Towards Zero

Miss Marple is visiting her old friend Lady Tressilian and, while she knows Camilla is a strange old bird, the other house guests are just as odd a bunch. There is tennis player Nevile Strange with his new wife Kay, Nevile's former wife Audrey, her childhood friend and cousin, a younger man attracted to Kay and a retired solicitor, Mr Treves. Even without a crime, Miss Marple cannot help be transfixed by the relationship dynamics within this group. However when Mr Treves is found dead, seemingly from an heart attack and Lady Tressilian herself is bludgeoned to death things get interesting very quickly. All clues point to Nevile Strange and the police feel they have their man – but Miss Marple, in her usual discrete way, has other suspicions.

I have not always been a massive fan of the Marple films and indeed I have been quite harsh about some of them. It is not that I am particularly in love with the older BBC version either, just that some of the ITV ones are awful with terrible hammy acting trying to cover up the lack of substance and interest in the actual plot. I'm not that fussed if they play with the source material either – only that it works (which it normally doesn't) and really all I'm looking for is something that works and entertains me. In this case, I was encouraged by some positive reviews for this in the various weekend papers and decided to give it another shot and I'm glad I did because it is one of the better examples of the ITV series. The plot is as usual a b*stardised version of a Christie novel (in this case not a Miss Marple one) but, of more importance to me, it works well as a mystery with a nice gradual pace and plenty to think about that is of relevance. Previous films have felt fleshed out with pointless characters and touches but, while not the tightest film you'll ever see, does pretty much keep its eye on the prize and delivers a solid story where I was kept interested in the characters via what was happening.

The tone is still quite "light-entertainment" and "fun" but again I have no issue with this at all since ultimately it is about my entertainment and not something that needs a lot of reverence necessarily. On this occasion it works though because it does not dominate the piece – an aspect of this production that can be seen in the cast. While they are all lively and light, nobody really hams it up and they manage to maintain a certain amount of seriousness without it becoming dry and heavy. Although her character is not officially part of the story, McEwan works quite well here – not being too annoying nor too light-hearted. The support cast features the usual so-so faces but mostly they work – even the dread Julian Sands. Burrows is good in her way – not as cold as she can be but still not free and easy. Conversely Tapper has an easier role but plays it well and with colour. Wise is engaging, Atkins is a grumpy delight and Baker is a strange but simple find. Alan Davies is also a good bit of casting and seems to understand how his character should work within a Marple film. Nicholls and Sands are not great but they are prevented from playing up too much or making their presence a negative instead of the neutral that it is.

Towards Zero will not win over those that are appalled by any change to the source material, nor is it a brilliant film but it does work for what it is – light entertainment. The solid plot engages and it doesn't feel like it is padded or hammy even though it is quite light and undemanding and the cast manage to play it mostly right. One of the more easily enjoyable of the ITV Marple films.

As usual, the story of Towards Zero was immaculate but this particular Marple story was especially nostalgic for me because, after just a few minutes, I recognised South Sands near Salcombe in South Devonshire where I lived during my teenage years in the mid 1950s. As a youngster, I worked at the Tides Reach Hotel (which looked quite unchanged) helping with the rental of a fleet of catamaran floats to the holidaymakers on the beach. One thing that was changed in the movie was that Salcombe Estuary was referred to as a river when, in actual fact, it is a tidal estuary. Only once did I ever swim across the estuary and back whilst I lived there as it wasn't an easy swim by any stretch of the imagination. Another thing that wasn't in the movie was my little sailing boat (a Salcombe Yawl - Y24) moored in the bay of South Sands. But then the movie was set about 10 years before it was there anyway! I haven't been anywhere near there for well over 50 years!

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

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.

Quite a few episodes of the Miss Marple series starring Geraldine McEwan were not originally Miss Marple tales but involved different characters in other Agatha Christie stories. "Towards Zero" is one of thes stories, as it originally featured Superintendant Battle...though here he is a secondary character assisting Miss Marple.

The story is set at a most unusual weekend in the country. I say unusual because Nevile Strange and his wife are there...as is Nevile's first wife! He made sure she was invited and Nevile seems to show more attention to his ex- than his current wife...which irritates the current one to no end.

The first death appears to be a natural one, as the elderly Mr. Treves (Tom Baker) has a bad heart and dies when he's climbing some stairs when the lift appears to be out of order. But the next death...well...it's a bludgeoning and it's darn hard for this to be an accident. What follows is a weird tale where the Inspector and Miss Marple try to determine what really happened.

This is a very enjoyable story...lacking cliches and with an interesting plot. While it wasn't a Marple tale, the writer did a good job adapting the story for her.