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Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For – Saturday ITV

msw_story_to_die_for_121I’ve posted several times over the years about this post-series Murder, She Wrote TV movie getting airings in the UK.  Up to now all those screenings have been on the sister ITV3 channel.  On Saturday it returns to the big leagues on the main ITV1 channel.  You’ll have to get up early (for a Saturday) to catch it though as it’s a 9:30 start.

In January there was big Murder news as it was reported that the US TV network NBC had decided not to go ahead with making a pilot of a remake after they’d had a re-think.  Isn’t re-imagining the same as re-thinking?  Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) was signed up as the lead in the re-imagining.

Original Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury was said to be “terribly pleased and relieved” at the news of the project’s cancellation.  Fans of the show seemed largely to be against the idea as well.  A few weeks prior to that, Angela, who in 2014 celebrates 70 years in the business known as “show”, received the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for her acting and charity work.  She may have lived and worked in the US for much of her life but Angela is British by birth and holds dual citizenship so can use the attached title of Dame.  Non-citizens can hold the honorary title and are only allowed put the letters after their name.  20 years ago Dame Angela was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), which has no title attached, so getting the DBE is a promotion.  The equivalent to the DBE for men is the KBE, or Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which gets you a Sir.

A Story To Die For was the second of four TV movies made in the seven years after the series finished its amazing 12 season run of 264 episodes in 1996.  (This post is brought to you by the numbers 2, 4, 7, 12, 264 and 1996, and the letters K, M and U :-) ).  As we know, earlier in her career Kathryn had a small role in one of the last episodes of the final season of the TV series.  The episode title was What You Don’t Know Can Kill You and KM UK covered it HERE.  Hopefully that episode will be broadcast on UK television at some point in the not to distant future.

Kathryn’s role in A Story To Die For is quite significant in its air time and importance to the plot.  Details of the broadcast can be found on the Radio Times website.

Screencaps (such as the one above) from the film can be found in the Gallery.

Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For – Saturday ITV3

msw_story_to_die_for_014You could almost set your watch, or more precisely calendar, by the ITV3 schedule.

People often say horrible things about the people that create the TV schedules.  Most often this is because their favourite programme has been moved to a less popular or more inconvenient timeslot.  You can’t say that about the schedulers at ITV3, oh no.  June 2010, June 2012, and now June 2013 (not sure if we just missed June 2011).  Each year the TV movie Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For, a spin-off from the popular TV series, has been shown on ITV3 in the UK.  That’s not a scatter-gun or sadistic approach to timetables.  It’s more like a case of OCD.  Let’s see if it happens again in 2014.

This year’s outing is on Saturday (8th June) at 12 noon and repeated on Sunday morning at 7:55am.  And, of course there are the ITV3 +1 (which is not the same as ITV4 :-) ) re-showings.

For those few of Kathryn’s fans that haven’t seen it Kathryn has a significant guest starring role in the film.  A bit of comic relief and, for once, a suspect in a major crime.  She doesn’t get to solve the crime or play the ‘love interest’, which, based on who plays the main leads (English-born actress Angela Lansbury and the late Richard Crenna) that is probably a good thing :-)

Details can be found on the Radio Times website.

Screencaps (such as the one above) from the film can be found in the Gallery.

Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For – Thursday ITV3

promo_001In the run-up to Xmas the UK-based TV channel ITV3 are filling up their daytime schedule with lots of family friendly films.

For four days, starting at 10:35am from Monday (17th December 2012), ITV3 are showing all four of the Murder, She Wrote TV movies that were made after the TV series ended.  A Story To Die For was the second of the four films but for some reason it is being shown last on the Thursday (20th December 2012).  They’ve muddled up the order completely!  How difficult would it have been to play them chronologically?

A Story To Die For sees Kathryn playing Patricia Williams, the assistant to an old writing friend of Jessica Fletcher and an aspiring writer herself.  Patricia gets embroiled in the case of the murder of an ex-KGB author at a speakers conference.

The promo photo shown above is now in the Gallery.  Thanks to Kathy for passing it along.

Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For – Today ITV3

msw_story_to_die_for_014Your Royal Highness, I apologise for the short notice on this.  I realise that you have a very busy super-extended weekend ahead of you due to the celebrations for your Diamond Jubilee.  Hopefully you’ve managed to set your PVR to record this so you can watch it later and relax.

The TV movie Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For, a spin-off from the popular TV series, is being shown again on ITV here in the UK.  This time it’s on ITV3 at 16:05 today (2 June 2012).  In case you miss that broadcast there is a repeat at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning.

The film sees Kathryn playing Patricia Williams, the assistant to an old writing friend of Jessica Fletcher and aspiring writer herself.  Patricia gets embroiled in the case of the murder of an ex-KGB author at a speakers conference.

ITV also continues to show an episode or two of the TV series each week, currently they are up to the middle of season 2.

Murder She Wrote: A Box Set To Die For

screenshot_001Before Kathryn became Lilly, she got a taste of what it was like to be the other side of the interrogation room table.  The wily blonde still got her man but in this instance the blonde wasn’t Det. Rush, it was Jessica Fletcher, as played by Angela Lansbury in the long running TV show and four TV movies of Murder, She Wrote.

Released on Tuesday (14th Feb 2012) that quartet of movies is now available as a DVD box set in America.  You can find it on the US Amazon store HERE.

Four years after a small role in one of the last ever episodes of the Murder, She Wrote TV series Kathryn starred in the second of the TV movies.  A Story To Die For (the subtitle of the movie we are interested in) sees angel of death Jessica Fletcher (what? people are always dying when she’s around!) at a writers conference when, predictably enough, a murder takes place (see, told you!).  Kathryn is Patricia Williams, an aspiring writer herself, who is at the conference to act as an assistant to Warren Pierce (an old friend of Jessica’s and also a writer).  Eye-witnesses cause Patricia to come under suspicion and see her questioned by the police.

Screencaps of Kathryn in A Story To Die For have been in the KM UK Gallery for a long time and can be found HERE.

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