Murder, She Wrote: Trivia About the Series

If you have yellow in your blood, it will always find a way to visit you, and that’s why it shouldn’t be surprising that The Lady in Yellow find cases to solve even when he wants to enjoy a simple boat trip. This series of well 264 episodes with the addition of four television films it has become a cult of the genre for two reasons: for having given life to a character, that of Jessica Fletcherwho became iconic thanks to his charisma and his sympathy, and for having relaunched the career of a very talented actress like Angela Lansbury in a historical period in which women over fifty were rarely hired by audiovisual productions. The result was a series that set a precedent and united many generations, ready to recognize it from the unmistakable jingle and the shots of Jessica tapping the keys first of a typewriter and then of a computer a warm and familiar productlike a place of the heart. But what don’t we know about the series we watched as children and waited for like Christmas?

Jessica starts out as a successful woman

At the beginning of the series, Jessica Fletcher is introduced to the audience as a recently widowed, retired English teacher, fresh from her success as a crime novelist that came almost by accident. Despite being a celebrity in Cabot Cove and the rest of the world, Jessica never gets a big head and continues to live her life as usual.

The driving license problem

Over the course of the 264 episodes of The Lady in YellowJessica Fletcher never drives. The famous writer, in fact, does not have a driver’s license, and that is why she is always seen in the company of her trusty bicycle or, at most, on public transport or in a taxi.

The move to New York

Murder, She Wrote has always lived at 698 Candlewood Lane in Cabot Cove, Maine. However, starting in season eight, Jessica becomes a criminology teacher in New York, although the move will not prevent her from returning to her hometown often.

The arm wrestling with Friends

By the mid-1990s, the series, which had always aired on Sunday nights, saw its final season air on Thursdays, entering into competition with several rising series, including Friends. This comparison with a series that was captivating the younger generations effectively led to the cancellation of the The Lady in Yellowwhich ended its broadcast in 1996. However, it was during that year that the episode was made The last scenewhich turned out to be a not-so-veiled parody of Friendsconsidering that Jessica is in Hollywood to solve a murder that occurred on the set of a fictional series entitled Budin which the protagonists are a group of boys.

But how many murders in Cabot Cove

It has been estimated that over the course of the twelve seasons of The Lady in Yellow approximately 64 murders have occurred in Cabot Cove. This is quite unusual for a town like this, given that it appears to have the same crime rate as a metropolitan city.

Jessica and her friends

During the series, you can see how Jessica makes many friends. The people who are always by her side, however, are Dr. Seth Hazlitt, the doctor of Cabot Cove, Sergeant Amos Tupper and her nephew Grady. Later, Mort Metzger will also join, the new sheriff of Cabot Cove after Amos’ retirement.

Not just an actress

During the seventh season, The Lady in Yellow was beginning to lose the success it had had up to that point and that is why Angela Lansbury decided to invest in the series and become its executive producer, creating a new team to work on the series. One of the first innovations was to move the story from Cabot Cove and New York, showing Jessica Fletcher in a young city, replacing the typewriter with the computer and teaching criminology at the university.

The first idea had failed

Richard Levinson and William Link, the producers of The Lady in Yellowhad in turn been producers of another TV series, Ellery Queenwhich lasted only one season, broadcast between 1975 and 1976. However, the idea of ​​creating a series featuring a best-selling mystery writer capable of solving murders remained in their minds to the point that they later created, with the collaboration of Peter S. Fischer, their own The Lady in Yellow.

The remake that never happened

In 2013 NBC had announced the idea of ​​a remake of The Lady in Yellow starring Octavia Spencer. The actress, in fact, would have played the administrator of a hospital with notable literary talents who, after having self-published her first novel, begins to collaborate with detectives to solve some murder cases. Just the following year, however, the network announced that it was shelving the idea.

The Revenge of the Over 50s

At the beginning of The Lady in YellowAngela Lansbury was 58 years old, and the fact that an actress of her age had managed to have such an important role gave rise to a sort of revenge for older actresses who, more often than not, were cast almost exclusively in minor roles.