Miss Jane Marple is the heroine in twelve Agatha Christie novels. She's a sweet but curious elderly lady, a spinster, and wherever she appears, vicious murders are committed, which she then effortlessly resolves through the use of logic and sheer intelligence. Twelve novels! Twelve murder cases! That means Miss Marple got exposed to murder approximately 11,5 times more than the average mortal human being. And if that wasn't enough, the creators of "Agatha Christie's Marple" decided to process Miss Marple into another eleven murder stories!
"Towards Zero" is one of the series' adaptations that originally wasn't a Marple novel, but - and contrary to some of the other films - Miss Marple fits nicely into the story, and it's more fun to watch her resolve the murder enigma!
Miss Marple is visiting her old and bed-ridden schoolfriend Lady Trissilian at her island estate in Devon, but there are many other guests and family members of the Trissilian clan. First, Lady Trisillian's solicitor dies in peculiar circumstances, and a short time later, the old lady herself is found brutally bludgeoned to death in her bed. Money or inheritances initially don't seem to be a motive, but is everyone really as wealthy and honest as they pretend to be? The clueless police detectives require Miss Marple's sharp eyes and deduction skills to uncover the intrigues, jealousy and hatred between the guests.
It's not a personal favorite, but "Towards Zero" is undeniably one of the more solid and well-made episodes in the series. The denouement is genius, impossible to predict and fairly faithful to Christie's novel (which isn't always the case in this show). There are great performances by stunningly beautiful actresses (Saffron Burrows, Zoë Tapper) and familiar elderly faces (Julian Sands, Eileen Atkins, Tom Baker, ...)
"Towards Zero" is one of the series' adaptations that originally wasn't a Marple novel, but - and contrary to some of the other films - Miss Marple fits nicely into the story, and it's more fun to watch her resolve the murder enigma!
Miss Marple is visiting her old and bed-ridden schoolfriend Lady Trissilian at her island estate in Devon, but there are many other guests and family members of the Trissilian clan. First, Lady Trisillian's solicitor dies in peculiar circumstances, and a short time later, the old lady herself is found brutally bludgeoned to death in her bed. Money or inheritances initially don't seem to be a motive, but is everyone really as wealthy and honest as they pretend to be? The clueless police detectives require Miss Marple's sharp eyes and deduction skills to uncover the intrigues, jealousy and hatred between the guests.
It's not a personal favorite, but "Towards Zero" is undeniably one of the more solid and well-made episodes in the series. The denouement is genius, impossible to predict and fairly faithful to Christie's novel (which isn't always the case in this show). There are great performances by stunningly beautiful actresses (Saffron Burrows, Zoë Tapper) and familiar elderly faces (Julian Sands, Eileen Atkins, Tom Baker, ...)