'Agatha Christie's Towards Zero' Sets Star-Studded Cast
Matthew Rhys, Clarke Peters, and Jack Farthing are three of the high-profile names cast in 'Agatha Christie's Towards Zero'
FX/BBC/Neon
Standalone Agatha Christie adaptations are usually high-profile affairs, full of A-list British names, but the latest limited series from the BBC and BritBox, Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero, may have outdone itself. Then again, it has a lot to live up to, as the project was confirmed in the wake of the success of Murder is Easy, the blockbuster two-parter that starred David Jonnson and Morfrydd Clark, and took one of Christie’s lesser-known stories and turned it into a timely tale about racism and misogyny in post-War England.
Towards Zero will run slightly longer than its predecessor and return to the three-part structure that Hugh Laurie used in Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, initially kicking off this batch of co-produced Christie series made by the BBC and BritBox. However, unlike the previous limited series, the production has decided that for the first time, the BBC doesn’t need to stick to an all-British cast. Well-known U.K. favorites Matthew Rhys (The Americans) and Jack Farthing (Poldark) are toplining the new adaptation. However, they will be joined by two American-born actors: Anjelica Huston (The Golden Bowl) and Clarke Peters (His Dark Materials).
Despite technically being American, at this point, Peters has been in enough British adaptations, including co-starring in the shortlived Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime, that viewers might be forgiven for forgetting he’s originally a New Yorker. As for Huston, daughter of John Huston, she was born in Los Angeles but spent most of her childhood in Ireland, where she still resides today, putting her more in the Gillian Anderson category of Americans who might as well be British.
The cast of 'Towards Zero': Top: Jackie Clune, Grace Doherty, Jack Farthing, Khalil Gharbia. Middle: Adam Hugill, Anjelica Huston, Ella Lily Hyland, Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Bottom: Mimi Keene, Clarke Peters, Matthew Rhys, Anjana Vasan
BBC/AP Wilding/Michael Shelford/Malick Bodian/Matt Easton/Pip/Maarten de Boer/Rich Hardcastle
Here's the full synopsis:
England, 1936. After a scandalous celebrity divorce, British tennis star Nevile Strange and his ex-wife Audrey make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile's aunt, Lady Tressilian. With unfinished business between the former childhood sweethearts, plus the presence of Nevile’s new wife, Kay, tensions are running high. Add to this a long-suffering lady’s companion, a mysterious gentleman’s valet, an exiled cousin with a grudge, a venerable family lawyer, an inquisitive orphan, and a French con man, and soon there will be murder. A troubled detective must rediscover his purpose to untangle a toxic web of jealousy, deceit, and dysfunction. Can he solve the crime before another victim meets their death?
An explosive love triangle, a formidable matriarch, and a house party of enemies. All compelled… Towards Zero.
Alongside Huston, Farthing, Peters, and Rhys, the series will co-star Jackie Clune (Marriage), Grace Doherty (Call the Midwife), Khalil Gharbia (Mary & George), Adam Hugill (Sherwood), Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Mr. Malcolm's List), Mimi Keene (Sex Education), and Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts).
The limited series is adapted by Rachel Bennette. Sam Yates helms all three installments, and Rebecca Durbin produces. Executive producers are James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Sheena Bucktowonsing and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC, and Jon Farrar, Stephen Nye, and Robert Schildhouse for BritBox International.
Filming on Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero is now underway in and around Bristol and on the Devon coast and is expected to air in the U.K. around the holidays and follow on BritBox in early 2025.
