Towards Zero is the latest one-off Agatha Christie adaptation which was released in the US on BritBox this week. While I’ve never had the fortitude to make all the way through the series (i.e., Poirot and Miss Marple), I’ll watch these one-offs (it’s less commitment!). This one is set in the 1930s and features your usual cast of disparate characters all together in one big house. I’ve seen some complaints online that they seriously changed the story from the book, but never having ready ANY Christie, I don’t care! The series starts with a high-profile divorce case, with the rich playboy tennis player being sued for divorce by his ultra-glam (soon to be ex) wife. Everyone ends up at the country mansion of the playboy’s/ex-wife’s aunt, including playboy and his new wife, and as you can imagine, shit gets complicated. I definitely wanted to know more about the hidden dark undercurrents among the various characters and stayed up late to watch the last episode so I could find out “who done it.”
I’ve also seen complaints about the very multi-racial casting — there are several people of color in key roles, and racism just isn’t addressed in the series, everyone just acts like it’s absolutely no deal at all. On the one hand, the historian in me always worries about erasing the realities of racism in the past. On the other, it’s my understanding that many current people of color enjoy seeing themselves represented in historical films/TV series without having to endure the trauma of racism, and that makes a lot of sense to me. While it would have been a possibly equally interesting story if it had accounted for race/racism, I thought it was perfectly enjoyable show as-is, and I hope that as long as both takes are explored on screen, there can be benefits.
The costumes were designed by Charlotte Mitchell (Galavant, Endeavour, Harlots season 2, The Pale Horse), and as usual with these British-made mid-century series, they were gorgeous and spot-on for mid-1930s. Mitchell was interviewed by Tatler magazine, which writes,
“Like many of the nation’s best costume designers, Mitchell cut her teeth on Agatha Christie adaptations, working on Poirot shows in her 20s and, more recently on The Pale Horse. It meant that when she met with Towards Zero director Sam Yeats, she wouldn’t sign up unless she could do something different to the transitional plaid suits. ‘We wanted to give it a relevant feel to the audience because it’s important that they understand the clothes and not just see it as a stuffy period drama.’ That meant finding inspiration in the Bright Young Things of the 1930s, the jet set who holidayed in St Tropez and swapped bathing suits for bikinis'” (How Towards Zero costume designer Charlotte Mitchell masterminded the to-die-for 30s fashion in the BBC’s most sandalous murder mystery of the year).
And indeed, while there are characters who are definitely sexed-up, they are sexed-up in an accurate 1930s way, which was refreshing! The main character that applied to is the playboy’s new wife, Kay (Mimi Keene: Tolkien). Mitchell looked to Carol Lombard for references, telling Tatler, “Kay would really want to kind of like be more flashy, you know. Mimi has quite a modern body, and I always wanted her to be more confident, more sexualised.”
Meanwhile, Audrey — the ex-wife played by Ella Lily Hyland (A Thousand Blows) — was super glamorous and sexy, but in a more covered-up way. Mitchell told Tatler that she was inspired by Greta Garbo for this character: “I wanted this feeling of her wearing an armor, always something high-necked. If it wasn’t high-necked, she would always wear some sort of choker or scarf around her neck. She took pleasure in the sense of restriction. She likes being in something that’s painful to her.”
The grande dame of the series is Lady Tressilian, played by Anjelica Huston. She’s the aunt and guardian of both Audrey and her ex (Kay’s now husband) Nevile, and she never leaves her bedroom. Lady Tressilian runs the show, so Mitchell focused on demonstrating her inner strength through her still-in-Edwardian-styles wardrobe: “It was really important to me was that when she was in bed she didn’t look like a shrunken little old lady, so I wanted to make sure that she always had some sort of shoulder presence to give her strength, like a cape on top of her nighty.”
One character who goes through a very interesting sartorial transformation is Mary (Anjana Vasan: Call the Midwife, Cyrano, Wicked Little Letters), who is Lady Tresillian’s companion. She starts out relatively frumpy, but becomes more glam when a potential love interest arrives:
Of course, there’s your usual range of boys whose wardrobes are less interesting to me (sorry!). Nevile (Oliver Jackson-Cohen: Lark Rise to Candleford, World Without End, Mr Selfridge, Dracula, The Great Fire, Mr. Malcolm’s List, Emily) is the playboy, and he wears smart suits in London, tennis whites for matches, and sharp casual wear in the country. Well-dressed in an older gentleman way is Mr. Treves (Clarke Peters: Jericho, Underground, Harriet), Lady Tresillian’s lawyer. HOT HOT Louis (Khalil Ben Gharbia: Mary & George) is dapper in a modern, casual way. And finally Thomas (Jack Farthing: Dancing on the Edge, Da Vinci’s Demons, Blandings, Poldark) and Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys) are kind of frumpy, as befits their characters.
So, if you like 1930s and you enjoy murder mysteries, I suggest checking out Towards Zero!
Have you seen Towards Zero? How did it stack up for you?
I have to disagree with you about Kay’s wardrobe, as shown. That billowy satin bodice and wide sleeves looked frumpy to me, and the white tennis match dress looked like a modern Lycra fabric, skin tight but with no visible seams. Also –pet peeve– I hate that shoulders-back, out-thrust boobs stance modern actresses take in period dramas (in the tennis picture, not just sexy Kay but the bland woman in blue). Audrey does the period stance much better.
I don’t have a problem with the multi-cultural casting. As for the changes to the story, they crammed Miss Marple into a previous TV version of the book.
If you’re referring to the 2007 TV movie, I still managed to enjoy it.
‘Crammed’ my eye – Miss Marple (As played by the late, much-missed Geraldine McEwan, my favourite in the role to date) merely insinuated herself into a perfectly good mystery in her usual fine style.
As we all know, Miss Marple acquires murder mysteries the way stray cats acquire their people, board and lodging.
As noted elsewhere in this blog, I followed the series from start to finish and was never bored – though a tad frustrated with the detective for much of his screen time (I admit that ‘Defective Detective’ is not my favourite trope in fiction and seeing these bickering posho foul-ups read the riot act by a more put-together policeman would have been extremely satisfying).
I am, however, slightly confused as to how old Neville managed to land two such lovely ladies despite possessing all the emotional maturity and good sense of a concussed goldfish (Though the fact he occasionally looks like James Bond as played by Mark Strong probably explains quite a bit).
Also, I’m rather sorry we probably won’t see the crime fighting family adventures hinted at by the end of this series.
As a woman of colour I am in two minds about colour-blind casting. It is good to see, but the pedant in me wants to know the back story. Would it have been realistic for a black man to be a successful lawyer at that time and if so………..how and why?
That is frequently my question, too. How and why did they get there in this given time and place. I’m all for inclusion, but as a historian it can be disconcerting when you know how people were really treated. I ask the same question of Bridgerton. Yes, I know it is a fantasy in a very real way, but when and how is always somewhere in the background for me.
There are plenty of historical dramas that delve deep into how ppl of different races/ethnicities were treated — check out my reviews of The Piano Lesson, The Six Triple Eight, & Passing (all on Netflix) for recent examples.
But as Kendra said, not every story has to be about trauma. Sometimes, it’s just a murder mystery or a romance.
When you watch films like “Hidden Figures” and “The 6888” you get the back story…….of course you do! I suppose I mean when I see a black/brown person in something fictional and entertaining I can’t quite let go of wanting to know more, because if it was real they probably wouldn’t be there.
There’s also fictional stories like The Piano Lesson, Passing, Interview With the Vampire (esp. S1), The Color Purple, Three Little Birds, A League of Their Own (the TV version), even The Gilded Age to some extent.
But every single historical TV show/movie that includes POC doesn’t have to bend over backwards to explain why POC are included. See below for my comment about suspension of disbelief. The idea of “historical accuracy” is already a myth in onscreen storytelling. We focus on the costumes bec. that’s something that’s traditional part of movie/TV storytelling.
Well film & TV are never truly historically accurate or realistic – we don’t always see ppl eating regular meals, going to work or earning a living, even travel time between places is usually compressed. So if we can suspend belief for the myriad of things we already do just to watch a story on TV / film, why not ppl of various races/ethnicities mixing in society at different times in history?
I wasn’t planning on watching, but after seeing the stills here, I’m going to have to watch because of the eye candy…
Fun fact. The blue sunglasses jumpsuit worn by Kay is actually from Temperley London.
Loved Mimi Keene in Sex Ed, haven’t seen this series yet but from the stills she does have an awfully modern look. For me it’s the instagram brows and filler lips (she might just have full lips but it definitely looks like filler to me) that make her look like a modern woman in admittedly fabulous costume rather than an authentic period woman.
The Bright Young Things in the 1930’s would not have been swapping their bathing suits for bikinis; the bikini was not introduced until 1946 (rant over). :)
I found the costumes to be gorgeous. Much to see and appreciate. Honestly, however, they are the high point. The series seemed to be all style and little substance. The depressed detective was a drag on the story and I love Matthew Rhys. And the last scene, which I won’t give away is rather ludicrous. It is worth watching for the costumes for those of us who are so inclined.
I didn’t mind the color-blind casting at all. I’m also a big Clarke Peter’s fan. I did mind most of the changes in this adaptation. Especially the changes to the Audrey Strange character.