It is a whodunnit that is even more cryptic than usual - as the opening TV episode does not begin with a murder.
Instead the first hour of BBC1's Agatha Christie drama Towards Zero circles around the 12 main characters, explaining who they are and perhaps longer term, why they might be a murderer. The three parter is filled with disturbing secrets and hidden jealousies when it kicks off on Sunday. The drama is set in England in 1936. After a scandalous celebrity divorce, British tennis star Nevile Strange (played by Oliver Jackson Cohen) and his ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) make what seems a crazy decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile's aunt, Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston).
With unfinished business between the former childhood sweethearts, plus the presence of Nevile’s new wife Kay (Mimi Keene), tensions run high. Throw into the mix a long-suffering lady’s companion, a mysterious gentleman’s valet, an exiled cousin with a grudge, a venerable family lawyer, an inquisitive orphan and a French con man, and soon there will be murder.
Troubled Inspector Leach played by Matthew Rhys must rediscover his purpose to untangle a toxic web of jealousy, deceit and dysfunction. Can he solve the crime before another victim meets their death in the zero hour?
Rhys said: "To me, Towards Zero is a psychological thriller masquerading as a simple whodunnit. That’s the beautiful coat hook on which this elaborate embroidered coat is hung, but the rich tapestry of that coat is far deeper in its psychoanalysis. Leach isn’t Poirot. He’s very succinct in his thoughts.
"I enjoy that it’s not linear and clean-cut. It’s a messy investigation."
He added: "Some might argue that some of the key themes are purely the seven deadly sins when you put this group together. Certainly there is a ruthless ambition to many of these characters. The danger of ambition seems to be quite a theme, quite a lesson."
Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, who leads the cast as bed bound Lady Tressilian added: "I think it’s nice when people like something that’s smart, witty and classic. Agatha Christie is symbolic of that.
"She was writing at a time when women weren’t really at the forefront. Her observations and involvement with her characters is very succinct. It’s no wonder she has such a following."
Brought up on the west of Ireland and in England she has a storied education in English accents despite being a Hollywood legend.
She said: "I grew up with many real life Lady Tressilians. On the hunting fields, mostly. At the Galway Blazers - my father’s hunt club – we had quite a few women like Lady Tressilian who were very opinionated and strong. They pretty much ruled.
"But I don’t think I’d survive for longer than 5 minutes in an Agatha Christie plot. You have to be smart!"
Executive producer Damien Timmer is in no doubt this is one of Christie's great novels.
He explained: "Christie fans all have lists and rankings, and for me this has always been a top tier novel. I’ve always thought there was something so delicious and provocative at the centre of it. This incendiary love triangle – there’s something so gloriously wicked about Nevile, Audrey and Kay going to a country house weekend for this polite holiday and, of course, you know that it is going to end in murder. That triangle just gives this story so much power and there is so much else around it that kind of crackles. I think the solution to the murder mystery is so pleasing. It really does leap off the page. That central love triangle delights a modern audience just as it must have shocked and delighted an audience back in the 1930s."
THE 12 main characters are below - but which one is murdered and who is the murderer?
A man struggling in Malaya failing as a manager of a plantation. He longs to return to Gull's point and has struck up a pen pal relationship with Mary to try to get back onside with Lady Tressilian. He also seems to be hiding some secrets from childhood.
A playboy kind of guy at the hotel, who looks like he knows how to have a good time. Khalil says: "One of the main themes is idle time – idle time is the devil’s play thing, as they say. Rich people have a lot of that. It’s a simple story about a murder that gets more and more complicated. It’s like hypnosis, it really holds you."
Lady Tressilian is the matriarch of a very disjointed, unruly family. Anjelica describes her as "Domineering, calculating and iconoclastic." She does not suffer fools and is running the show the way a man would or at least, she’s attempting to.
Audrey moved to Gull’s Point when she was a kid because she was an orphan. Her and Nevile were together from a really early age but it was a sibling relationship that turned into something romantic.
At the start of the series we meet Audrey as she’s filed for divorce from her marriage.
Ella says: "She’s very much a woman wronged. I think she’s in pursuit of her freedom because they have a very toxic, twisted, exhausting relationship dynamic."
A star tennis player who loves the ladies. Described by some of the show makers as the " David Beckham of his time". When we meet Nevile, he and wife Audrey are going through a very public, humiliating divorce. But it is not long before he is married again with Kay who he had an affair with. The three of them are all together at Gull's point and three is definitely a crowd in this case.
He worms his way into Neville’s life during his divorce and becomes his personal valet. A man of few words, it’s all quite enigmatic and mysterious and he seems to be hiding a secret or two.
Kay is Nevile’s new wife who loves being the centre of attention with him. But she is less impressed with Gull's point as a honeymoon venue, especially with Audrey there. Mimi says: "Kay is more worldly than people perceive her. She has life experience. Kay gets a lot thrown at her and stands strong."
Treves is the lawyer of this upper-class family and a man of generational wealth. He knows the family secrets, knows where the money is hidden, and he also knows who wants what. He has also acted as the confidante of the head of the family, Lady Tressilian.
Expelled from school and brought to Devon by Mr Treves so he can keep an eye on her. Another mysterious character in the mix.
A very interesting police character, a sensitive soul with great depth. Rhys says: "His trauma from the First World War has isolated him to such a degree that he is very much on the outside....that gives him great advantages as a police inspector to look in and observe what is happening around him."
She’s the daughter of Lady Tressilian’s oldest friend and is Lady Tressilian’s companion, though there is some tension between the pair, When we meet her she is in a place of real frustration, life feels like it has passed her by a little bit. Anjana says: "You feel like there are two paths Mary can go on in the beginning of the story."
The long suffering and hard working housekeeper for Lady Tressilian. Kept very busy by the family with their daily needs.
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