Towards Zero

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.

Definitely worth a glance. I saw this on our local NPR station last night (July 15) and in this summer of Desperate Housewives reruns, thought "Mystery" is usually a viable alternative. And it was. A shock to see "old" Tom Baker. Has it really been three decades since he rode through time in his telephone booth? I liked the new Miss Marple ... at least she was new to me. Perhaps not as lovable as the cinematic Marple of 4 decades ago (was that Margaret Rutherford?), but okay. I'd gladly catch another episode of the series with her. It was also a treat to see the drop-dead handsome Greg Wise and present-day Julian Sands. The clues to solve the mystery are presented fairly and it is a good mystery, worthy of Christie. Check it out if you like brain teasers.

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!

I am neither a fan or a hater of the new Marple series. There have been some surprisingly good ones as well as some duds. Towards Zero is one of the better/middling and more watchable entries, while not as good as Murder is Announced, Moving Finger, Blue Geranium, Pocket Full of Rye and Murder Crack'd from Side to Side(if we are including the Julia McKenzie entries too), it is much better than Ordeal by Innocence, Nemesis, Secret of Chimeys, Sittaford Mystery and At Bertram's Hotel. In fact, the latter two are the only ones I found unwatchable, not only were they poor adaptations but even on their own terms I just couldn't get into them.

Enough of that. About Towards Zero, it is not without its hindrances. The pace is sometimes a little dull and pedestrian, not as tedious as Sittaford Mystery, but there are some scenes towards the first half that begged for a steroid shot and then the build up to the final solution felt rushed. Also while the direction has its moments, there are times when it is mediocre as well and in the scenes where there is not as much happening some of dialogue is on the weak side.

However, Towards Zero does look great. The settings are picturesque and the cinematography is fluid too, while I also loved the atmospheric lighting shades. The music is also a plus, it is not overbearing or obtrusive as it can be, instead it enhances the atmosphere. While there are some changes, this is not a Marple story and Superintendent Wheeler is omitted, the plot is relatively easy to follow and quite solid up until the conclusion, which doesn't disappoint. Also unlike an adaptation like say At Bertram's Hotel, while as I've said there are changes, it is not a complete rewrite, and there are parts that have the Agatha Christie spirit. The acting is also good, Geraldine McEwan is not as fussy or too light-hearted as she can be and she works very well in one of her better performances of the series. Also excellent are Greg Wise who is dashing without being bland and the always dependable Eileen Atkins who is delightful. Tom Baker overdoes it a tad, but I too enjoyed him.

Overall, a solid adaptation and one of the better/middling entries. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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.