Murder in the Cathedral (film) Murder in the Cathedral (film) Murder in the Cathedral is a 1951 British drama film directed and produced by George Hoellering and co-written by Hoellering and T. S. Eliot based on Eliot's 1935 verse drama of the same name and starring Father John Groser. The film competed at the 12th Venice International Film Festival and received the award for Best Production Design, given to Peter Pendrey. It was released in the United Kingdom in 1952. Archbishop Thomas Becket (Father John Groser) deals with his temptations before his murder in the Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. "Murder in the Cathedral" premiered at
Murder, She Wrote from eighth to 58th in the yearly ratings; the series lost nearly 6 million viewers as the audience was not willing to follow it to Thursday, which left CBS with little choice but to end "Murder, She Wrote" after 12 seasons in August 1996. To soften the blow, the network agreed to air the final four episodes in its original Sunday night timeslot, as well as commission four "Murder, She Wrote" movies over the next few years: the first was "South by Southwest" (1997), with three more following as "A Story to Die For" (2000), "The Last Free Man" (2001),