Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke

Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke is a character created for Murder Ahoy, the fourth of four MGM films featuring Miss Marple. He is a member of the board of trustees of the "Cape of Good Hope Youth Reclamation Centre" which owned the ship HMS Battledore, a sailing ship which was being used as a training ship to reform youth offenders. At the beginning of the film, Ffolly-Hardwicke attends a meeting of the board of trustees to which Miss Marple has just been appointed. Ffolly-Hardwicke keeps interrupting the proceedings, wanting to say something urgently, however he is constantly prevented by Bishop Faulkner, the chairperson. Finally, Ffolly-Hardwicke is allowed to speak. He sniffs a bit of snuff before doing so and drops down dead.

Faulkner tells Miss Marple that Ffolly-Hardwicke had just returned from a surprise visit to the Battledore. Faulkner does not attach much significance to this but Miss Marple does and she determines to pay a visit to the ship herself. The subsequent events form the main part of the plot. During her investigations, Miss Marple noted that Ffolly-Hardwicke seemed obsessed by the number "33" (she found this scribbled on a note). Later she would also learn that his visit to the ship was the first in a decade by a member of the board of trustees.

Murder Ahoy has a wholly original plot and like most of the other characters, Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke is not based on any canonical Christie character. However the plot has some parallels with They Do It with Mirrors and in this respect, Ffolly-Hardwicke can be considered a parallel of Christian Gulbrandsen who likewise stumbles upon some problem with regards to a reform centre for youth and is murdered before he can say what it is.

Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke is portrayed by Henry B. Longhurst. Despite a substantial speaking part, he is not credited.