The 'Towards Zero' Cast Dig Into Their Characters' Chemistry in the Premiere

It’s been two years since the BBC’s last Agatha Christie miniseries adaptation, Murder is Easy, and our mystery-loving bodies are ready for what’s next. And that is the BBC and BritBox’s Towards Zero. The three-night event is an adaptation of Christie’s 1944 novel about family secrets and murder near the sea. 

In this period, an accurate but narrative-tweaked version from writer Rachel Bennette (Mill on the Floss) and director Sam Yates (Vanya), Matthew Rhys leads the cast as the troubled Inspector Leach, who is tasked to investigate murder at the estate of Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston). The supporting cast that includes Jackie Clune (Marriage), Grace Doherty (Call the Midwife), Khalil Gharbia (Mary & George), Adam Hugill (Sherwood), Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Surface), Mimi Keene (Sex Education), and Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts).

This Towards Zero is much sexier than Christie’s book, and more judicious to its female characters, who all have more agency than their text counterparts. There are also interesting explorations of PTSD through the characters of Leach and Tressilian, as well as the expected themes of deception and infidelity. 

We spoke with cast members Jackson-Cohen, Hyland, Vasan, and Keene about how the first episode introduces the chemistry between characters and the creative conversations about the changes to some of the characters. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Telly Visions: Oliver and Ella, let’s start with your initial conversations with director Sam Yates about tracking the tone of Neville and Audrey’s relationship, especially in the first episode. There's a lot of enigmatic subtext firing between.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen: Part of the biggest draw, for both of us, to the show itself, was the dynamic play between Audrey and Neville and how that evolves throughout the three episodes. 

Ella Lily Hyland: I think Sam's main note was that the two of them have masks up, so there's such an incredible depth to their relationship, and their history is so full. All we really had to play was just the masks that they had, and that they don't like to show each other that they're vulnerable. They're playing this game with each other. Sam really cleverly was doing that for us, but also doing it to hold the tone of the piece. It was great to get a note that we didn't have to think about the tone and that we could trust him. We got to think about our characters and what they were trying to do to each other.

TV: What was it like getting summoned to the bedside of Angelica Huston for any scene?

Jackson-Cohen: We've said this multiple times today, but she really is a phenomenal actor and human being. Any interactions and all the scenes that we got as a ensemble, or got to partake in being summoned to Anjelica Huston's room, and it was an absolute fucking delight. You understand why someone is bestowed this respect. There's a curiosity to her that even though she has done this for so long, there's a curiosity and a play that is still very, very much alive. To get to spar with someone like that is daunting and incredibly exciting. The scene where Audrey and Neville are summoned to the end of the bed is so interesting because out of everyone there, she's probably the only one who can see through exactly what it is that's going on.

TV: Of all the book characters adapted into miniseries, Mary is the one who gets a far more proactive arc. What were the conversations about making her a more fully developed female character in this mystery?

Anjana Vasan: I think that Rachel was really good at finding these nuggets that were already there in the novel, but maybe just not unpacked as much. She just unraveled it a little further. When I met Sam for the first time, I'd read an early draft of the first episode, and he talked to me about Mary. By then, I'd already read the book, so I knew what was slightly different. He was very excited about my input on what that journey looks like. 

I wasn't trying to provide any answers, because that was Rachel's job, but I was asking what I found fascinating questions about what it might look like. I think the trick is not to try to veer too far away. I think it's alluded to in the book about Thomas and Mary, because another character says, "He loves her, but he just doesn't know it yet." And that's what Rachel so brilliantly did was say, “Well, what does that look like?” 

We asked a lot of questions around that. I feel like it's in the book's subtext, but she's just made it more explicit because Mary's a fascinating character. She's the one character who belongs in neither of those worlds. She's a companion. She's lived her life under someone else's roof. She hasn't had time to make life on her own terms. And now that she wants to do that, she doesn't even know how to begin or what that might look like. 

TV: Mimi, in the first episode, Kay is portrayed as quite the siren. Do you think there’s a defining moment in cementing our perception of her? Was it the seduction of Neville, or the way she enters the courtroom?

Mimi Keene: I don’t know if it’s a specific moment. When we first see her and pay attention to her in the court hearing where she walks in, that walk took a lot of prep. The plan was to walk in, stop, and wait for everyone to look at her. Then she turns and goes up into the box to speak in front of everyone. It’s definitely a journey, even in some of the early moments where she’s supposed to be perceived as very confident. She’s here to stay, and no one’s going to tell her to get down. She’s staying where she is because she’s pushed herself here, and this is what she wants, and she’s going to keep it. 

Even though it very much starts in that energy, there are always little moments of insecurity. There are those moments in the court where she’s being asked questions, which aren’t very nice. Then she meets Neville afterwards, and she’s like, “Why are you letting them talk about me like that?” She’s not going, “I don’t care how they talk about me!” Those little moments of vulnerability still seep through because that is what would happen, because everyone has vulnerability in there somewhere.

Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero premieres on BritBox on Wednesday, April 16, with new episodes released daily to follow on Thursday, April 17, and the finale on Friday, April 18, 2025.