Lansbury relieved ‘Murder, She Wrote’ remake axed

LONDON (AP) - Angela Lansbury says she’s relieved that a planned remake of her classic whodunit series “Murder, She Wrote” has been canceled.

Lansbury had been critical of NBC’s idea of a reboot starring Octavia Spencer. The entertainment website Deadline.com reported this week that NBC was not going ahead with the show.

Lansbury said Thursday she thought the remake was a bad idea from the start.

“I couldn’t believe that they would even consider doing such a thing,” Lansbury told The Associated Press.

“I think it was an awful mistake and it was a terrible disservice” to Spencer, she said. “I have too much admiration for her to saddle her with the awful responsibility of having to bring that title into a different venue.”

Lansbury spent 12 years until 1996 playing small-town sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the series.

The 88-year-old actress is about to perform in London’s West End for the first time in almost 40 years, as the medium Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.”

Lansbury won a Tony Award for the role on Broadway.

Last month the actress, who was born in London and moved to the United States in her teens, was made a dame - the female equivalent of a knight - by Queen Elizabeth II.

She said she was pleased to be performing at London’s Gielgud Theatre, where her mother, actress Moyna Macgill, made her stage debut in 1918.

“She was a lovely actress,” Lansbury said. “I get all my talent from her.”