Towards Zero
As the show finally expands to an international audience,Towards Zerohas landed a Rotten Tomatoes score.
The three-part limited series serves as an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1944 novel of the same name, following a star tennis player going to his wealthy aunt’s sprawling manor with both his ex-wife and his new wife, whom he cheated on the former with, leading to a tense weekend with a dead body.
Led by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ella Lily Hyland and Mimi Keene,Towards Zerofirst premieredon BBC One in March prior to its April BritBox release.
Now, on the heels of its international release on BritBox,Towards Zerohas landed a critical score onRotten Tomatoes.
At the time of writing, with 24 reviews calculated,the TV show has a 71% approval rating from critics on the review aggregate with a 6.2 average rating, netting it a Fresh rating on the Tomatometer.
The Popcornmeter, which measures Audience ratings, currently has fewer than 50 ratings, therefore leaving it without a score.
Towards Zero, released in 2025, centers around a tennis star and his ex-wife, who gather with other guests at a coastal estate. When a murder occurs, a troubled detective is called to uncover the complex web of relationships and secrets that surround the incident.
What This Means For Towards Zero
The Show Redeems The BBC’s Christie Adaptation Run
The BBC has a long history of adapting Christie’s novels for the screen,whether throughthe classicMiss Marpleseriesor a variety of limited series, TV movies and filmed stage plays.
The past few years, in particular, have seen them tackle a mix of her most familiar and more underappreciated works, some of which have included 2015’sPartner in Crime, 2016’sThe Witness for the Prosecutionand 2020’sThe Pale Horse.
The best Agatha Christie books include some of the most important and influential mystery and crime fiction ever with indelible characters and twists.
WithTowards Zerolanding a Fresh score on the Tomatometer, though, the three-part limited series restores the BBC’s success streak with Christie adaptations on the review aggregate.
The majority of their prior adaptations had landed similarly positive scores on the site, with 2022’sWhy Didn’t They Ask Evans?netting a perfect 100% score,only for 2023’sMurder is Easyto upend that with its 36% rating.
Check out howTowards Zerocompares to other recent BBC Agatha Christie adaptations on Rotten Tomatoes in the chart below:
Title
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
And Then There Were None (2015)
81%
91%
The Witness for the Prosecution (2016)
100%
68%
Ordeal by Innocence (2018)
94%
71%
The ABC Murders (2018)
50%
The Pale Horse (2020)
79%
43%
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
(2022)
75%
Murder Is Easy (2023)
36%
28%
Towards Zero (2025)
N/A
While its 71% score may not indicate a runaway success for the show,it does point to the showbeing another win for the BBC in the Christie adaptation genre.
MostTowards Zeroreviewspoint to the show suffering from a somewhat sluggish pace and generally familiar approach to Christie’s whodunnit formula, though do praise the cast and overall production value of the series.
With no audience score, it’s a little trickier to tell how the reviews will impact the show’s performance, but a positive score from critics does give it better footing to do so.
Our Take On Towards Zero’s Rotten Tomatoes Score
The Adaptation Is Likely To Split Viewers
While there is always a divide between critics and audiences in general, the BBC’s history ofAgatha Christie adaptationsshows that the lower the former score is, the more likely the latter is to fall into Rotten territory.
There are certainly exceptions to the trend, like 2015’sAnd Then There Were None, butTowards Zerocoming in so low on the Tomatometer does make me think the three-part series is going to divide audiences.
Source:Rotten Tomatoes
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Towards Zero, released in 2025, centers around a tennis star and his ex-wife, who gather with other guests at a coastal estate.
When a murder occurs, a troubled detective is called to uncover the complex web of relationships and secrets that surround the incident.
