'' was a
American Mystery Television series, starring
Angela Lansbury as the lead character,
Jessica Fletcher , who was a mystery writer turned professional sleuth. It aired as a weekly series on
CBS from
1984 to
1996 , and continued with several made-for-TV movies into
2003 . Lansbury served as
Executive Producer of the series during its later seasons. It was at the time the longest running prime time drama series on American TV.
The show revolved around the day to day life of a retired english teacher turned professional mystery writer named
Jessica Fletcher . In each episode, Jessica would somehow become entangled in a murder investigation and would come out being the one person able to make sense of the case. This being the basis of the show, it was viewed by critics as ridiculous how murders seemed to follow Jessica around the country. Many of the episodes took place in either Jessica's hometown of
Cabot Cove or
New York , where she later moved, but her travels promoting books or visiting relatives and friends lead to cases all around the USA, England and other places of the English-speaking world. A crossover episode with
Magnum P.I. took place in Hawaii. Another characteristic point of the series was that Jessica, though widowed and childless, had a endless collection of nephews, nieces, cousins, in-laws and other friends and relatives that always needed her help.
Jessica's relationship with law enforcement officials varied from place to place. Both the Sheriffs of Cabot Cove were used, and resigned, to have her meddling in their cases. Most detectives and officers didn't want her near their crime scenes, until her accurate deductions convinced them to listen to what she had to say. Others were fans of her books and glad to let her snoop. With time, she made friends in many Police Departments across the USA, as well as a British police officer attached to
Scotland Yard .
A handful of episodes were stories "written by" Jessica, or submitted to her by friends. She would appear at the beginning of each episode to introduce it, but generally did not re-appear until the end, where she would wrap up the story.
- Michael Horton as Grady Fletcher (1985-1995), Jessica's not-so-lucky favorite nephew.
- Jerry Orbach as Harry McGraw (1985-1991), an old-school detective who becomes friends with Jessica.
- Len Cariou as Michael Hagarty (1985-1992), a British MI6 Agent of Irish origin that would appear when Jessica least expected him to draw her to a dangerous case.
- Keith Michell as Dennis Stanton (1985-1993), a former jewel thief turned insurance claims investigator, that always solved his cases with unusual methods, and send a copy of the story to his friend Jessica afterwards.
Many famous or soon to be famous actors have had guest spots on Murder, She Wrote:
''Murder, She Wrote'' has been broadcasted, sucessfully, in many countries around the world, and it's being repeated regularly in many of them.
magazine.]]
In the beginning, Fletcher was not even interested in publishing her first novel, and definitely not interested in sleuthing real-life cases. However, trouble usually followed her, and the formerly peaceful life she lived in Cabot Cove became a rarity, only showing up from time to time before she was involved in her next investigation.
Despite the leading lady's success in ''Murder, She Wrote'', she was not the
Producer 's original choice of star. Actresses
Jean Stapleton and
Doris Day were offered, and consecutively turned down, the main part.
The show enjoyed a wide audience, and was for several years the longest-running mystery show on television. Throughout its run, countless notable stars played guest parts, making it a considerably diverse show. In total there were 264 weekly episodes, and Lansbury subsequently reprised the character in four (to date) T.V. movies between
1997 and
2003 .
Although Lansbury was the show's main star, the series was arranged so that several episodes each year would focus upon one of her friends and their mystery-solving exploits, allowing Lansbury to appear only briefly in the episodes and take a break in filming. One of these recurring characters, a
Private Detective named Harry McGraw (
Jerry Orbach ) was popular enough to garner his own, short-lived spinoff series in
1987 , ''
The Law & Harry McGraw ''. The character of Jessica Fletcher also appeared in an episode of ''
Magnum P.I. '' in
1986 .
Lansbury holds the record for the most Prime-time Emmy Nominations for an outstanding lead actress in a drama series, 12, one for every season 1984-1996—she never won (which is also a record).
A series of original novels based upon ''Murder, She Wrote'' began in the late 1980s and new books continue to be written and published ; in keeping with the spirit of the TV show, the author credit for these books, which are written by ''Coffee, Tea, or Me?'' author
Donald Bain , is shared with the fictitious "Jessica Fletcher".
''Murder, She Wrote'' is often shown in the
United Kingdom on
BBC ONE ,
UKTV Gold and
UKTV Drama . In Australia it's on
Ten Network on weekdays at noon. Australian cable viewers also enjoy the show on TV1, (During Crime Time AM.) It continues to air multiple times daily in the United States and Canada on both
A&E (a basic cable network) and its sister network on extended cable, the
Biography Channel . Murder, She Wrote also is viewed in Finnish
Yle TV1 on Mondays and Tuesdays 15.05.
Exterior shots of "Cabot Cove" were filmed in
Mendocino, California .
