Towards Zero is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in June 1944 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in July of the same year. The first US edition of the novel retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).</blockquote>

In a further contemporary review in The Observer, Maurice Richardson wrote, "The new Agatha Christie has a deliciously prolonged and elaborate build-up, urbane and cosy like a good cigar and red leather slippers. Poirot is absent physically, but his influence guides the sensitive inspector past the wiles of the carefully planted house party, and with its tortuous double bluff this might well have been a Poirot case. How gratifying to see Agatha Christie keeping the flag of the old classic who-dun-it so triumphantly flying!"

Robert Barnard, writing in his Christie-focused, A Talent to Deceive (1990), says regarding Towards Zero: "Superb: intricately plotted and unusual. The murder comes later, and the real climax of the murderer's plot only at the end. The ingenuity excuses a degree of far-fetchedness. Highly effective story of the child and the bow-and-arrow (part II, chapter 6) and good characterization of the playboy-sportsman central character—very much of that era when one was expected to behave like a gentleman at Wimbledon."

Publication history

The novel was first serialised in Collier's Weekly in three instalments from 6 May (Volume 113, Number 19) to 20 May 1944 (Volume 113, Number 21) under the title Come and Be Hanged! with illustrations by Charles La Salle.

It was then published in the United States in June 1944, and then in the U.K. in the following month:

  • 1944: Dodd Mead and Company (New York), June 1944, Hardcover, 242 pp
  • 1944: Collins Crime Club (London), July 1944, Hardcover, 160 pp

In October and November 1944, the novel was serialised with illustrations under the Come and Be Hanged! title, as a supplement to The Mail (Adelaide), in Australia. Portions are missing from the newspapers scanned by Trove, so the exact dates are not certain, save for the start on 7 October 1944.

These appearances were followed by a long series of further editions:

  • 1947: Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, 210 pp (Pocket number 398)
  • 1948: Pan Books, Paperback, 195 pp (Pan number 54)
  • 1959: Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 192 pp
  • 1972: Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 347 pp;
  • 1973: Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, 224 pp
  • 1974: Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 224 pp;
  • 1977: Penguin Books, Paperback, 192 pp
  • 2012: Center Point USA hardcover edition, / 9781611734584, 292 pp

Numerous editions of audio books have been issued from May 2004 to February 2010.

With regard to digital editions, two Kindle editions were issued in 2010, one from HarperCollins, and one from William Morrow Paperbacks.

Adaptations

Stage

Christie first wrote a stageplay under this title in 1945, with one week of performances in Martha's Vineyard in the U.S. The script was uncovered in 2015 by Julius Green. As the only prior staging of this version of the play was in Martha's Vineyard in 1945, The Maddermarket proclaimed this the first performance of this stageplay in Europe.

In 1956, Christie adapted the book into a play of the same title with Gerald Verner. It was first published by Samuel French Ltd in 1957. This version of the Towards Zero play was first staged in September 1956 at the St James's Theatre in the West End of London.

A version of Towards Zero<!--Which version?--> was included in the 1978 Christie play collection, The Mousetrap and Other Plays.

Film

In 1995 a film adaptation in production lost its support from Agatha Christie's estate; when Rosalind Hicks, Christie's daughter and controller of her estate, reviewed the script–which included the mention of incest—Hicks ordered changes to the name of the film, and to the names of the characters. The film was eventually titled Innocent Lies, and met with limited success.

In 2007 French filmmakers adapted the novel to Towards Zero, with the title L'Heure Zéro.

Television

In 2007 the novel was adapted as part of the third season of the Agatha Christie's Marple television series produced by ITV. Geraldine McEwan plays Miss Marple. The novel did not include Miss Marple; other characters are changed as well for this adaptation to fit the series approach. Superintendent Battle is replaced by Superintendent Mallard played by Alan Davies.

In 2019 the novel was again adapted as an episode of French television series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie.

In 2024 the BBC commissioned Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited to reimagine Towards Zero as a limited series. The series is co-produced by Britbox International. Featuring an ensemble cast including Anjelica Huston, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ella Lily Hyland, Mimi Keene, Jackie Clune, Grace Doherty, Jack Farthing, Clarke Peters, Anjana Vasan, and Matthew Rhys, it was broadcast on BBC One in three parts from 2 March 2025.

Radio

In 2010 Joy Wilkinson adapted Towards Zero as a radio play, first transmitted in January 2010, in four parts, each 30 minutes by BBC Radio 4. The cast includes:

  • Nevile – Hugh Bonneville
  • Lady Tressilian – Marcia Warren
  • Tom MacWhirter – Tom Mannion
  • Audrey – Claire Rushbrook
  • Mary – Julia Ford
  • Kay – Lizzy Watts
  • Latimer – Joseph Kloska
  • Royde – Stephen Hogan
  • Treves, Constable – David Hargreaves
  • Umpire/Butler, Inspector Leach – Philip Fox
  • Receptionist – Annabelle Dowler
  • Porter, Doctor Lazenby – Benjamin Askew
  • Sergeant – Matt Addis

References

  • Towards Zero at the official Agatha Christie website
  • Towards Zero at the new Agatha Christie official website
  • Dustjacket of the first US edition at the New York Public Library digital gallery

sr:Нулта тачка