Latest news with #Nevile
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Agatha Christie's novel Towards Zero revived as racy miniseries
Agatha Christie is one of those writers whose books have launched a thousand adaptations. OK, if not a thousand, then at least enough to sustain decades of interest — in some cases, about a clear century. The latest spin on Christie's work comes from overseas. British public broadcaster BBC has updated her 1944 novel Towards Zero for modern audiences, and the three-part series started streaming internationally April 16 on BritBox. Set in 1936 England, it digs in as tennis star Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and his ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland), decide to spend a summer together at Gull's Point, the seaside estate of Nevile's widowed aunt, Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston), who is bedridden and revising her will. An innocent respite it is not. The trip is actually Nevile's honeymoon with his new wife, Kay (Mimi Keene), making for an uneasy — and scandalous — love triangle. One sequence on a staircase was enough to prompt the Daily Mail headline 'BBC viewers left stunned by 'filthy' X-rated scene.' Elsewhere there are rich house guests behaving badly, in the vein of HBO's The White Lotus. F-bombs are detonated in a very un-Christie-like manner. Huston delivers withering, precisely pitched dialogue. And yes, to channel another famous English writer, there is murder most foul. That murder happens much later than you'd expect, as it does in the novel. In fact, narrator Mr. Treves (Clarke Peters), says at the start, 'The murder is the end. The story begins long before, years before, when the murder is seeded — the point zero, if you will.' Naturally, the events bring Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys), into the mix. The detective is a fusion of two characters from the novel — Leach and his uncle, Superintendent Battle — who is traumatized from his time as a soldier in the First World War. The miniseries, directed by Sam Yates, is visually sumptuous. The polish of period costumes and upper-class rituals contrast with the backdrop of the Devonshire coast. The performances are top tier. But the true allure of Towards Zero lies in its source material: Christie's 81-year-old novel. Why does the author's work continue to draw audiences today? Christie's great-grandson, James Pritchard, offered his take in a BBC interview to promote the miniseries. 'Because the stories are genius, and genius plots and stories stand the test of time,' he said. 'The premise of them all is very modern — she basically writes about people, and people haven't changed in any serious way. So the preoccupations of people in the 1930s are not dissimilar to the preoccupations or motivations of people now.'
BBC News
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC releases trailer and announces launch date for Agatha Christie's Towards Zero
The BBC has announced the launch date and released the trailer and new artwork for Agatha Christie's Towards Zero. All episodes of the three-part drama will arrive on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Sunday 2 March, with episodes airing weekly on BBC One from 9pm that night. Based on the classic mystery by the best-selling author of all time, Agatha Christie, the series has been adapted for screen by BAFTA-nominated Rachel Bennette (NW) and directed by the Olivier Award-winning Sam Yates (Magpie). Towards Zero is made by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, in a co-commission with BritBox International. FIFTH SEASON handle global distribution. The 30-second trailer takes us to Saltcreek where we're introduced to Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston), Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys), family lawyer Mr Treves (Clarke Peters), British tennis star Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and the two ladies in his life: ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) and new wife Kay (Mimi Keene), lady's companion Mary Aldin (Anjana Vasan), the estranged Thomas Royde (Jack Farthing), Nevile's mysterious valet Mac (Adam Hugill), and Mr Treves' ward Sylvia (Grace Doherty) . England, 1936. After a scandalous celebrity divorce, Nevile Strange and his ex-wife Audrey make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull's Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile's aunt, Lady Tressilian. With unfinished business between the former childhood sweethearts, plus the presence of Nevile's new wife Kay, tensions are running high. Add to this 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. A troubled detective 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? An explosive love triangle, a formidable matriarch and a house party of enemies. All compelled… Towards Zero. Towards Zero follows 2023's hit Christie adaptation Murder is Easy, which was one of the UK's most watched new dramas of the year across all channels and streamers, averaging 7 million viewers across both parts. Agatha Christie's Towards Zero (3x60') is produced by Agatha Christie Limited and Mammoth Screen (part of ITV Studios), and is a co-commission between the BBC and BritBox International. It is adapted by Rachel Bennette, directed by Sam Yates and produced by Rebecca Durbin. Executive producers are James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Sheena Bucktowonsing and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC and Jon Farrar, Stephen Nye and Robert Schildhouse for BritBox International. Filming on Agatha Christie's Towards Zero took place in and around Bristol and on the Devon coast. The series will be available in full on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Sunday 2 March, with episodes airing weekly on BBC One from 9pm that night. Previous Agatha Christie adaptations made by Agatha Christie Limited and Mammoth Screen for the BBC are available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Watch Murder is Easy on BBC iPlayer Watch And Then There Were None on BBC iPlayer Watch The ABC Murders on BBC iPlayer Watch The Witness for the Prosecution on BBC iPlayer MF3
