Towards Zero: Agatha Christie fans in for a treat with new BBC adaptation
For American actress Anjelica Huston, the work of English author Agatha Christie is the epitome of success, wit, class and intelligence.
It’s why she thinks people are still so compelled by her stories.
Delve back into Huston’s own archive though and the 73-year-old Academy Award (she won a best supporting actress Oscar for 1985 film Prizzi’s Honor) and Golden Globe Award-winning actress has told some impressive stories of her own on screen.
For starter, say The Addams Family and Huston, who was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010, immediately springs to mind.
Her portrayal of Morticia Addams in the 1991 film is still one referenced today, despite other incarnations of the character.
She is next set to star in the BBC One TV adaptation of Christie’s Towards Zero, as Lady Tressilian, who Huston describes as “the matriarch of a very disjointed, unruly family.”
Lady Tressilian has her nephew Nevile Strange, played by The Haunting Of Hill House actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen, come and stay at her coastal estate at Gull’s Point in 1936.
Nevile, a British tennis star, has divorced his wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) and the pair visit the Dover location along with his new wife (Mimi Keene).
Of course, a murder takes place and a troubled detective is called upon to solve it as characters such as a “long-suffering lady’s companion, a mysterious gentleman’s valet and a French con man”, to name but a few, contribute to the plot.
“One likes a success, and I think it’s nice when people like something that’s smart, witty and classic,” muses Huston.
“Agatha Christie is symbolic of that. She was writing at a time when women weren’t really at the forefront. Her observations and involvement with her characters [are] very succinct. It’s no wonder she has such a following,” says Huston.
Of her character, she says Lady Tressilian runs the show “the way a man would”, adding: “Or at least, she’s attempting to. She’s trying to make everyone understand that she’s in charge. That’s quite unusual for a woman of that time.
“She’s not without her vanities… She has her favourites and she’s discerning and judgemental. She loves all the ‘kids’ but she’s not going to let anyone get away with anything.”
The story is framed as an “explosive love triangle” which includes “a formidable matriarch and a house filled with enemies”.
“It’s a different Agatha Christie,” says American actor Clarke Peters, 72, who stars as Mr Treves, the lawyer of an upper-class family and Lady Tressilian’s close confidante.
Peters, known for his role of Lester Freamon in TV series The Wire, says: “If you take your time and go into the psychology of each one of these characters, you’ll find it’s not just a simple romp through a series of events that leads to a murder which you have to figure out. There’s a reason why it’s called Towards Zero.”
Towards Zero is set in the 1930s, and Welsh actor Matthew Rhys, 50, who stars as Inspector Leach, says the culture of restriction during that time period had a direct impact on the characters.
“I love this period because of how it inhibits people. To point out the obvious, we weren’t as free and easy. There’s a rigidity and something that’s quite held in everyone. People’s feelings and emotions were certainly reserved and a little trapped. I like that – I think it fuels something on the inside when a number of things are held back,” says Rhys.
British actor Jack Farthing, 39, who stars as Thomas Royde, agrees and adds: “Towards Zero is set in 1936 England, in a big house and hotel by the Devon coast. It’s a really interesting time historically, but also socially in terms of the demands that were put on people, the pressures to repress obviously have a huge impact on this story.
“This is not a bunch of people whose first instinct is to say what they feel, and it’s that in part that kind of drives the story forward and drives the relationships forward. I think it’s a fascinating time to look at what it’s like to be a human.”
It’s why Rhys hopes Towards Zero will do two things for the audience.
“As soon as you say Agatha Christie you have that incredible audience that love it anyway. Everyone is always drawn to a whodunnit. People always challenge themselves as to naming the murderer from the offset, it appeals to everyone’s ego that they can crack the case. What I hope then is that people realise that it is something far greater, deeper and more intricate,” says Rhys.
For Jackson-Cohen, his character Nevile, the celebrated tennis player, is “sort of the David Beckham of his time”.
But would he survive a Christie plot?
“I don’t think I’d do too well,” he says.
“During filming we talked about (BBC show) The Traitors – as there are definite similarities with Towards Zero’s plot – and I feel like I would be so bad at lying.
“I think people assume because you’re an actor, that’s what you do, you lie. But you don’t really because you spend most of your time trying to believe that you’re telling the truth!
“I would crack under the pressure. I think I’d do very badly.”
l Towards Zero comes to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday, March 2