Why Angela Lansbury’s ‘Murder She Wrote’ Character Never Had a Romantic Relationship on the Show

Angela Lansbury played Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote from 1984 to 1996. If you watched the TV show, one thing you likely noticed is that her character never had a love interest. Lansbury explained why.

Angela Lansbury was drawn to the ‘Murder She Wrote’ Script

Lansbury was intrigued by the Murder She Wrote script. During her search for a television series role, she received the script for this show and one for a Norman Lear sitcom.

Lansbury said she found the Murder She Wrote script interesting. “The Murder She Wrote idea was interesting because it was a woman who was a sleuth,” said Lansbury during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation. “She was a detective, and she was kind of playing an ordinary country woman who was widowed and who took up writing. And she wrote mystery stories. And in the course of her daily life, she sort of took up sleuthing.”

Lansbury said she knew without a doubt she was meant to play Jessica Fletcher. She felt she had something unique to bring to the role. “I called my agents and said, ‘If they want me, I would like you to make a deal for me to make the pilot for Murder, She Wrote. And that’s how it all began.”

Why Jessica Fletcher never had a love interest

Lansbury explained why her character never had a love interest. She told The New York Times her preference was for Jessica to remain single. Her reason was that she wanted the character to remain a mystery.

“I felt that the minute I got into something like that, I was destroying the mystique of Jessica,” Lansbury told the publication. “Not that she was a flirt. Don’t misunderstand me, but I wanted to feel always that circumstances just didn’t allow it to happen, sadly.”

Angela Lansbury tried to make ‘Murder She Wrote’ modern

Lansbury said there was competition from television sitcoms during the time Murder She Wrote aired. However, the audience remained loyal. When she became a producer, she tried to make the show fresh and new.

“What I tried to do when I took over the producership in 1993, I guess, I tried to sort of bring it a little more into the present day,” said Lansbury during her interview with the Television Academy Foundation.

Lansbury attempted to freshen up the storylines by adding a bit more action and having her character, Jessica Fletcher, go to different countries. She was grateful that the audience stuck with her for 12 seasons.

 “I tried to kind of put a little more stuff into it without making it violent,” said Lansbury. “I made it a little more sophisticated. I took Jessica around the world; I took her to other countries. We enlarged our audience tremendously. And we did terribly well right up until the end.”

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