Towards Zero: Stylish Agatha Christie miniseries carries on great tradition

A century after Agatha Christie published her first novel, the grand dame of detective fiction is still searingly relevant.

Christie had a way with words, for sure, she wrote with precision and propulsion, but peppered with little observations about her characters and their context, but it was what she revealed about human nature that has endured.

Technology changes, trends shift and time marches on, but people are still driven by the same passions, jealousies, ambitions and pain. What Christie wrote so long ago can feel contemporary – it’s not as though we’ve solved the dynamics and issues that inspire people to crime.

For the past decade, most years, one of the British broadcasters will mount a splashy, starry three-part miniseries of Christie’s work. This year, that’s Towards Zero, adapted from a 1944 novel.

The big names include Matthew Rhys, Anjelica Huston, Clarke Peters and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, with the ensemble rounded out by Mimi Keen (Sex Education), Anjana Vasan (Wicked Little Letters), Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves) and Jack Farthing (Poldark).

The story mostly takes place in the seaside mansion of Lady Tressilian (Huston), whose home has been opened to visitors including Neville Strange (Jackson-Cohen), a famed tennis player whose name was recently splashed all over the papers.

Neville was sensationally sued for divorce by his now ex-wife Audrey after she discovered his adulterous affair with now-wife Kay (Keene). Neville has taken Kay to Lady Tressilian’s home with the promise of beaching, relaxing and dancing, but also agreed to have Audrey holiday there at the same time.

It’s awkward, to be sure, especially as it seems things with Audrey aren’t as finished as they should be. Also present are Lady Tressilian’s companion Mary (Vasan), her solicitor Mr Treves (Peters), his ward Sylvia (Grace Doherty), unwelcome cousin Thomas (Farthing) and Inspector Leach (Rhys), a depressive cop haunted by his experiences during World War I.

It wouldn’t be a Christie story if murder most foul wasn’t about to strike – and it does, twice – with a pool of suspects who all have secrets, as well as motives for the crimes.

Towards Zero is a clever puzzle box and one of Christie’s twistier conclusions. There are layers upon layers of plotting, red herrings and subterfuge. Unless you’re already familiar with the story, it really does spin you around until the delicious reveal.

As an adaptation, this miniseries is darker and, at times, more gothic and prone to shadows than previous versions, including a 2007 episode of Marple which inserted the titular sleuth into the proceedings.

Here, Leach is the main detective, with recurring Christie character Superintendent Battle excised from the narrative. Rhys is effective with his interpretation of a character burdened by survivors guilt, but whose keen senses are still clearly operating.

The series also changed the location of the ending from onboard a boat to the tennis court, with the back-and-forth volley of the ball heightening the tension until Leach gets his killer.

It’s a stylish series with sumptuous visuals and lush production design, as well as performances bordering on arch, but pitched perfectly for a Christie mystery. There’s also a thematic throughline that, without spoiling anything, will feel mighty relevant still.

Writer Rachel Bennette and director Sam Yates are good stewards for Christie’s work, and carries on a tradition by many filmmakers in recognising the power that still exists within her pages.

In the back half of the 2010s, it was writer Sarah Phelps who penned a slate of Christie miniseries, including The Witness for the Prosecution, The Pale Horse, Ordeal By Innocence, The ABC Murders and And Then There Were None.

These adaptations were high-end and brought out a different, more ominous vibe to the “cosy crime” of the Marple and Poirot TV shows. And Then There Were None was properly gothic, the claustrophobia of the island closing in on the characters and the viewers.

Phelps’ approach grated some traditionalists and more recently, Murder is Easy and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans leaned back into cosy but Towards Zero was somewhere in between.

For the most part, adapters of Christie’s work have tended to be faithful because they recognise that it doesn’t serve you to mess with it too much.

Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express took his characters off the train for the dramatic reveal and dissipated the tension, so it never hit the highs of Sidney Lumet’s 1974 version.

Branagh ran into more problems with Death on the Nile, some of which had less to do with the text and more to do with star Armie Hammer’s off-screen scandal. He had better luck with A Haunting in Venice, which departed quite a bit from the book by transporting the action from England to Venice but then made spectacular use of the new surrounds.

There are more Christie movies to come, according to a 2024 interview with 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell, just as there will be more TV adaptations, stage productions and more.

The Christie industry is live and well, as it should be.

Towards Zero is streaming on Britbox