A minority opinion perhaps, but I’m not the biggest fan of the BBC’s recent Agatha Christie adaptations. In their effort to prise Dame Agatha out of the cosy-crime corner and make her works darker and more relevant, it seems to me that they have gone too far in the opposite direction. But this weekend’s new one, Towards Zero, gets the balance between glitz and grit about right. And with its tale of privileged folk coming unstuck in a picturesque setting, it’s more The White Lotus than Death in Paradise.
Based on Christie’s lesser-known (to me at least) 1944 whodunit, the three-part adaptation boasts an impressive cast that includes Anjelica Huston, Clarke Peters from The Wire and The Americans’ Matthew Rhys. Set in the 1930s, it looks fabulous, from the shimmering Devon seascapes and cocktail dresses to the Art Deco interiors. The propulsive score is more characteristic of a Hitchcock movie.
Unusually for a murder mystery, there isn’t a death in the opening episode. As Clarke Peters, playing a lawyer called Frederick Treves, explains as a sort of prologue: “I like a good detective story but they begin in the wrong place, with a murder. The story begins a long, long time before.”
Towards Zero begins with a high-profile society divorce, whereby a handsome tennis player, Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson- Cohen), is being sued for adultery by his wife, Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland). This opening courtroom scene introduces several of the later suspects, including Nevile’s mistress and future wife, Kay (Mimi Keene), the aforementioned Treves and a mysterious valet who inveigles his way into Nevile’s employ.
After this snappily constructed entrée, it’s off to Gull’s Point, the stately Devon home of Nevile’s aunt, the bed-ridden Lady Tressilian (Huston). Her ladyship disapproves when Nevile announces that his ex-wife Audrey will be joining his new wife Kay for his traditional August visit to the ancestral home. Why would he countenance this ménage-a-trois – especially after such an acrimonious divorce?
Considering she has little to do other than to lie in bed and cock an occasional arched eyebrow, Huston is imperiously terrific in a role that might have been custom built for the late Dame Maggie Smith. As it is, there is already a whiff of Downton Abbey, including a homely cook and Lady Tressilian’s paid companion, Mary Aldin (Anjana Vasan). Mary has been secretly corresponding with Nevile’s disgraced cousin, Thomas Royde (Jack Farthing), who wants to return to Gull’s Point to settle an unspecified score.
Naturally all detective stories require a detective, although even here Towards Zero treads an unusual path. Inspector Leach (Rhys) is a depressed alcoholic, more interested in investigating a whisky bottle than the hotel guests letting off fireworks and disturbing Lady Tressilian’s bed rest. The opening episode ends with not a murder but an apparent suicide as Leach throws himself off a clifftop. Given Rhys’s shared top billing, we can perhaps presume that he survives…
Screenwriter Rachel Bennette’s script is pacy without being confusing and doesn’t noticeably attempt to crowbar in any contemporary concerns (although the makers claim David and Victoria Beckham provided an inspiration for the public’s fascination with a sportsman’s marriage).
Towards Zero is a creamily deluxe entry into the crowded murderer mystery field – even if at this stage the principal mystery is who exactly is going to be murdered.
‘Towards Zero’ continues next Sunday at 9pm on BBC One
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