'Murder, She Wrote' Facts and Trivia

Jessica Fletcher was a younger adaptation of the Agatha Christie character Miss Marple, who was a hit on British television in the 1980s. CBS wanted to recreate that success for an American audience. 

Though we can't imagine anyone else in the role, Doris Day and Jean Stapleton were both offered the part of Jessica before Angela Lansbury. 

Universal Studios' "Jaws lake" (seen here from the tram tour) served as the "harbor" in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine, where Jessica lived. 

Jessica's middle name is Beatrice in honor of Angela Lansbury's best friend, Golden Girls star Beatrice Arthur. Jessica's late husband's name, Frank, is another nod to Bea, who was born "Bernice Frankel."

The exterior of Jessica's home at 698 Candlewood Lane is actually the Blair House Bed & Breakfast in Mendocino, California.

Lansbury was protective of her character, and quick to call out any directorial or editorial "reference to her being an old fogy or being out of date, or making a deprecatory remark about a type of person," Lansbury told the L.A. Times in 1985. 

Jessica didn't drive. She always took a bike, cab, or train, or caught a ride with someone to get where she was going. Lansbury liked this, she told the L.A. Times, because it "preclude[d]...the need for car chases."

Lansbury took more chances with the show once she knew it was ending. The episode "Murder Among Friends" is a parody of the hit sitcom Friends.