Surprising Facts About The Marlow Murder Club Cast
You don't need to be a detective to learn more about the cast of The Marlow Murder Club on MASTERPIECE on PBS. Leave the magnifying glass and red string behind, and read some surprising facts about the stars. Find out whose acting idol was a guest star in Season 3, which cast members had a brush with the supernatural, and who you'd want to cater your murder club meeting.
A Brush with the Supernatural
Did you know some theatres have their own ghosts? Samantha Bond (Judith) had a chilling encounter with one during drama school at the Bristol Old Vic. “[The theatre] is famously haunted by Sarah Siddons (one of the first women to play Hamlet there in 1781). Somewhere at the back of the stalls there is a spiral staircase. As I went down it, I brushed past what I thought was a fellow student in a silk dress. I said, ‘Ooh, sorry.’ Then I turned around and there was no one there, so … I spoke to her. I said, ‘I am thrilled that you are with us, thank you for joining us but I would rather not see you because I’m a bit frightened.’”
Scarier Than Season 3's Haunted Manor
Cara Horgan’s haunted manor experiences didn’t begin with Becks' storyline in Season 3. “One of my part-time jobs when I was at sixth form was as a tour guide at Arundel Castle. That is a very creepy place. I remember there was a portrait room where … it felt like all their eyes were following you.”
The Amateur Sleuth's Amateur Hobby
You’ll want Jo Martin (Suzie) to cater your hypothetical murder club once you hear what she told MASTERPIECE she’d be serving. “I love to cook. I'm an inventor… My Romesco sauce is legend—I do a beautiful one with the almonds and the garlic and the vinegar and the lemons, but I also throw in a few cheeky anchovies. They do a thing. And then I’ll do a poached salmon, and put that on the poached salmon… And a fennel salad, which I mandalay so it's really thin, and mandalay some apple as well, and over that goes a lovely vinegarette with some orange juice on it…. I love to cook. I'm a wizard.”
Sharing a Love of Crosswords with Judith
If you’re a cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle lover) looking for a guide to all things crosswords, Samantha Bond knows best! She shares her knack for solving clues with her character on The Marlow Murder Club: “Both Judith and I do the cryptic crossword. My favorite, because it’s the easiest, is the Telegraph. The Times is complicated because it often has Latin references, and I don’t have Latin. And The Guardian, which would be my crossword of choice, is just too hard sometimes. The Telegraph is a good one and a comfortable one.”
Meeting All Creatures Great and Small Idols
Natalie Dew (Tanika) became an actor because of her love for the original All Creatures Great and Small series. “I used to be obsessed with that show and obsessed with Christopher Timothy [who played James Herriot]. So obsessed that when I was five, I had my picture taken with him… I had drawn a picture of a giraffe for him… I was very giddy about seeing [the original Tristan Farnon] Peter Davison [on set of The Marlow Murder Club Season 3] who gave me some behind the scenes gossip and talked about the animals. I was in my element. He was very humble and very lovely about how much I was fangirling.”
Inspired by Iconic Actors
Cara Horgan remembers some iconic British women who inspired her to pursue acting and bring humor and drama while playing Becks. “My brother and I were very big comedy fans as kids. In Blackadder, I really loved Miranda Richardson as Queenie. I thought, ‘God, it would be such a dream to have that as a job.’ I saw Anne-Marie Duff play Nina in The Seagull... As I got older, I became a huge fan of Kristin Scott Thomas, Kate Winslet, Tilda Swinton, these actresses who can shapeshift and are so believable and so compelling.”
