The superb director of the chilling THE CHANGELING and the witty and iconoclastic THE RULING CLASS has imbued BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS with several John Dickson Carr-like eerie supernatural touches. Despite some awful mugging by Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple and a faded beauty Greta Scacchi as a tippling Tuppence Beresford, the overall mood and quality of this Dame Agatha Christie adaptation make it the BEST so far in this series. I saw Claire Bloom's name in the credits and wondered where she was until I saw her unmade-up features as the victim, Tommy Beresford(Anthony Andrews)'s Aunt Ada, in a wheelchair, yet!!! Amounted to a mere cameo, but a nice one. June Whitfield(the dotty mother in ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS) as Mrs. Lancaster is also a must watch. Charles Dance as the nasty boozing vicar Septimus Bligh(any relation to Captain Bligh?) is also nice to have around. The rest of the cast is above average, and if Geraldine McEwan could restrain her exuberance and curb her enthusiasm a bit more, she would make a good Miss Marple--AND STOP SMILING or is that leering, so much!!! I am very disappointed at Andrews and Scacchi's Tommy and Tuppence--James Warwick and Francesca Annis, where are you when we need you!!! The excellent direction, photography, mood and most of the actors save this adaptation, however.