Angela Lansbury Gives Thumbs Down to MURDER SHE WROTE Reboot

In late October, BWW reported that Academy Award winning actress Octavia Spencer will star in a reboot of the long-running mystery series MURDER, SHE WROTE for NBC. Alexandra Cunningham will pen the pilot script while David Janollari produces.

Speaking yesterday at an Associated Press event on the upcoming honorary Oscar she will receive later this week, Angela Lansbury called Murder, She Wrote, "the greatest doorway to the world" because of the international appeal her character Jessica Fletcher had on viewers across the globe.

Yet the actress added her personal thoughts on the upcoming remake commenting, "I think it's a mistake to call it Murder, She Wrote, because Murder, She Wrote will always be about Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person." She added, "So I'm sorry that they have to use the title Murder, She Wrote, even though they have access to it and it's their right."

However, the Tony Award-winning actress made a point of praising Spencer's work, sharing, "I saw her in The Help and thought she was absolutely wonderful, a lovely actress. So I wish her well, but I wish it wasn't in Murder, She Wrote."

The hour-long project, which currently has a pilot commitment from the peacock network, will be a re-imagining of the series and is described as, "a light, contemporary procedural in the vein of Bones or Fargo, it follows a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth (Spencer) who self-publishes her first mystery novel. Set in a day where sensational headlines inundate the news, this woman's avid fascination with true crime leads her to become an active participant in the investigations"

The project marks the first series regular role for 'The Help' star who recently guest starred on the new CBS comedy Mom opposite her film co-star Alison Janney. Her other TV credits include the 2001 Sci Fi Channel series The Chronicle.

Commented Spencer, "I've always considered myself an armchair detective and in a recent meeting with Bob Greenblatt, he asked me what type of character would be able to lure me to TV. Naturally, I said " J.B. Fletcher" meets "Colombo"... And here we are," she said. "I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with Dave Janollari again, and Alex Cunningham a brilliant writer who shares my love for all things mysterious and Angela Lansbury."

The original Murder, She Wrote garnered 12 Emmy nominations for Lansbury. The series premiered in 1984 and aired for 12 seasons, spawning four follow-up TV movies as well as a spinoff series, The Law & Harry McGraw. According to the report, the original theme music will likely remain in this latest incarnation.

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Angela Lansbury has enjoyed a seven-decade career, as a screen star and as an award-winning stage actor in New York and London. She made her Broadway debut in 1957 asBert Lahr's wife in Hotel Paradiso. Her other Broadway credits include A Taste of Honey (1960), Anyone Can Whistle (1961),Mame (1966, Tony Award), Dear World (1968, Tony Award), Gypsy (1974 revival, Tony Award), Sweeney Todd (1979, Tony Award), Blithe Spirit (2009 revival, Tony Award), A Little Night Music (2009 revival), and The Best Man (2012). Recently, she appeared with James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines in the 2013 Australian tour of Driving Miss Daisy. From 1984-1996 she starred as Jessica Fletcher on "Murder She Wrote," the longest running detective drama series in the history of television. Named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 1994, she received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000. In addition to her 5 Tony Awards, she is also the winner of 6 Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated for 3 Oscars and 18 Emmys.

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