Television
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is a murder mystery series that ran for 12 seasons between 1984 and 1986, and also includes four full-length movies that were made later. Created by the same people behind Columbo, it starts Angela Lansbury in the role of Jessica Fletcher, a retired teacher who achieves fame as a detective fiction writer, and whose sharp analytical and reasoning skills help expose the murderer in each episode.
See also:
- Murder, She Wrote on Wikipedia
- 30th anniversary article on vulture.com (2nd October 2014) highlights some of the best things about the show
Aside from Angela Lansbury herself, the series is packed with a variety of guest actors, many of whom were already well-established at the time, and others who were still at the beginning of their career. Aside from some recurring roles, several actors appear in a number of episodes in different roles. The Murder, She Wrote episode list at IMDB is a good place to read more about individual episodes and also to see the cast of each one.
Many episodes are set in the fictional village of Cabot Cove, where Jessica Fletcher's home is. However, many other episodes are set in other cities in the US and across the world, as part of her travels, or her later teaching position in New York, or featuring stories around other characters.
In such a long-running series, changes inevitably happen. The following are a few of the bigger turning points in the series:
- Season 2: Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) replaces Ethan Cragg (Claude Akins) as Mrs. Fletcher's closest friend
- Season 5: Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) replaces Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) as the Sheriff of Cabot Cove
- Seasons 6-7: Angela Lansbury took a little step back for personal reasons, thus many episodes feature other characters
- Season 8: Jessica Fletcher takes up a teaching position in New York, and transitions from typewriter to computer