Angela Lansbury returns to role in TV movie

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- Angela Lansbury -- very much in character as her renowned snoopy sleuth Jessica Fletcher -- walks briskly up to a police car as cameras roll.\n"Mum, hold it one second going in," suggests the director, who happens to be Lansbury's son, Anthony Shaw.\nShaw's instruction allows a police inspector time to emerge from the car before being confronted by Fletcher.\n"Tell me, what do you know of Eamon Byrne's family?" Fletcher challenges the inspector, played by Timothy V. Murphy.\nThe crime-solving mystery writer is in the fictional village of Ballymure, Ireland, where the contents of Byrne's will have sparked a series of murders.\nThe locale, complete with Celtic signs and righthand-drive cars, was created last August on the back lot of Universal Studios for the movie "Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle," airing 8 to 10 p.m. Friday on CBS.\nFionnula Flanagan co-stars as Byrne's widow, Margaret.\nLansbury portrayed Fletcher in the "Murder, She Wrote" series from 1984-96 and has a complex affection for the Fletcher role, which has earned her a dozen Emmy nominations, but no trophy.\n"I think her nosiness annoys me sometimes. She's terribly nosy and I want to say, 'Why don't you mind your own business and let someone else figure this one out?' " Lansbury said, laughing. "But that's part of the fun of it, so I really don't mind. I used to get more upset, but recently our scripts have been varied and different."\nThe "Celtic Riddle" script was based on a novel by Lyn Hamilton and adapted for the screen by Rosemary Ann Sisson. But Lansbury notes she also was involved in the writing process, never hesitating to suggest script revisions to meet her own exacting standards.\nThe 77-year-old actress believes the successful reruns of "Murder, She Wrote" prove that "a huge over-50 audience is out there, gasping for entertainment." But she also said that the show has a wider range of fans than might be expected.\nEven intellectuals "you think wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole, will sit down and watch ... which I think says something about the quality they are seeing. It's never been flung together," she said.\nLansbury views Fletcher as "a woman of my age dealing with life as I would ... which I hope is still in a very positive, energetic way."\nThis day, as usual, Lansbury has lived up to her reputation as a consummate pro. She'd gone to the dentist to get a tooth fixed but showed no signs of discomfort, merely a concern over slightly disrupting the production schedule.