Towards Zero (2025) s01e01 Episode Script

1
but, you know, they
begin in the wrong place.
They begin with the murder.
No, no.
The murder is the end.
The story begins long before,
years before,
when the murder is seeded.
The point zero, if you will.
SHOUTING
Mr Strange! Mr Strange! Mr Strange!
SHOUTING CONTINUES
Mr Strange
SHOUTING DROWNS OUT SPEECH
The murder is the end of
a long chain of cause and effect -
insult, injury, grievance.
Mrs Strange Mrs Strange
SHOUTING
SHOUTING CONTINUES
It may be as simple
as the unfortunate
collision of individuals.
People converging,
fatefully, unknowingly,
in time or space.
It may be chance that knits together
this tangled web of people.
But we must also consider
that intention may be at work.
Someone, somewhere,
unbeknownst to us,
laying a trap,
compelling us
to some place or time,
drawing us, unwitting,
towards zero itself.
BELL RINGS
JUDGE: The solemn and regrettable
purpose of this case -
to examine the claim
by Mrs Audrey Strange
as to the alleged infidelity
of her husband, Nevile Strange,
allegations Mr Strange denies.
MR COLES: Mr Strange
you and Mrs Strange,
you were married?
Nine years ago. And not for
the first time, I believe.
No. No, the, erm,
first time, we eloped.
We ran away to Gretna Green.
We were 16.
Then, er, naturally, we did it properly.
Church and family and
roses and lace.
MURMURS FROM ONLOOKERS
Yes, you are a romantic, Mr Strange.
Tell me, when were you first
unfaithful to your wife?
I have never been unfaithful to Audrey.
These are baseless accusations.
She has my heart, and I have hers.
MURMURS FROM ONLOOKERS
MUSIC: Egli non riede ancora
by Verdi
Oh, Audrey!
The humiliation.
The public humiliation of it all.
She asked fr it!
I said, "They will strip you bare,"
but Audrey will never be told.
That girl, heart and stomach of a king.
Nevile has never been a cad.
He was always devoted to Audrey.
It's impossible,
absurd that he should
throw his reputation away
fr this Venus fly trap.
Well, they call her a "wildcat".
They say she shot a man.
Stop reading those rags, Mary!
Your Honour, we call
the co-respondent, Miss Kay Elliot.
GASPS FROM ONLOOKERS
Miss Elliot, you first met
Mr Strange at a tennis match.
Yes, the Championships at Wimbledon.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
WOMAN: Loved watching you play.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
I don't have a piece of paper, so
I know you.
I always seem to win
when you're watching.
"For my lucky charm."
You met again in the South of France.
Tell us about the pool, Miss Elliot,
the mermaid pool.
I was told there was a party there.
You'd been flirting all week.
You couldn't believe your good
fortune to find him there alone.
He said he'd been stood up.
By his wife, yes.
What did you do then, Miss Elliot?
You had a private party,
just the two of you.
You drank the champagne
intended for his wife.
You swam in the moonlight.
What else did you do
in his wife's place, Miss Elliot?
GASPS AND MURMURS
Your Honour, we call Mr Taylor,
gentleman's valet.
MURMURS FROM ONLOOKERS
DOOR OPENS
You worked for Mr Strange, Mr Taylor?
For three years, sir.
Tell us, Mr Taylor,
what you found in Mr Strange's car.
A compact.
I assumed, naturally,
that it belonged to Mrs Strange.
But it did not.
It belonged,
for the benefit of the court
The monogram
KE.
It belonged to Miss Kay Elliot.
GASPS
JUDGE: Order!
Order!
Miss Elliot, you are a
freebooter, a parasite.
You work the casinos, the parties,
wherever the rich can be found.
You live off their scraps.
What exactly are you suggesting?
I think it's clear, Miss Elliot.
I would like to hear you say it.
Very well.
You are, are you not, Miss Elliot,
what was once called an "adventuress"
and we now call a gold digger?
GASPS AND CHATTER
HE WHISPERS: Excuse me.
JUDGE: Order!
Order!
This is your compact, Miss Elliot?
It is. I put it to you, Miss Elliot,
that you left your compact
in Mr Strange's car by design,
because you had your sights set
on the unfortunately married
Mr Nevile Strange, of Grosvenor Square,
and you were going to ensnare him
by any means necessary.
GASPS
Order!
Order in the court!
We'll adjourn there for the day,
Mr Treves. Sir.
Excuse me, sir. There's a side
entrance, if you'll come with me?
REPORTER: Mr Strange!
REPORTERS SHOUT, CAMERAS FLASH
Do you know Miss Elliot?!
Are you an adulterer, Mr Strange?
Is this entrapment, sir?
Are you an adulterer, Mr Strange?
You'll be needing someone
you can trust, sir.
Arthur Macdonald.
Someone who can handle things for you.
REPORTER: Mr Strange! Mr Strange!
Where do you think you're going, pal?
Hold on! Just one question
THUD
Cockroach!
"Macdonald". Don't sound like a Jock.
- No, sir.
- Well, I need a good kit man.
Tennis, golf, shooting,
fishing, riding. Mm.
Mm
You say you've been
out of service for a year.
I had other concerns, sir.
Hmm.
Reputation in tatters.
Press having a bloody field day.
If you should see my wife troubled
or harassed by these apes
I will make your
feelings known, sir, yes.
Very good.
Well, you're a useful fellow,
Macdonald. When can you start?
I'm at your service, sir.
I'll go to the club after my bath.
Very good, sir.
RUNNING WATER
BELL RINGS
Miss Kay Elliot, sir.
Kay! For God's sake,
you can't be here! You'll be seen!
I gave them the slip, Nevile.
Give me some credit.
How can you let him talk to me
like that? Mr Treves.
Saying it was deliberate,
calling me a gold digger.
He was calling me a whore, Nevile.
Mm, it's wretched.
The whole miserable business.
But the compact, he had to discredit it.
What else could we do?
You could tell the truth, Nevile.
It's easily fixed.
Declare our love, divorce her,
marry me. Divorce!
The public are already
turning against me.
Adultery? My God, it'll ruin me.
I'll be a pariah.
I mean, no tournament will have me.
Tennis, it's, it's my life.
I live to play. What will I do?
You saw how they were today.
They can smell blood.
I mean, do, do you want
to live like that?
Do you want to be an outcast?
Well, then, what are we to do?
MR TREVES: Mrs Strange,
you and Mr Strange,
you met at what age?
I was 11. Mm.
And how would you describe
your relationship?
Fire meets oxygen.
GASPS
Oxygen? Mm.
You were each other's everything,
and yet, you would drag your soulmate
through the muck of the divorce courts,
to what end? Money?
Money? No. I've got my own.
You make it sound petty.
Petty, Mrs Strange?
These sordid accusations,
this undignified spectacle?
I've asked for this divorce
for one reason alone.
The lonely shame, behind doors,
of the humiliated wife,
I will not accept.
Mr Strange
DOOR OPENS, GASPS
ANIMATED CHATTER
JUDGE: Order!
Order! Order!
CHATTER STOPS
Mr Strange, your wife,
how did she come to be in your life?
Er, she
Er, she had been orphaned.
She came to live at Saltcreek
with my cousins, the Roydes,
her godparents. She had, er, no-one,
no-one in the world. She trusted
you, Mr Strange. She loved you.
Since childhood,
she has not once left your side,
and yet, you betrayed that trust and
No.
Er I'm I'm sorry.
I - I - I really can't allow
any more of this.
Audrey, questioned and exposed,
hounded by reporters
when she has done nothing wrong.
No, I
I owe her the truth.
I must tell the truth.
I beg pardon of the court.
I admit I was unfaithful to my wife.
GASPS
JUDGE: Order!
Order! Order!
I bitterly regret the hurt
I have caused.
I fell in love.
What's a man to do?
Look at her. How could you not?
I am sorry and I beg
Audrey's forgiveness.
By his own admission,
Mrs Strange,
you are granted your Decree Nisi.
MARY: "The strangest divorce",
"for although Nevile Strange
lost his case,"
"you would think, for all the world,
that he was the winner."
Is that the post?
BELL RINGS
"My dear Mary."
"May I call you dear?"
"I find I can only think of you now"
"with the tenderest of feelings."
"Thomas, dear, you may."
"Of course you may."
"Perhaps it is strange to be so free"
"with someone I have not even met."
"After everything we've shared,"
"all our sorrows and frustrations"
"I feel I know you better than
"any of the people I see every day."
"I don't mean to be so ungrateful."
"Just one of those grey days,
when the wind comes off the sea"
"and Gull's Point can seem
the bleakest spot on Earth."
"I've never known a house so cold,
"even when the sun is out."
"My memories of it,"
"I must confess, they make me
a little melancholy sometimes."
"And, yet, I am homesick."
BELL RINGS
Miss Aldin! She's asking for you.
"I miss England.
Would you help me, Mary?"
repairs to the cottage roofs
"I want to come home,"
"but Lady Tressilian
won't reply to my letters."
"Won't you put in a good word
for me?"
"If you would only tell her how
very much I want to make the peace."
the culvert at Capton Brewer
Lady Tressilian.
BELL RINGS IN DISTANCE
The ferryman is out.
There's a body in the water.
Another death.
That damned hotel!
Some city fool tried to swim across.
Got caught in the rip? Yes.
REPORTER: Mrs Strange, you must be
looking forward
to the honeymoon very much.
Er, no, tennis first. We agreed.
And then in September,
yachting off the Cap d'Antibes.
No, Lucky, my dearest love,
we agreed tennis,
and then September in Saltcreek.
CAMERA FLASHES
Saltcreek, that's where
you summered as a boy.
You said, er, it was
the closest thing you had to a home.
We're not spending our honeymoon
in rainy old Devon,
not when it's 80 degrees
off the Cap!
Fine. How's a man to resist?
Ha! We'll just have to have
two honeymoons, or three, or four.
Our whole life is going to be
a honeymoon.
AUDREY READS: "I shall very much
enjoy being the new Mrs Strange."
We'll see.
"Camilla, I should have written sooner,"
"but I feel sure you will understand"
SHE READS: "I hope there are
no hard feelings between us."
Do you think she wants
to come and visit?
It was her childhood home too.
She gave all that up
when she divorced him.
Nevile plays the tournaments
in August, doesn't he?
Can't she come then, when he's not here?
And then he can come in September,
with the new one.
Yes. She'll be long gone
before they arrive.
I shall be glad to see Audrey again.
Not a dull bone in her body.
COMMENTATOR: England's Nevile
Strange faces the Dutchman Vanrile
in the final stages of this game,
Strange having reached this stage
for the third time in three years.
A tense opening rally now,
both players showing extreme acumen.
APPLAUSE
UMPIRE: 15-love.
Powerful forehand from Strange,
catching Vanrile off-guard.
30-love.
APPLAUSE
GASPS FROM CROWD
Quiet, please!
Quiet, please!
And it's a cannonball from Strange,
sending it speeding down the line.
40-love.
NEVILE: Audrey, what are you doing here?
I've come to see Fred Perry play.
Audrey
I've come to tell you that
Camilla has invited me
to Gull's Point
and I've said yes.
I'm going in August.
You'll be playing.
You won't even be there.
Will you?
No, Audrey, I won't.
KAY: The front row!
She sat in the front row, Nevile!
Yes. I need to talk to you
about that, about her.
Come here.
Aunt Camilla has invited
Audrey to Gull's Point.
Listen, Lucky, listen.
When I spoke to her today,
I felt like this weight had been
lifted and I felt free of her.
And it got me thinking,
she's going in August,
what if we went in August too?
No, listen, listen.
Friendly relations.
We just put it all behind us.
You want me to spend our honeymoon,
my honeymoon Mm.
with your ex-wife?
HE CHUCKLES
Yes, well, when you put it
like that Yeah.
Oh, it's just that
Saltcreek, it's the happiest place
I've ever known.
It's bright blue days
and golden evenings,
and I want to share that with you.
Then we'll go another time.
Look, the truth is, I feel a heel.
We treated Audrey badly
I, I treated Audrey badly.
But we're the winners, aren't we?
You're the winner.
Mm Mm? Mm-hm.
Lady Tressilian?
Thomas has written to me,
Thomas Royde.
Thomas Royde?
He has asked me to speak to you
on his behalf, as as you will not
reply to his letters.
He wishes to visit and
speak to you in person.
No, Mary.
Categorically, emphatically, no!
And it's extremely low of him
to use you.
He's He's not using me.
Why are you so set against him?
Family business, Mary.
Doesn't concern you.
FIREWORKS WHISTLE AND EXPLODE
For the live of God!
Fireworks at 10:00 in the morning?
Mary, call Inspector Leach.
Mary, call Inspector Leach!
Go on with you now.
Ah, Inspector!
Thank you fr coming.
How can I help you today,
Lady Tressilian?
I want you to see fr yourself.
FIREWORKS WHISTLE AND EXPLODE
There.
Gomorrah.
It is, um, a pleasure hotel.
There's no law against pleasure.
One death already this year.
That cursed hotel
brings the worst kind to Saltcreek.
No law against stupidity.
Stupidity, fecklessness, decadence.
My men make daily patrols,
we answer all complaints.
Are you being modern, Inspector?
This lack of deference,
I find very un-amusing.
I'm being neither modern
nor amusing.
I simply couldn't care less.
You've got the black dog on you.
Devil's got your soul.
I'll make an inspection myself.
Would that satisfy you?
Close the damn place dawn.
That would satisfy me.
BRASS BAND MUSIC PLAYS
Whisky.
Just leave the bottle.
Thank you.
What's your pleasure, sir?
I don't think I've seen you here before.
No, sir, I'm new to this hotel.
But be assured, I can help you
to anything your heart desires.
Girls, boys
If you stop talking, I won't have to
tell you that I'm a policeman.
CHURCH BELL TOLLS
Huh!
Nevile. Audrey! My Lord.
It's, er, it's been a while.
You look wonderful.
I've been climbing, in the Alps.
Alone, if that's what you're wondering.
You know, it's, er, it's uncanny.
I was I was going to
write to you this morning.
Gull's Point, it's a change of plans.
We will be there in August,
Kay and I, if you don't mind.
Do you know, I think
it might be a good thing,
to be friends again.
Yes.
Yeah, I mean, after all we've shared,
everything we've been through,
well, it'd be madness not to be
in each other's lives.
Madness.
Well, until August.
Yes.
Friends, Mary! They've decided
they're all going to be friends.
It's intolerable, bizarre.
May I?
SHE SCOFFS
He wants to bring his new wife
to stay here, with his ex-wife.
Isn't it their honeymoon?
Water and electricity, Mary.
But perhaps if they can
put it all behind them
and find some ease with each other,
wouldn't that be best for everyone?
You just want a ringside seat, Mary.
Well, I I'm sorry
you find life here so very boring.
Matthew would not deny them.
I must do as Matthew would wish.
But I will have Mr Treves here.
I will need a man about the place.
My mother used to say, "Why have a
husband when you can have a lawyer?"
CAR APPROACHES
HEADMISTRESS: "Dear Mr Treves",
"following a spate
of thefts at the school,
"the items in question
were all discovered
"in your ward's possession.
"There is no place for delinquency
in my school."
"And regrettably, I must inform you"
"that Sylvia will not be staying
with us for the long holiday."
"Nor will she be returning to us
next term."
Oh, Sylvia!
What am I to do with you?
He's bringing his ward. She's 14.
I'm not paid to look after children!
He says they're going to stay at
the hotel, but they'll be joining us
for meals, so you'll have to get
more help in, Barrett.
Well, I'm not asking her.
You're the housekeeper.
Well, you're You're
I'm her companion and friend.
You're her paid friend.
The maids are your
responsibility, Mrs Barrett.
I'm not wasting my breath.
We both know what she'll say.
No! Camilla, I am not a maid,
but too often, I find myself
up to my elbows in dirty dishes,
because Barrett needs help.
You're doing a great deal of
plain speaking today, Mary.
Well, then, I - I shall go on.
I have had another letter from Thomas.
He asks again if he may visit.
You will write to him, and fr
the last time, you will tell him no.
He is not to come here.
I forbid it.
And you are not to mention
this matter again, Mary.
I mean it.
We have always gotten along
very well together, you and I.
I should be sorry
to have to part with you.
That will be all.
SHE SCREAMS
MARY: "Thomas, you are not
welcome at Gull's Point."
"Come anyway."
"I will make up a room for you."
"I will be very glad to meet you."
THOMAS: "Mary, dear Mary."
"Arrive in eight days."
"Coming by air,"
"because I cannot wait."
TREVES: A goat, a broomstick
and vinegar.
The Headmistress went to the market
and she bought a goat,
a broomstick, vinegar and
a bottle of cyanide.
HE LAUGHS
KAY: I can't believe I let you
talk me into this - us, with her!
We'll hardly see her. And we can
go bathing and rock-pooling
and dancing at Easterhead.
I dare say I could
force myself onto a yacht.
No. No, no, no.
No boats. No boating allowed.
No boats? No.
What on earth do you mean?
Well, Uncle Matthew
his yacht went down
not half a mile from Saltcreek.
Aunt Camilla saw the whole thing
from her window.
She never left her room after that.
No, the only boat
she'll allow is the ferry.
It's treacherous, that headland.
Tidal races, rip currents, awful stuff.
MARY: They're here!
Welcome!
Mary!
Hello, Nevile. You look well.
Look at you! Oh, stop!
Meet Meet Kay.
Lucky, this is Mary.
She's the boss,
so you must be very, very nice to her!
Oh, I'm just
Lady Tressilian's companion.
Oh
Mrs B! Oh, it's so good to see you!
Kay, this is Barrett.
Dear old Mrs B, this is Mrs Strange!
Hurstall will show you to your rooms.
Thank you.
Audrey's not here yet.
This will be your room, Mr
Macdonald, Miss Aldin.
And you'll serve as
footman at dinner?
Yes, Miss Aldin.
Right, yes.
UPBEAT MUSIC IN BACKGROUND
Well, isn't this nice?
How nice to see you, sir.
Yes. Ah, thank you.
PHONE RINGS
Oh!
SHE LAUGHS
Audrey, you're here.
Was the traffic bad at Saltington?
Well, it's market day.
Of course it was.
SHE LAUGHS
Kay.
Audrey.
I'll ask Barrett to bring
some tea. Yes. Mm.
BELL RINGS
Ah, well, that'll be for me.
Better go and account for myself.
Nevile!
One letter, Nevile, in six months.
I've had to read the newspapers to
know what's going on in your life.
You've managed everything very poorly.
If you'd thought to consult me
I didn't
I didn't want to trouble you.
This nonsense, your wife and
your ex-wife under the same roof,
my roof, Nevile.
Ah!
Some lavender, from Provence
and that lovely soap you like
from Marseille.
And, oh, Mrs B?
Here. It's that hand cream you like,
from Switzerland.
Oh!
My hands get that dry.
Oh
Don't think fr a minute that
you're forgiven, Nevile. No.
I mean, I wouldn't dream of it.
Mm.
Ahem
DOORBELL RINGS
I won't stay too late.
I've had to leave Sylvia
with one of the maids.
I just hope she doesn't
give her the slip.
And how is Her Ladyship?
Still alive. Mm.
JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS
LIVELY CHATTER
I'm not sure I'm speaking to you,
Mr Treves.
As the family lawyer, I was
compelled to act for Mr Strange,
but let's have no hard feelings
about it.
I am the successful party.
I have no hard feelings whatsoever.
Thank you.
Now, Aunt Camilla takes her dinner
in her room, in bed,
so we'll be called one by one
for an audience.
But Mr Treves is here, in her place.
So, everyone, behave.
I'm here as friend and guest
but I sincerely hope that I shan't
be called upon to play umpire.
BELL RINGS
Nevile, Audrey, you're first.
Sorry, er
Er, surely you mean Kay?
She should be welcoming
my new wife first.
I don't know, Nevile.
She asked for you and Audrey.
Together, she said.
She made a point of it.
BELL RINGS
Well, I can't possibly eat this,
all this cream, so
Mm.
Bring Mrs Strange something else.
And for the avoidance of all doubt,
I am Mrs Strange.
Come on.
Nevile, Audrey,
you say you mean to be friends?
We thought it for the best.
We called a truce. Mm.
And you've come here together,
the three of you -
husband, wife, ex-wife?
I hope this isn't
some kind of unfinished business
between the two of you.
You will not make a mockery
of marriage under my roof.
We've put all that behind us now.
Let bygones be bygones, I say.
Mm-hm.
BELL RINGS
Mrs Kay Strange.
On my own?
You'll be fine, I promise.
Well, then, Mrs Strange,
let's have a look at you.
Beautiful, of course.
Thank you. I know your father,
by reputation, and your mother
I have long since disowned them.
I consider myself my own person.
My dear, a woman
can't be her own person.
You're Nevile's wife.
It's a fair trade.
He provides,
very generously, I see.
I have provided for myself
since I was 16, Lady Tressilian.
I may be a wife now, bought and
paid for, but if I know one thing,
it's that I can always rely on myself.
They call me a gold digger.
Let them.
I didn't marry Nevile for money,
I married him for love.
Oh.
I am disappointed.
Well, there it is, my dear.
Your Achilles heel.
Thank you.
DOORBELL RINGS
Who the hell is that?
I'll go.
I'll see.
Ahem.
M-Mary?
Thomas.
Come in.
Come in.
You're just as I imagined you.
You're rather better, I should say.
SHE CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY
Oh, please forgive my
A long and arduous journey. We had
some trouble refuelling in Jaipur.
I knew you'd come.
LAUGHTER IN OTHER ROOM
Er, I shall say you knew nothing of it.
I don't want to get you in trouble.
I don't care.
Er, but But, Mary, best
not to mention our friendship
for now.
BELL RINGS
Thomas Royde.
Thomas Royde.
How dare you come here,
when I expressly forbade it?
I am Sir Matthew's nephew,
and I have as much right
to be here as anyone else.
You forfeited all that with
your insinuations against Nevile,
your lies, Thomas.
And you dare to come here
before me filthy, like a tinker?
I - I I haven't come to make trouble.
Then why have you come, Thomas?
I want a fair hearing.
I want a fair hearing.
Uncle Matthew was very fond of me.
I believe he'd have
given me nothing less.
INDISTINCT CHATTER
LAUGHTER
Dear God!
Thomas Royde. Nevile.
Audrey, what are you doing here?
Could ask you the same.
Hmm.
You've got a bloody nerve, Royde.
Now, Nevile!
Thomas? Er, I have
some business with my aunt.
There's no need for
any unpleasantness,
and there shan't be any from me.
Please
Will somebody please introduce us?
No.
Nevile's cousin.
Mm.
The liar.
Well, then
here we all are.
I should have stayed at the hotel.
I'll go tomorrow.
Don't.
MUSIC: How Deep ls The Ocean?
by Helen Forrest
How much do I live you? ♪
I'll tell you no lie ♪
How deep is the ocean? ♪
LEACH: Look, I I'm going!
BARMAN: Come on, sir.
How high is the sky? ♪
How many times a day ♪
Do I think of you? ♪
How many roses ♪
Are sprinkled with dew? ♪
How far would I travel ♪
To be where you are? ♪
WAVES CRASH
How far is the journey ♪
From here to a star? ♪
MUSIC FADES