Superintendent Mallard

Superintendent Mallard is a non-canonical character created for the the 2007 ITV adaptation of the novel Towards Zero. He takes over the role of Superintendent Battle from the original novel, except that, because of the insertion of Miss Marple in the adaptation, he has a much smaller part to play. While he interviews the suspects like Battle in the original, the fine detecting work and the discovery of the subtle clues like the window pole/bell rope and the fender knob are given over to Miss Marple.

Playing out a common trope in both Miss Marple series, Mallard has heard of Miss Marple from his Chief Constable Colonel Melchett (who is mentioned in the adaptation) although it is not something which immediately excites his enthusiasm. In common with many of the senior policemen who encounter Miss Marple, he at first does not welcome her involvement but she forces her views on him and to his credit, he very quickly accepts that she has important observations to make. At the end of the show, he organises the denouement on the boat but hands the floor to Miss Marple. He collaborates with Miss Marple in extracting the confession from Nevile Strange, irritating him on mocking his supposedly perfect murder plan with statements like, "We were laughing in our sleeves, weren't we."

Superintendent Mallard is portrayed by Alan Davies.