Agatha Christie's Marple (or simply Marple) is a British ITV television series based on the books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to third series, until her retirement from the role, and by Julia McKenzie from the fourth series onwards. Following the conclusion of the sixth series, it was announced that the BBC had acquired the rights for the production of Agatha Christie adaptations, suggesting that ITV would be unable to make a seventh series of Marple.