Was the BBC’s new Agatha Christie adaptation, Towards Zero, inspired by David and Victoria Beckham’s biggest scandal?
The new BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero has all the makings of a truly British murder mystery: an ageing châterlaine bedridden in her coastal country pile, unorthodox summer soirées rife with suspicion and spledour, and more seaside seduction than you can shake a mysteriously bloodied tennis racket at.
At the show’s heart, however, is a legendary English sportsman, his it-girl wife, and an oh-so-scandalous divorce. Sound familiar? The makers of Towards Zero have revealed that their inspiration while adapting the little-known 1944 novel (which Christie considered one of her best) came from veritable icons of cool Britania: David and Victoria Beckham.
‘We were in development at the time the David Beckham documentary came out, and we did a lot of talking about that,’ explained producer Rebecca Durbin at the launch of the detective drama, per The Telegraph. Durbin went on to describe how ‘the excitement, the celebrity, the craziness’ that accompanies the Beckhams permeates the gory debauchery of Towards Zero.
But, like any good detective, we must analyse the evidence. Who are the supposed Beckham identikits in this lineup of could-be murderers? Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays tennis playboy Nevile Strange, whose marriage to the beautiful (and notably young) firebrand Kay (Mimi Keene) falls apart after Nevile invites her and his ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) to a summer party at Saltcreek, the family seat of his former ward’s widow, Lady Tresselian (Anjelica Huston). Love triangles and murders ensue.
And so, the Beckhams. David and Victoria are not, of course, divorced. Though separation rumours have followed the ‘British first family’ for years, the football legend and the fashion doyenne seem to be firmly in love. But their course has not always run smooth.
