A Pocketful of Rye (2009 Charles Palmer)

Julia McKenzie. Helen Baxendale, Joseph Beattie, Ken Cambell, Lucy Cohu, Ken Cranham, Rupert Graves, Ralf LIttle Matthew Macfadyen, Anna Madeley, Ben Miles, Hattie Morahan, Wendy Richard, Edward Tudor Pole, Liz White, Prunella Scales

Written by Kevin Elyot.

Take large country house. Add several relatives who don't get along. Provide murders and absurd clues. Produce policeman who alone can't solve case. Sprinkle with Marple.

This one at least has a copper who's halfway decent, enacted by the delectable Macfadyen. There's no romantic sub-plot, which seems to be a feature of the best of these ITV adaptations. There is some very variable acting. It's a bit palsy.

This, though, is Laura Haddock, who in an Any Human Heart tangent is married to Sam Claflin,