When Geneviève later read that Emilie was advertising for a secretary, she changed her name and got herself recruited. Her aim, so she told commissaire Laurence, was not so much to plot a revenge killing but merely to make Emilie suffer for example by undermining her business dealings. As time went on, Geneviève realised she could not bring herself to do her employer harm, probably because they had developed a friendship. In any case, at some point Emilie saw through the disguise and realised who she was. This might have been one of the reasons for her to change her will, disinheriting her nieces and nephews and leaving everything to Geneviève.