Latest news with #TowardsZero
Daily Mirror
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
BBC period drama based on best-selling novel of all time hailed as 'masterpiece'
The TV adaptation of best-selling crime novel And Then There Were None was first broadcast nearly a decade ago and now fans have been tuning into the series on BBC iPlayer The telly adaptation of And Then There Were None, which first aired ten years ago, has been dubbed the "best ever" by viewers who have recently tuned into the series available on BBC iPlayer. The Agatha Christie "masterpiece" was first published in 1939 and has seen a number of adaptations over the last 86 years. As one of the best-selling novels of all time, it remains one of Agatha Christie 's most beloved works. Her captivating whodunnit has sold a staggering 100 million copies worldwide. And Then There Were None has inspired countless adaptations, significantly influencing the crime and mystery genres. Now, fans are rediscovering BBC One's 2015 adaptation of the Agatha Christie classic - a three-part series which boasts a star-studded British cast including Poldark actor, Aidan Turner, who portrays Charles. It comes after the BBC dropped all episodes of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero earlier this year. The storyline involves 10 strangers - among them a sickly judge, Justice Lawrence Wargrave (Charles), a shady mercenary, Philip Lombard (Aidan Turner), a Bible-thumping spinster, Miss Emily Brent (Miranda Richardson), and a troubled Harley Street doctor, Edward Armstrong (Toby Stephens) - invited to a party on an isolated island off the Devon coast. Also featuring in the series are Douglas Booth, Anna Maxwell Martin, Burn Gorman and Sam Neill. As the group anticipates the arrival of their hosts - Mr and Mrs UN Owen - the weather takes a dramatic turn, leaving the 10 guests stranded on the Devon coast, reports the Express. The guests are murdered one by one, following the nursery rhyme Ten Little Soldier Boys that is displayed in every room. The rhyme concludes with the words: "... and then there were none." Viewers continue to heap praise on the programme which debuted in 2015 and boasts an impressive 91 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. One fan gushed: "Absolutely brilliant! Fantastic performances on all counts. A must-see mystery series." Another declared: "Possibly one of the best ensemble casts I've seen put together. This was thrilling, beautifully shot, incredibly well done. Loved it. "Love this so much I've watched it countless times. Some very well known faces and excellent acting, especially from Aidan Turner who to be fair is great at everything he does. Love the island and the feel of it. Can't fault it at all," a third enthusiast shared. A fourth viewer proclaimed: "And There Was None is a great twisted psychological thriller that trick us and that captivates the spectator since the first moment. Original and unpredictable are the best words to describe this Agatha Christie's masterpiece." Voicing their appreciation, a fifth declared: "Hands down the best adaptation of Agatha Christie."
Scroll.in
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
How Agatha Christie's mid-century ‘manosphere' reveals a different kind of dysfunctional male
Agatha Christie, a middle-class English crime writer who preferred to be known as a housewife, is the world's bestselling novelist. Since her death in 1976, her work has been translated into over 100 languages and adapted for cinema, TV and even video games. Her writing is characterised by its cheerful readability and ruthless dissection of hypocrisy, greed and respectability. Christie is fascinated by power and its abuse, and explores this through the skilful deployment of recognisable character types. The suspects in her books are not just there for the puzzle – they also exemplify the attitudes, ideals and assumptions that shaped 20th-century British society. Christie's men If we want to know about the mid-century 'manosphere', then, there is no better place to look than in the fiction of Agatha Christie. What did masculinity mean to this writer, and would we recognise it in the gender types and ideals of today? Some answers might be found through the recent BBC adaptation of Towards Zero, which confronts viewers with a range of dysfunctional male types. Chief among these is Thomas Royde, a neurotic twitching figure driven to breakdown by the shame of having his word doubted. Gaslit by his pathologically perfect cousin Nevile, Thomas has been dispatched to the colonies, where he has compounded his injuries through financial failure. Broke and broken, the adaptation imagines him returning to the family home with trauma quite literally written on his body. This is not the Thomas Royde of Christie's original 1944 novel. That figure was stoic, silent and perfectly capable of managing his failure to live up to the spectacular masculinity of cousin Nevile. Christie's Thomas may have regretted his romantic losses and physical limitations, but the idea of exposing his pain in public would have horrified him. This is not a case of repression; rather, it speaks to a world in which pain is respected, but simply not discussed. Thomas's friends, we are told, 'had learned to gauge his reactions correctly from the quality of his silences'. The stoical man of few words is a recurrent type within Christie's fiction. It's a mode of masculinity of which she approves – even while poking fun at it – and one recognised by her mid-20th century audience. These are men who embody ideal British middle-class values: steady, reliable, resilient, modest, good-humoured and infinitely sensible. They find their fictional reward in happy unions, sometimes with sensible women, sometimes with bright young things who benefit from their calm assurance. Christie also depicted more dangerous male types – attractive adventurers who might be courageous, or reckless and deadly. These charismatic figures present a troubling mode of masculinity in her fiction, from the effortlessly charming Ralph in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) to Michael Rogers, the all too persuasive narrator of Endless Night (1967). Superficially, these two types of men might be mapped onto Christie's own experiences. Her autobiography suggests that she was irresistibly drawn to something strange and inscrutable in her first husband, Archie. By contrast, her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan, brought friendship and shared interests. Yet while it's possible to see biographical resonances in these types, it is equally important to recognise them as part of a middle-class world view that sets limits on acceptable masculinities. In my book, Agatha Christie: A Very Short Introduction, I explore these limits, examining a cultural climate riven with contradictions. A different time Mid-20th century culture insisted that men be articulate when discussing public matters – science, politics, sport – but those who extended this to the emotions were not to be trusted. They were seen to be glib, foolish or possibly dangerous. British masculinity acts rather than talks and does a decent job of work. As a result, work itself is a vital dimension of man-making in Christie's novels, and in the fiction of contemporaries like Nigel Balchin, Hammond Innes and Nevil Shute. These writers witnessed the conflicting pressures on men, expected to be both soldiers and citizens, capable of combat and domestic breadwinning. They saw the damage caused by war, unemployment and the loss of father figures. But the answer wasn't talking. Rather, the best medicine for wounded masculinity was the self-respect that comes with doing a good day's work. This ideology still resonates within understandings of 'healthy' masculinity, but there are limits to the problems that can be solved through a companionable post-work pint. Which brings us back to the BBC's Towards Zero. Contemporary adaptations often speak to the preoccupations of their moment, and the plot is driven by one man's all-consuming hatred of his ex-wife. With apologies for plot spoilers, perfect Nevile turns out to be a perfect misogynist, scheming against the woman who has – to his mind – humiliated him. But the world of his hatred is a long way from the online 'manosphere' of our contemporary age. Quite aside from the technological gulf separating the eras, Christie does not imagine misogyny as an abusive mass phenomenon, a set of echo chambers which figure men as the victims of feminism. Rather, Nevile, like all Christie's murderers, kills for reasons that can clearly be defined, detected and articulated: he is an isolated madman, not a cultural phenomenon. Towards Zero 's topicality – its preoccupation with celebrity, resentment of women and a manipulative gaslighting villain – does much to explain its adaptation, but it does not account for the radical revision of Thomas Royde. Is it an indication that stoicism is out of fashion? Or simply a desire to convert Christie's cool-tempered fictions into melodramas appropriate for a social-media age? Whatever the thinking, there is a familiar consolation for Thomas's pain. He might not get the girl of his dreams, but he does get something better: a steady, reliable woman whose modest virtues illustrate that, in Christie's world, 'ideal masculinity' is unexpectedly non-binary. Women can be just as stoic, reserved and resilient as men. Christie's 'manosphere', then, has its share of haters, but they are isolated figures forced to disguise their resentments. They also frequently meet untimely ends – another reason why Christie remains a bestseller to this day.
Daily Mirror
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I'm a chemist - Agatha Christie wrote one murder plot better than any other'
A new book, V for Venom, by a chemist-turned-author Kathryn Harkup reveals why Agatha Christie 's poison plots were so accurate – and why we still can't get enough of a good cosy murder mystery story There's nothing the British public enjoys more than a good murder – on TV, of course! Whether it's re-runs of Hercule Poirot, brilliantly played by David Suchet, Miss Marple, or Angelica Houston in the new BBC Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero, everyone loves a good murder mystery. Queen of Murder Dame Agatha Christie is probably the best-selling author of all time. Churning out 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, she also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap. And her stories have been made into at least 23 films, including Death On the Nile and Murder On The Orient Express, as well being adapted into numerous TV series. According to a new book, among her many, imaginative ways of 'doing in' her victims, poisoning was a favourite choice, Kathryn Harkup, author of V is Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death, says it was her use of poisons - both to add intrigue to plots and to murder victims with - that put Christie head and shoulders above other writers during the Golden Age of detective fiction. 'Christie did use an awful lot of guns, stabbing, blunt objects, strangulation to kill her characters – she went through the entire range,' says Kathryn, 47, of Guildford, Surrey. 'But I think she is exceptional in her use of poisons, because she was a chemist and also such a prolific writer that she used so many different examples in her books.' Born in Torquay, Devon, in 1890, Agatha Christie volunteered during the First World War as a nurse and later trained as a dispenser. Drugs didn't come ready packaged in those days, says Kathryn, they had to be measured, mixed together and processed, according to doctors' prescriptions. And her dispensing experience was clear in Christie's writing, as she always quoted quantities of poisons in grains throughout her stories, as she was not a fan of the modern measuring system. 'The great danger of the metric system', she said, 'is that if you go wrong, you go 10 times wrong.' It's more than a century since Christie wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, which she penned in 1916 but was published in 1920. Many of her novels were written in the 1930s – a decade that, in our collective imagination, is synonymous with the author. Kathryn writes: 'The world Christie created is perhaps a little more detached from horrible reality than others. But, again, many other writers have done the same, blotting their charming chocolate-box sceneries.' She quotes US writer Raymond Chandler, who said: 'All crime fiction has to have an element of detachment from the real world, otherwise, it would only be written and read by psychopaths.' Kathryn feels Christie expertly wove the glamour of decades like the 1930s into her gripping murder plots, to draw readers in. And her attention to detail when setting the scene is what has made her appeal so enduring. She adds: 'I think there is this huge nostalgia for that era (the 1930s) with all these beautiful clothes and cars and gorgeous art deco buildings – even though Christie was writing books right into the 1970s. When you read her stories she is much more contemporary when writing. 'However it's the backdrop of glamour that increases our detachment from the horror of what is a murder. So you can just sit there and enjoy it as a puzzle and have a nice afternoon on the sofa with a cup of tea and read about a gory murder.' A trained chemist, Kathryn is endlessly impressed by the accuracy of Christie's use of poisons in her plots - although, readers can breathe easy, as many of the toxic tinctures she uses are no longer available. She says: 'What has changed since the 1970s is accessibility – you just can't get hold of the stuff that Christie's writing about very easily. 'Also, methods of detection are far, far superior these days, as well as medical treatment. People who are poisoned are much more likely to survive. And so you have attempted murder rather than actual murder.' Historically, poisons were a very popular way to kill people off, as these kind of homicides were so difficult to prove. Many killers got away with murder for years. Kathryn explains: 'It was in the Victorian era that people decided to do something about this and establish some protocols and some tests that can find these poisons and show evidence to a jury.' She also cites infamous trials in the past where murderers were clearly inspired by Christie – and tried to get away with their crimes. READ MORE: 'I found priceless treasure rummaging on UK riverbank - and there's more out there' 'In 1977 there was a case of atropine poisoning in France,' says Kathryn. 'As soon as they raided Roland Roussel's flat they found a copy of Christie's book, The Tuesday Murder Club, with heavy underlinings and the spine broken on the appropriate page.' The case of the Hay Poisoner in 1921 also had all the ingredients of a Christie murder mystery story, when a respectable Hay-On-Wye solicitor Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong was found guilty of murdering his wife Kitty with arsenic. Nine months after his wife's death from supposed gastritis, heart disease and inflammation of the kidneys, her body was exhumed after her husband was accused of poisoning a rival solicitor. Police found her corpse with arsenic, and when police arrested the Major they discovered a twist of the same poison in his pocket, which he claimed he used to control dandelions in the garden. Major Armstrong was sent to the gallows on May 31, 1922.'But the most recent is probably serial killer Graham Young, also known as the Teacup Poisoner, who was convicted several times for poisoning people, but in 1972, was locked up for murdering his victims with thallium. 'It was a very prominent case and Christie got mentioned in the actual trial because they thought she might have inspired him. Although, to be fair, Young didn't need inspiration, he was well and truly down that path already.' While incarcerated in Broadmoor, the tale took another murderous twist, because one of Young's fellow inmates died of cyanide poisoning. Young had been heard many times saying how cyanide could be extracted from laurel leaves, and as it was noted, the grounds around the psychiatric institution were covered with laurel bushes. In fact, you'd be surprised how many plant species in the UK are absolutely toxic, such as yew tree, foxglove and the cuckoo pint, along with those which have have suitably evil sounding names such as poison hemlock and deadly nightshade. Which must make a walk in the countryside very worrying for a chemist. 'I do walk past things like cow parsley and wonder, 'Oh is that cow parsley or is it hemlock, because they look very similar.' And she tells the story of how she went into a cafe – and went pale when she saw the flowers they had used to decorate the counter. 'The cafe had fresh flowers on top of their little cake display counter and one day I went in and they had monkshood in the vase. I asked the person behind the counter if they were real, and she rubbed her fingers on the leaves and said, 'Yeah they're real.' 'You can absorb that stuff through your fingers, but you've actually got to eat it to be dangerous. However monkshood shouldn't be put that close to food.' And there are many everyday foods we eat which could kill us if we ate them in large enough quantities. 'Sweet almonds are fine, but bitter almonds contain cyanide,' says Kathryn. 'I was once doing a panel once and a man got concerned because he loved marzipan and liked to eat chunks of it. 'I could see him just getting paler and paler as I described the use of almonds. So, to reassure him, I worked out the lethal dose of marzipan, which was about the size of a Labrador – plus you'd have to eat it all in one sitting. 'Apple pips and cherry pips too – they contain cyanide,' she adds. 'I also worked out the lethal dose of apple pips, it's about 200 grams. And you'd really have to crunch it up, because the cyanide compound is inside the pip and it's protected by a tough coating.' Christie also had ingenious ways in her books of making sure the right person was poisoned. 'She would pick a particular food item that only one person at the table likes, or is likely to eat. For example, in her book, A Pocketful of Rye, the person that they want dead is the only person who's going to eat the poisoned marmalade. 'And, of course, there were also antidotes, so the murderer could save themselves later.' But Christie herself was also inspired by one of our earliest and most famous true crime murder cases. Dr Crippen poisoned his wife Cora in 1910 with hyoscine then dismembered her body, and Christie based her book The Moving Finger on his crimes. As someone who is herself an expert on poisons, Kathryn revealed how she would use one. 'I would go into a very detailed history of their medical conditions, their dietary habits and I would tailor it to them, because the thing you've got to avoid is an autopsy,' the author muses. 'Forensic toxicologists are phenomenally good at their job. You've gotta mimic natural causes, because if it goes to the autopsy stage, it's game over.' Lucky, while the science may be accurate, her poison plot is purely fictional! • Kathryn Harkup's book V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death is published by Bloomsbury on June 19 Agatha Christie's library of poisons Anthrax - infection caused by Bacillus anthracis bacteria which is found naturally in soil Arsenic - naturally occurring metal element known for its toxicity Cyanide - extremely poisonous toxic liquid Curare - plant-derived poison known for causing muscle paralysis Gelsemine - highly toxic plant derivative that can cause death Nitroglycerin – a type of nitrate that relaxes blood vessels but too much causes death Ricin - chemical poison which can be made from waste material left over from Strychnine - white, odourless, bitter crystalline powder and strong poison
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Outlander's Final Season: Everything We Know So Far
Warm up those bagpipes, because Outlander is about to start playing its swan song. Starz's time-travel drama will come to a conclusion with its upcoming eighth and final season, a 10-episode run that will bring the ballad of Jamie and Claire to its resting place. Which storylines from Diana Gabaldon's books will make the cut? Which characters (aside from Himself and Herself) will be back? And when the heck will we be able to watch it?! More from TVLine Power Book III: Raising Kanan to End With Season 5 - But Is This the Final Chapter for the Starz Franchise? Towards Zero Is Glamorous, Gorgeous and Sneakily Sexy - Here Are 5 Reasons to Check Out BritBox's New Agatha Christie Series Blood of My Blood: Summer Premiere Date Set for Outlander Prequel Series Outlander Cast Photos: Behind the Scenes View List Dinna fash, Sassenachs: We've filled the list below with all the available intel about Outlander Season 8. We'll update it the moment there's any news, so make sure to check back often. And once you've scrolled through, hit the comments with your thoughts/feelings/opinions/hopes for the show's last season! Outlander's final season does not yet have a premiere date, but we'll be sure to update this post as soon as Starz announces one. Some context: The bulk of Season 8 filming wrapped in September 2024, though several cast members filmed reshoots shortly after. And in March 2025, series star Sam Heughan announced via Instagram that he'd just finished 'the last ADR' (aka re-recording dialogue that wasn't captured clearly during filming) on the series finale. Yes, Season 8 will be the time-travel drama's final run of episodes. Starz announced the series' ending in January 2023. 'It's been an incredible journey,' Heughan said in a video released at the time of the announcement. 'Thank you so much for being with us since Day 1,' series star Caitríona Balfe added. Since its start, Outlander has covered roughly one book in Diana Gabaldon's novel series per season. So it reasons that Season 8 would follow the events of Book 8, Written in My Own Heart's Blood. However, given that Gabladon has published Book 9 (Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone) and is working on Book 10, there's a good chance Season 8 will include storylines from all of the above. Co-showrunner Matthew B. Roberts says the guidelines for Season 8 were 'Nothing that doesn't affect Jamie and Claire gets in. It's gotta affect Jamie and Claire. All the main characters do — they're a part of it — but that's the drive. There's so many aspects. I mean, they're all big books. There's things where you kind of go over here, and you go over here — that's what makes the books so readable and fun. But when you have 10 episodes, you have to stay literally on track.' One plot that is not in the novels but will be addressed at the top of the final season: The Season 7 finale cliffhanger of whether Claire and Jamie's daughter, Faith, somehow survived what we thought was her stillbirth in Season 2. Roberts promises that fans will have that point cleared up 'visually' in the upcoming season. On the MacKenzie side of things, might Brianna and Roger have another baby in Season 8, like they do in Go Tell the Bees? 'As you know, we sometimes stick to the books, and we sometimes don't,' Skelton told TVLine coyly in February. 'But I think it would be great if they had another child. And wearing the fake pregnancy bumps is super fun, so sign me up.' Though Starz has not yet released an official cast list, we have it on good authority that Heughan, Balfe, Sophie Skelton, Richard Rankin, John Bell, Charles Vandervaart and David Berry will be back for the final season. Someone who won't return for the series' swan song is Kristen Atherton, who played Jamie's sister, Jenny, in Season 7. Though Jenny eventually joins her brother and his family in America in the novels, Roberts said time constraints meant making some tough cuts for Season 8. 'With 10 episodes,' he explained, 'there's a lot less you can do.' Along those lines, Tobias Menzies — who played Claire's husband, Frank, and his villainous forebear Jonathan 'Black Jack' Randall — also will not return, TVLine reported exclusively in March 2024. 'They're going to bring it home magnificently, I'm sure,' Menzies added. You'll be able to watch Outlander Season 8 on Starz and the Starz app. Starz has not yet released a trailer for Season 8. The moment that footage is available, we'll make sure to post it here. While you're waiting, entertain yourself with this behind-the-scenes video from our Season 7 TVLine x SheKnows cover shoot with Balfe, Heughan, Bell, Rankin and Skelton. You can find past seasons of Outlander on the Starz app and on-demand. Yes! The prequel Outlander: Blood of My Blood will premiere on Starz later this summer. For all the details on that series, which follows Jamie's and Claire's parents, make sure to check out our up-to-the-minute Everything We Know post. Outlander Season 8 will consist of 10 episodes. Best of TVLine Young Sheldon Easter Eggs: Every Nod to The Big Bang Theory (and Every Future Reveal) Across 7 Seasons Weirdest TV Crossovers: Always Sunny Meets Abbott, Family Guy vs. Simpsons, Nine-Nine Recruits New Girl and More ER Turns 30: See the Original County General Crew, Then and Now
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
BBC & BritBox Unveil Latest Agatha Christie Adaptation
The BBC and BritBox International have landed on Endless Night as their latest Agatha Christie adaptation from Sarah Phelps. Set in 1967, the book is neither a Poirot or a Marple but follows man-of-many-trades Michael Rogers, who finds himself working as chauffeur for the enigmatic designer du jour Rudolf Santonix. Transfixed by Santonix's latest project, a beautiful house in the English countryside, Mike dreams of meeting the love of his life and taking up residence. But unbeknownst to Mike, the house that he has set his heart on has a dark past that goes back for centuries. More from Deadline 'Virdee' Creator A A Dhand Reveals The Unlikely Hero That Inspired Him To "Fail Forwards" During A Decade Of Rejection Legacy Media? UK Pubcasters Balk At Outdated Term & Say "We've Got To Be Phoenixes Rising From The Ashes" No Pope Yet: Vatican Conclave Blows Black Smoke On 1st Day Of Vote For New Pontiff The show is the latest in a long succession of Christie adaptations on the BBC and BritBox from Phelps and ITV Studios-owned Mammoth Screen, with the latest being Towards Zero starring Anjelica Huston. Fifth Season is selling worldwide. Phelps said: 'One of Agatha Christie's last novels, this is a chilling story of love, sex, deceit and death, of how far we'll go to get our hearts desire and what we'll do when night falls and the wolves start circling.' The news comes in the week the BBC unveiled an AI Agatha Christie, forged to teach a paid writing course on its BBC Maestro platform. The AI Christie was created with the blessing of the author's great grandson James Prichard, who runs Agatha Christie Limited. Endless Night (3×60') is produced by Mammoth Screen (part of ITV Studios) and Agatha Christie Limited, and is a co-commission between the BBC and BritBox International. Executive producers are Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Rebecca Durbin and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Phelps, Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC, and Robert Schildhouse, Jon Farrar and Stephen Nye for BritBox. Filming on Endless Night will take place later this year and casting will be announced in due course. The series will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, and on BritBox in the U.S. and Canada. Best of Deadline Book-To-Movie Adaptations Coming Out In 2025 TV Show Book Adaptations Arriving In 2025 So Far Everything We Know About 'Emily In Paris' Season 5 So Far
