Towards Zero

Being a massive reader and huge fan of murder mysteries, I have always thought: " Agatha Christie is the best crime writer." Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple have always been my favorite sleuths to be honest (never really cared for Tommy and Tupence)."Towards Zero", which actually does not have Marple as the detective and is a stand-alone mystery book, was a pretty enjoyale read for me ( don't think it's one of the better Agatha Christie books though) and the adaptation of the novel is about on the same level as the book- it's fine.

Let's go through the good aspects first.

. The production values of "Towards Zero" are great as usual. Everything looks good and the music, which creates an unsettling mood, is very haunting.

. The script and the direction have their moments. Sometimes the mystery is very compelling with some clever red herrings and okay character-work.

. The acting is mostly good too with Greg Wise giving the most intriguing performance. Geraldine McEwan, who I do not consider as the best Miss Marple (Julia Mckenzie being the best of the series by a mile), is also enjoyable in her role.

That being said...

. The pacing of "Towards Zero" is quite pedestrian indeed. In the beginning the story did not get as properly going as it should have and in the middle it dragged quite a bit.

.The dialogue was not very witty at times and the direction did not flow as fluently. That being the case with a couple of not very good- shot compositions and quite rough editing.

. Also, am I the only one, who thought: Miss Marple did not have a proper place in the story?

Overall, a decent adaptation.

6/10 HK

Geraldine MacEwan shines again in this latest installment of the updated Marple series from Britain: Marple is holidaying in Devon to visit a bedridden school chum whose family is descending upon her coastal manor. Among them are a tennis star, his first wife and his second, new wife who seem to be at odds; a meek and quiet family friend; and an apparent gigolo friend of the second wife. Add into the mix Tom Baker as an aged veteran who may or may not recognize a murderer from years past and you have a classic recipe for mystery.

The locales are picturesque and the characters as eccentric and distinct as in past episodes, however something feels very dull and pedestrian about this particular Marple outing. Perhaps because there are fewer likable characters this time round or because Miss Marple seems unusually subdued this time out.

It's worth a watch but certainly not the finest in the series.

Miss Marple is visiting an old school friend, Lady Camilla Tressilian, at her estate in Devon. Also at the estate is tennis star Neville Strange, his current wife Kay, his ex-wife Audrey and an assortment of their friends and hangers-on. Shortly after her arrival one of the older guests dies of a heart attack after having to take the stairs instead of the life. Shortly after that Lady Tressilian is murdered, bludgeoned to death in her bed. The police are soon on the case and reluctantly accept Miss Marple's assistance.

Reasonably good mystery. Some nice red herrings and twists. Does seem like twists for twists sake, to some extent, at the end though.

Not overly engaging though. Miss Marple herself is never interesting, something the writers and directors of the series know. To get around this they make the central focus, or the first person perspective, someone other than Miss Marple. In this case it is Superintendent Mallard is probably the closest to a lead character in the episode, but, well, he's just a cop so there are no interesting sub-plots involving him.

Cast includes Julian Sands and Saffron Burrows.

I guess I should consider myself singularly fortunate to be right at the Canadian border because we get a lot of Canadian and British shows that would not normally be seen in the USA. I did not even know that the BBC was running a whole new series of mysteries based on Agatha Christie's beloved Ms. Jane Marple, spinster sleuth extraordinary.

Geraldine McEwan as the latest and very good incarnation of Jane Marple gets invited for a weekend to the home of Eileen Atkins an old school chum. They've got quite a gathering of people at the Atkins homestead that weekend, including her ward Greg Wise and both his current wife and ex-wife. Now you know that's got to be a recipe for trouble.

But later on retired solicitor Tom Baker dies of a heart attack and shortly afterwards Atkins herself is bludgeoned to death. That does bring the police in. But of course the redoubtable Jane is way ahead of them.

McEwan's Marple is more Angela Lansbury and Helen Hayes matronly than Margaret Rutherford's old blunderbuss was. I remember recently seeing one of the Rutberford films and good old Margaret withheld clues deliberately from Scotland Yard. She wanted the fun of solving the case. But in this one, McEwan just shrewdly deduces from the behavior all around her and comes up with the answers.

It was nice to see Tom Baker whom I so well remember as the Doctor number four of the Doctors Who. I see this has also been the his last appearance to date in front of the camera.

Christie purists say that the plot was altered. Whether it was or not I can't speak to that, but Towards Zero is an intelligent drama and those who don't like pure Agatha can take to this one.

You never know what you are going to get with these Marples. Its always a mystery, but sometimes you will hit a happy combination of story, adapter and director. This is such a happy time. I do not know the director, but can see that he has substantial experience in at least staging and getting the actors adjusted to the enterprise. Some of these actors are known to us, and they really are comparatively excellent.

One character, the rich old woman, is a terrific character, worth admission by herself. The mystery is kept pretty close to the narrative so you have a pretty good chance of actually working on it. Usually, the deal is that you just have to wait until the end and act surprised. Oddly, the denouement here on a boat is the only weak segment. The detective trick this time is easy to spot if you know the sorts of tricks Christie liked to play with the Marple series. That business about tennis should be a clue.

Saffron Burrows must have it hard, being able to be cast as a pretty one. Here she manages to be something else, a rather sorry face in fact until the very end where she is transformed. Pretty good effect if you know the actress.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.