David and Victoria Beckham ‘inspired' BBC's new Agatha Christie series

Telegraph

24-02-2025

Victoria and David Beckham provided the inspiration for the BBC's latest Agatha Christie adaptation, its makers have said.
Towards Zero features a famous sportsman and his wife, whose marriage has come under the microscope during a sensational divorce case in which he confesses to an affair.
The makers of the BBC One series said they had drawn parallels between the fictional couple and the Beckhams.
'We were in development at the time the David Beckham documentary came out, and we did a lot of talking about that,' said Rebecca Durbin, the drama's producer, citing 'the excitement, the celebrity, the craziness' that surrounds the Beckhams.
The drama's director, Sam Yates, joked that using the Beckhams as inspiration was 'incredibly lowbrow'.
The Beckhams have denied rumours over the years of a pending divorce and remain happily married.
In the Netflix documentary, they make oblique reference to claims that David had an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos while he was playing for Real Madrid.
Towards Zero is based on Christie's 1944 murder mystery.
It stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen as tennis star Nevile Strange, Mimi Keene as his new wife, Kay, and Ella Lily Hyland as his ex-wife, Audrey.
The trio are drawn into uneasy proximity during a stay at the home of Nevile's aunt, Lady Tressilian, who is played by Angelica Huston.
Durbin said that the adaptation would put the sex into Christie. 'We talked a lot about sexy Christie,' she said at the drama's launch. 'The situations are so modern.
'Lucy Worsley [in her biography of Christie] talks a little bit about Agatha and her modern attitudes towards sex and female desire, and that was something we took into account.'
The cast was also asked to read Erotic Vagrancy, Roger Lewis's book about the passionate affair between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, as additional preparation.
James Prichard, the author's great-grandson and chief executive of her estate, said: 'These are modern shows. They're grown-up shows. I think it's an incredibly powerful moment. And on that basis, I am comfortable with it. It's fairly in-your-face but… it's a crucial part of the show.'
Mr Prichard also told the Daily Mail that he was relaxed about characters using the f-word, which did not happen in Christie's books. 'I think probably the modern world has moved beyond really minding massively,' he said.
He said of his great-grandmother: 'She certainly wouldn't have used the f-word. I can be pretty sure of that. But it's a generational thing, isn't it? We're doing adaptations in 2025, not in 1925.'
Towards Zero is one of Christie's lesser-known works but she considered it to be one of her best. In a letter to a Japanese fan, she included it in a list of the 10 best mysteries she had written.
It has been adapted for television by Rachel Bennette. The murder happens late in the book and the three-part drama follows suit, with no murder in the first episode. Yates said: 'It's a who's-going-to-do-it that becomes a whodunit.'
Huston said: 'When I was first offered the part of Lady Tressilian, I was delighted at the prospect that my British television debut would be in an Agatha Christie production. She is, after all, the Queen of Crime.'
Her English accent is impeccable, and Yates revealed that the Oscar-winning actress can also do an excellent Northern accent honed through watching Coronation Street, one of her favourite shows.