How Angela Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher links Jaws and Murder, She Wrote

Hollywood legend Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96.

The actress was perhaps best known as author and detective Jessica Fletcher in that 1980s and 1990s staple,  Murder, She Wrote.

The character resided in the fictional Cabot Cove, in Maine, but in reality most of its scenes were filmed on the Universal backlot, in fact it was also Amity Island on the Jaws section of the Universal backlot tour. 

The show lasted an astounding 12 seasons, with 54 episodes out of its 264-episode run featuring Cabot Cove and with it the chance of spotting Jaws Lake.

If only the killer in each episode had thought to dump the bodies in the lake for the shark. Jaws alumni also ended up in the show, with Tina from Jaws 2 actress Ann Dusenberry turning up in two episodes as different characters.

Not that Jessica Fletcher was the only TV sleuth to film next to the Jaws Lake, with a 1976 episode of Columbo, Fade In To Murder, being set on the Universal backlot.

And the first show of the first regular season of Columbo, Murder By The Book, was helmed by a pre-Jaws Steven Spielberg.

Just one more thing...Columbo was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, with several episodes written by Peter S. Fisher. All three would go onto create Murder, She Wrote. The rest is her-story. 

Words by Dean Newman.

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