Love the show but why doesn't Jessica have a drivers license? I never heard an explanation and wondered if Jessica had a phobia? Even with excellent public transportation she still relies on a ride at times. Inconvenient to say the least.
shareThat's what I want to know too.
sharehmmm - Really great question!
When somebodies asked before - one or a couple of the experts on here says that driving would take away too much dialogue time from Jessica.
When she pilots the bicycle - she waves at townsfolk or stops abrubtly when somebody screams bloody murder.
When she goes on boats - or airplanes - or buses and stuff - there are plenty of other passengers to witness everyday murders.
But if she were to drive something - then how would they work in the dialogue, right? - She takes taxies to hear radio reports - and then askes the driver to verify what she hears - or else she rides with Seth or something - or one of the Sheriffs or Officers when she's visiting old friends - and they get arrested for murder.
Then except for the automatic pilot non-driver - when Jessica gets locked inside of that runaway station wagon - she would have nobody to get clues from from one murder to the next if she's out there driving along alone, right?
Mellow Salutations!
In the book series, she doesn't drive but she has taken many flying lessons.
shareIn one episode (I don't remember which one) she mentions being afraid to drive. So, perhaps it was fear that kept her from it.
shareThe answer is simple. Angela Lansbury couldn't drive and it also meant that they didn't have to include car chases.
Angela Lansbury liked this “because it precludes, in a sense, the need for car chases.”share
Angela Lansbury can drive. You can google the images. I know Angela was pleased to avoid the car chases, but I was wondering if the character ever explained her lack of driving skills. Just wondering if she had a phobia and like Jessica's quirks. I appreciate all the responses in this thread.
share[deleted]
You said it's because Angela Lansbury can't drive, so therefore J.B. Fletcher can't? Seriously? My dear lydiab6, you might want to do a little reading up on just how much actual "driving" actors/actresses do in movies and TV shows. Even when they're clearly "on the road", driving down the street, the vehicle they're in is usually on a flat-bed truck, which also has the cameras mounted on it.
I had the good fortune to visit Universal Studios for the most amazing "behind the scenes" (day-long!) look at hundreds of Hollywoods' tricks, though it has kind of ruined a lot of the "magic" for me since!
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot - than to open it and remove all doubt!
I might be misremembering, but wasn't she awkwardly at the wheel of a golf cart at the end of A Nest of Vipers? Episode ends with the cart swerving about in lieu of the standard laughing-in-freeze-frame ending?
Maybe she's just a terrible driver. Was it ever stated that she didn't know HOW to drive? Maybe she got her license, but let it expire because she was terrible at it and living in small town Cabot Cove it wasn't necessary to drive.
she was legally blind.
shareAll the above are incredibly wrong, it's got nothing to do with if Angela Lansbury can drive or not and she certainly didn't have any sort of fear of driving.
If anyone recalls properly, she drove a car in the Disney classic 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'.
The answer can be found for die hard fans here on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZLCZq5m1P8
I won't say where about it is when Angela explains but she does - for those that want to know the answer quicker and because some smart arse will reply only because of this comment.
Peter Fisher decided if she could drive a car, she would never have the ability to ask for a lift and Jessica Fletcher met contacts by being able to accept offers of being driven to and from locations - or asking for them herself.
It's very obvious when you think back because she always has lengthy conversations in cars, which most of the time enables the character who's doing the driving to be drawn into the audience.
Well, first of all, everyone has some very nice input, but we're afraid to find a little contradiction in that post....
All the above are incredibly wrong, it's got nothing to do with if Angela Lansbury can drive or not and she certainly didn't have any sort of fear of driving.
Peter Fisher decided if she could drive a car, she would never have the ability to ask for a lift and Jessica Fletcher met contacts by being able to accept offers of being driven to and from locations - or asking for them herself.
It's very obvious when you think back because she always has lengthy conversations in cars, which most of the time enables the character who's doing the driving to be drawn into the audience.
But if she were to drive something - then how would they work in the dialogue, right? - She takes taxis to hear radio reports - and then asks the driver to verify what she hears - or else she rides with Seth or something - or one of the Sheriffs or Officers when she's visiting old friends - and they get arrested for murder.
Many women of her generation didn't drive. My great aunt didn't. Her husband had taught her but it was all at night when he was done with work. She couldn't make the transition from driving at night to daytime so never got her license. She had friends and family to help out.
"Love the show but why doesn't Jessica have a drivers license? I never heard an explanation and wondered if Jessica had a phobia? Even with excellent public transportation she still relies on a ride at times. Inconvenient to say the least."
This is hilarious. I know a ton of older women who won't drive at night, but I've never heard of one who wouldn't drive during the day, and for such a funny reason. Thanks for sharing.
shareI am a lifelong non driver, and I am in my mid 50's. I never learned when I was young, our city has excellent transit (and I work downtown) and over the years I saved a lot of money by doing so. My husband drives however, and it could be that was the case with Jessica as well, Frank was the driver, and by the time he died she didn't feel like doing so.
It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices
Just started watching the Father Dowling Mysteries and notice Tom Bosley also does not drive. Wonder if he took that from MSW.
share