Towards Zero
                                                                                              
Director: Sam Yates
Year: 2026
Rating: 6.5
It only took Miss Marple 80-minutes to solve the murders in the Geraldine McEwan TV series. But this BBC adaptation of the 1944 Agatha Christie novel is three hours in length. And there is no Miss Marple. As it should be. The novel has no Miss Marple but its setting in a large estate among the idle rich certainly fits either Poirot or Marple. The TV series squeezes her in. Instead, in the book it is Superintendent Battle, a recurring character in her books. Who is nowhere to be seen in the BBC version. Christie loved staging her murders in the world of the indolent wealthy and then tearing them down, character by character. But never as much as this. These are as unpleasant a group of characters as you will find outside of a box of vipers. Christie would normally have a sympathetic character for the reader to hope wasn't the killer, but not here.



That is perhaps my issue with this three-part series. They all deserved to go to hell. Having seen the Miss Marple version, I knew who the victims would be and who their killer was. That made it feel a bit stretched. The first murder doesn't even take place till the second episode. This group of odious people have gathered for a holiday at the estate of Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston). There is the Wimbledon champion, his current wife, his ex-wife, a relative from Malaysia, the family lawyer, the companion and a gigolo. All despicable in their own way. One thing that made me feel good is that they show the tennis player on the court. I think I could have beaten him in my prime. Terrible strokes and stays back on grass.



Someone is eventually murdered, but it isn't Battle who shows up but Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys), who is suffering from PTSD and has become a drunk and suicidal. Of course, all he needs to shape up is a murder or two to solve. And a young girl. Beautifully shot in Devon with a fine cast. BBC has produced a number of very good Christie adaptations over the past few years - And Then There Were None, The Witness for the Prosecution, Ordeal by Innocence, The ABC Murders and Murder is Easy. Add this one to it though with a few reservations.  Christie just keeps going. There is also a French version of the book.