Angela Lansbury calls ‘Murder, She Wrote’ reboot a mistake

TORONTO — Angela Lansbury, TV’s original Jessica Fletcher, feels remaking Murder, She Wrote is a mistake.

The 88-year-old actress recently reacted to news that NBC is developing a new version of the series — which ran from 1984 to 1996 — with Octavia Spencer (The Help) in the lead role.

“Murder, She Wrote will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place,” Lansbury told The Associated Press, “and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person.”

Lansbury earned a dozen Emmy nominations for playing Fletcher, a mystery novelist in the fictional New England town of Cabot Cove (which evidently had the highest murder rate in the country).

“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,” she said.

Lansbury said she doesn’t blame Spencer, whom she described as “a lovely actress.”

She said: “I wish her well, but I wish it wasn’t in Murder, She Wrote.”

The U.S. networks have a spotty record when it comes to rebooting old shows. Hawaii Five-O is a hit and the Parenthood remake has lasted five times longer than the original’s one-season run. But, the new Melrose Place in 2009 was axed after one season, 2011’s reboot of Charlie’s Angels was cancelled after only four episodes and the Vancouver-shot remake of Bionic Woman in 2007 lasted eight seasons.