The Secret of Chimneys (Agatha Christie's Marple episode)

The Secret of Chimneys is the second episode of the fifth series of Agatha Christie's Marple. It was broadcast on ITV by Granada Television on 20 June 2010. The screenplay was written by Paul Rutman and the episode was directed by John Strickland. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name although the original did not feature Miss Marple.

Synopsis
Miss Marple finds herself spending the weekend at Chimneys, the stately home of Lord Caterham whose late wife was her cousin. The weekend has something of a diplomatic air to it as the Austrian Count Ludwig von Stainach is also there to negotiate a trade agreement with the British that will give it access to iron ore. Chimneys was once the 'in' place to be for a fancy weekend but over many years, it has become somewhat run-down. Except for a maid who disappeared with a valuable diamond in the 1920s, not much of note has happened there for a long time. Everyone is surprised when Count von Stainach says that in addition to signing the trade agreement, he also wants to purchase Chimneys. Lord Caterham's eldest daughter Bundle is dead set set against the idea but it all takes a very serious turn when the Count is found murdered. There are several suspects and another member of the household will die before Miss Marple solves the crime.

Comparison with the original story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) The Secret of Chimneys was not originally a Miss Marple book. Besides the insertion of Miss Marple, the adaptation diverges from the original in many ways. The entire Herzoslovakian political angle is done away with completely as is the plot element of delivering a set of memoirs to a London publisher. The common thread with the original is the arrival of a foreign dignitary (in this case from Austria) at Chimneys to negotiate a trade deal with Britain and his subsequent murder. Part of the mystery also involves a gemstone, the Mysore diamont believed to have been stolen during a party at Chimneys some 23 years ago. This parallels the Koh-i-noor in the original. Many of the main characters from the original are carried over but have different backstories. Unlike the original, almost all the action takes place at Chimneys, the episode becoming a "country house" mystery where all the residents might possibly have a motive for killing the Austrian count.


 * The episode opens with the killing of a maid Agnes at the party at Chimneys 23 years ago. At the time of the episode, most believe the maid had disappeared and that she was the one who stole the Mysore diamond from Lady Somerset.
 * Lomax persuades Caterham to host a party for Count Ludwig Von Stainach. Unlike the original, he is from Austria. The topic is British access to iron ore and not oil. Furthermore, Chimneys as a venue is specifically requested by Count Ludwig himself. Lomax is himself present at Chimneys during the events, together with Bill Eversleigh and some security men. During the negotiations, Count Ludwig surprises everyone by asking that he be given Chimneys as one of the conditions of the deal.
 * In this adaptation, Virginia Revel is a daughter of Lord Caterham and sister of Bundle. Miss Marple is a cousin of their mother and she gets invited to the party which is organised to serve as the setting for Lomax and Count Ludwig's negotiations.
 * Lomax and Bill Eversleigh are both shown as being interested in marrying Virginia. Before the party, Anthony Cade also encounters Virginia--he rescues her from an attacker and they become interested in each other.
 * After the count is murdered, Inspector Finch (the Battle parallel) is called in. He knows Miss Marple and draws her into the investigation.
 * Bundle has a different but arguably a role equally as large as in the original. She helps Finch and Miss Marple decode a sheet of musical notation which contains the coded "Richmond" message that is similar to that in the original.
 * Virginia Revel and Bill Eversleigh build a cardboard model of the house and represents everyone with toy soldiers. She shows that almost anyone among the guests had opportunity and is a suspect:
 * Anthony Cade is the prime suspect as he is found in the secret passage with the Count dying in his arms. He is not one of the official guests but he had an unsigned note asking him to get into the house by a trapdoor leading to the secret passage at 11.45 p.m., the time of the killing. He supposed this note to come from Virginia but she denies it. Cade is actually arrested. Later he tells Finch that he staged the attack on Virginia with Bill Eversleigh in order to get into her good books. He wanted to access Chimneys to get hold of the Mysore diamond. Jimmy McGrath, his partner in South Africa had been kidnapped and he must deliver the diamond to the kidnapper or else Jimmy would be killed.
 * The same plot element about the light coming on in second window to the left on the first floor is used. Here it is George Lomax's room. Under questioning he denies that he knows anything about the theft of the diamond 23 years ago. He was at the house party and retired early.
 * The housekeeper Treadwell also has a motive. Like in the original, a tower juts out from the corner of the building so that what is the second window is actually the third window. This room is that of the housekeeper Treadwell. Under questioning she says she had got up and had gone to the count's room. But she returned to her room when she found that he was not in his room. Miss Marple feels that Treadwell behaves like she has met the count before. Treadwell says she was present at the party 23 years ago, and as Miss Marple observes from a photo, so was the count--then a musician in the orchestra. After the party she thought she saw a light and followed it and saw someone putting Agnes' body into a tomb. Lady Caterham confided in her that the count had been with Agnes. As far as Treadwell is concerned the count got what he deserved.
 * Bundle also has a motive as she is dead set against her father selling Chimneys to the count. She later admits to Miss Marple that she had gone into Lomax's room and stolen the sale contract for Chimneys which the count had signed.
 * Miss Blenkinsopp, a National Heritage official who is also a guest at the party also has a motive as she wants to buy over Chimneys. Bundle accuses her of working over the years to undermine Lord Caterham for example in alerting his creditors. Bill Eversleigh had caught her searching through their 1932 household records. Blenkinsopp admits there is more to her presence: she was a classmate of Agnes. After her disappearance, no one had bothered to find out what had happened to her and she was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
 * A few other disparate events and clues present themselves before Miss Marple knows enough to bring about the deonouement.
 * There is a dinner where most guests fall ill after foxglove is mixed in with sage in the soup. It is mild for most but Treadwell dies and it is later shown she had died from digitalis poisoning. In her room are letters from one "Captain" to "Constance". Captain is likely the codename for the count and Constance is Treadwell's firstname.
 * Miss Marple and Finch find a piece of fuse wire in the garden.
 * By comparing typefaces, Miss Marple shows that Cade's note was typed on a machine at Chimneys which Bill Eversleigh used. He admits he sent the note to help Cade gain entrance to Chimneys. But he denies typing the last senBilltence specifying the time.
 * Miss Marple points out during the denouement that the missing Mysore diamond was just a distraction. And to everyone's surprise, she produces it from her handbag. Miss Marple also produces an photo of Lady Caterham's dog with Constance Treadwell. "Captain" and "Constance" were the codenames in the letters. Captain was the count. Constance was Lady Caterham. The real crime was the killing of the maid Agnes in 1932 by Lord Caterham. He had pushed Agnes aside when she was trying to block him from stumbling onto his wife and the count (then a violinist) who were having an affair. Caterham then stole the diamond and planted it on Agnes' body which he hid in a tomb. When the count wrote in his letter about wishing to conduct the negotiations at Chimneys, Caterham recognised the handwriting as those on his wife's love letters. Caterham lured the count into the secret passage and then shot him. The walls effectively muffled the sound of the pistol. Later, he set off a firework through the chimney to fake the time of the shooting--this was the fusewire Miss Marple found. Finally he had earlier on, added a sentence to Bill Eversleigh's note to Cade, asking him to come at 11.45 so as to implicate him. As for Treadwell, after she showed the police the tomb, Caterham was concerned that she had more to tell and would implicate him. On the contrary, Miss Marple pointed out that Treadwell had been loyal and she had even stolen Lady Caterham's love letters to prevent the police from finding out. As for the diamond, Caterham had removed it from Agnes' body when the tomb was opened and then later dropped it into a pond. Miss Marple had seen him wiping his wet hands.
 * As for the coded message, it tells the count to come back for the greatest jewel. It gives directions to a vine growing on a wall--a Virginia vine which Lady Caterham planted when Virginia was born. Virginia is the count's greatest jewel, his daughter.

Cast

 * Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple
 * Ian Weichardt as Young Lomax
 * Laura O'Toole as Agnes
 * Robert Dunbar as Young Count
 * Edward Fox as Caterham
 * Mathew Horne as Eversleigh
 * Adam Godley as Lomax
 * Charlotte Salt as Virginia
 * Jonas Armstrong as Cade
 * Michelle Collins as Treadwell
 * Anthony Higgins as Count Ludwig von Stainach
 * Dervla Kirwan as Bundle
 * Ruth Jones as Blenkinsopp
 * Alex Knight as Jaffers
 * Stephen Dillane as Finch
 * Letty Butler as Young Treadwell
 * Nicci Brighten as Madeleine
 * Uncredited actress as Lady Somerset
 * Uncredited actor as Roberts

Filming Locations

 * Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire - Chimneys externals, some internals
 * Knebworth House, Hertfordshire - some Chimneys internals