Miss Marple (TV series) In addition to Miss Marple, there are two semi-regular characters in the series. The first is Inspector (later Superintendent) Slack, played by David Horovitch; the second is Constable (later Sergeant) Lake, played by Ian Brimble. Slack and Lake appear in five episodes: "The Body in the Library", "The Murder at the Vicarage", "4.50 From Paddington", "They Do It with Mirrors" and "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side". They are the official detectives and both (particularly Slack) originally dislike and are exasperated by Miss Marple, her interference and her methods, but they eventually come to respect (and indeed, in the
The Murder at the Vicarage of Miss Weatherby, the changing of Mrs. Price-Ridley's first name from "Martha" to "Marjorie", the renaming of Bill Archer to Frank Tarrent and the addition of a plotline in which the Colonel stole 10,000 francs from the French Resistance, which led to the death of an agent. Two major departures from the book are the portrayal of Miss Marple as Anne's close friend and the addition of a series of flashbacks to December 1915, where a younger Miss Marple was engaged in a forbidden love affair with a married soldier. In both versions, the vicar's role is reduced and he