Towards Zero review: A love triangle turns deadly in atmospheric Agatha Christie

But that is the cross Kay Elliot (Mimi Keene) must bear. Her husband, tennis star and cad Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), informs her that they won't be jetting off to balmy climes, but will instead go to his childhood home Gull's Point, on the Devonshire coast, where his newly divorced wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) will also be summering.

Poor Kay, you might be thinking. But she knew full well that he had a wife when turning up to his tennis matches and fluttering her eyelashes in his direction.

Nevile and Audrey were sort of like the "Posh and Becks" of their day, impossible to ignore, and the fallout from their severing played out in full view of the public in the papers and a very dramatic court hearing.

So, karma really is the breeze in your hair on the weekend (spent at Gull's Point), as Taylor Swift so eloquently puts it.

The stately coastal home belongs to Nevile's aunt Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston), who, despite spending most of her days holed up in bed – she'd be right at home in a Jim Cartwright play – is a domineering figure who doesn't suffer fools gladly.

But occasionally, she ventures over to the window to take some fresh air as she casts her eye over the water, where many a swimmer on their jollies has drowned after becoming caught in the rip.

Her own husband also drowned in those very waters, leaving her to preside over a "brood of vipers", as she calls them.

Audrey, who was orphaned at age 11, eventually found herself at Gull's Point, where she and Nevile quickly became inseparable, their bond turning romantic, much to the ire of Nevile's cousin Thomas Royde (Jack Farthing), who was once in love with Audrey.

He turns up unexpectedly on their first evening there, having been invited by Lady Tressilian's "paid" companion Mary (Anjana Vasan), despite her employer's strict instruction not to.

They have been writing to one another for months, but while she's under the impression that their correspondence will eventually lead to romance, he's returned to seek a large cash injection from his aunt for his failing rubber plant in Malaya.

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Other characters present in this grisly yarn include Lady Tressilian's long-time lawyer and keeper of the family secrets Mr Treves (Clarke Peters), his young ward Sylvia (Grace Doherty), a kleptomaniac, Nevile's new valet Mac (Adam Hugill), who has posture to rival Joe Hart's, the housekeeper of many decades Mrs Barrett (Jackie Clune), and the elusive Louis Morel (Khalil Gharbia), who we first meet at the debaucherous Easterhead Bay Hotel, which sits opposite Gull's Point.

And of course, no Agatha Christie would be complete without the hound who solves the case, in this instance Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys), a former soldier who has the black dog on his shoulder.

But there's no murder to speak of in the first episode, which, while not entirely without precedent, does upend what people typically come to expect from an Agatha Christie adaptation, a decision which lends itself well to ratcheting up the tension, notch by notch, to almost unbearable levels.

"The murder is the end. The story begins long before, years before, when the murder is seeded – the point zero, if you will."

Luxuriating or dragging? Probably a bit of both.

Towards Zero is only three episodes, but it stretches out the story as much as is feasibly possible, at times to great effect, while on other occasions it has a sort of lumbering quality and can lack propulsion.

Some of that stems from Leach, who clearly has PTSD from serving in the First World War, long before PTSD was even a recognised condition, and as such lacks the pep and sparkle of a Marple or Poirot, which initially heaves the whole thing down.

But a sizeable development puts a rocket up his backside, so to speak, and we see a much more spirted, dogged detective in the final act.

Two dramatic, well-deployed cliffhangers also compel you to keep watching, as does the central question of 'whodunnit?' given the plethora of suspects, each with solid motives for carrying out murder.

The cast, too, give a good account of themselves. Keene has perfected the art of the sad, sulky, scorned woman, while Jackson-Cohen is particularly delicious as odious cake-eater Nevile.

The sizzling psychological warfare that plays out between the tennis player, Audrey and Kay is great fun and delivers the drama's best and naughtiest moment.

Nevile and Audrey can't help but be dragged back into one another's orbit, the gravitational pull simply too strong to ignore – almost like those swimmers who are routinely sucked into the water's rip – much to Kay's increasing fury.

Farthing, too, continues to impress with his performance as the disturbed Thomas Royde, who is perennially suffocated by a deeply troubling event from his childhood at Gull's Point, often resorting to striking himself in moments when he feels like he's not being listened to.

It is arguably the most demanding of the roles, and it's hard to imagine anyone other than Farthing nailing the acute intensity it demands.

But unsurprisingly, it's Anjelica Huston's Lady Tressilian who, despite being largely bed-ridden (we certainly never see her standing up), steals the show.

Huston has a commanding presence that fills every inch of the screen, her face as compelling to look at now, aged 73, as it was 30 years ago.

That's also emphasised by director Sam Yates's decision to employ close-up shots, emphasising the power that she wields over her subjects, so to speak, as they're summoned to her quarters by bell pull.

Towards Zero is beautifully and artfully shot. It's a sophisticated, atmospheric, adult piece of television that long-time fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy.

But for younger viewers coming to Agatha Christie for the first time, while there's much to appreciate, there might not be much here to excite; it's pretty by-the-numbers stuff plot-wise.

It's also yet another drama that centres the unsavoury tendencies of the uber privileged, as seen in The White Lotus, The Perfect Couple, Industry, Succession. The list goes on.

"I don't like them. These people, this place, they make my throat hurt," Sylvia says solemnly during a conversation with Leach. Yes, we've long felt the same.

But after a disappointing showing with 2023's Murder Is Easy, the BBC's love affair with Agatha Christie is back on track.

Towards Zero premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 2nd March 2025.

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