A THRILL-packed evening is in store for Malvern theatregoers along with several twists and turns when the all-time best-selling novel from one of the country’s leading crime writers arrives on stage later this month.

Following the nationwide success of The Perfect Murder last year, Peter James’ Dead Simple is the latest offering at the Festival Theatre for a week from Monday, February 9 through to Saturday, February 14.

The all star cast is led by Tina Hobley (Holby City) as Ashley Harper, Jamie Lomas (Eastenders, Hollyoaks) as Michael Harrison and Gray O’ Brien (Coronation Street) as Detective Roy Grace, alongside Rik Makarem (Emmerdale, Torchwood) in the role of Mark Warren and Michael McKell (Doctors, Emmerdale) as Bradley Cunningham.

Michael Harrison thinks he has it all; great career, good friends and a beautiful fiancée. But when his stag night prank goes horribly wrong, Michael finds himself alone and staring death in the face.

As time runs out and the terror grows, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace tries to solve his mysterious disappearance, but begins to fear that Michael will never be found in time.

Following the release of his latest page-turner Want You Dead in its paperback format last October, the most recent best-selling hit from the pen of author Peter James hit the Nielscan Book Chart top-spot within three days of release and remains in the No.1 pole position in its second week. This comes in a week where Dead Simple - released in 2005 - sits at number three in the UK Kindle downloads where it’s been in the top-ten for five consecutive weeks.

Olivier Award winner Ian Talbot directs an all-star cast led by Tina Hobley who returns to the stage having graced TV screens for the last 12 years as ward sister Chrissie Williams in the BBC 1’s Holby City as well as roles in Coronation Street and Harbour Lights before that and was seen earlier this year in Celebrity Master Chef. She currently presents the prime time Sunday morning programme on Smooth FM.

Award-winning TV heart-throb, Jamie Lomas, has starred for the last year in Eastenders as the murderous Jake Stone and before that played bad boy Warren Fox for five years in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. And Gray O’Brien, the award-winning star of Coronation Street, TV series Titanic, Peak Practice and Casualty as well as Sleuth in the West End, will follow up his critically acclaimed performance in The Perfect Murder by playing the famous Detective Roy Grace in this gripping, chilling, thriller that has all the classic suspense, twists and turns of a best-selling Peter James novel.

Rik Makarem is best known for starring for four years in Emmerdale but has also starred in the BBC’s Torchwood and ITV’s Foyle’s War. A classically trained actor from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Rik is a previous winner of the prestigious Laurence Olivier Bursary in association with the Society of London Theatre. His theatre credits include Passing By at the Tristan Bates theatre and The Dishwashers starring alongside David Essex.

Michael McKell is perhaps best known for his three year starring role in Doctors as well as playing DC Nick Henshall in Emmerdale, DI Trevor Hands in ITV’s Murder Investigation Team and Channel 4’s Totally Frank. On stage he has starred in Blood Brothers, played the role of Stoner in Ben Elton’s Tonight’s the Night and the Olivier winning Crazy for You. His film credits include Essex Boys with Sean Bean.

The cast is completed by Joshua Brown as Davey Wheeler, Marc Small and Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson, Sarah Baxendale as Zoe Frame and Alan Freestone as Robbo.

Author Peter James says of the new casting: “As a writer, all my characters begin in my mind. I flesh them out for the printed page. But nothing can compare to the joy of seeing them turn into real flesh and blood.

“We were blessed with both casts of The Perfect Murder and we are just as blessed now with the cast for Dead Simple. All of them are actors I really admire and respect, and to see them come together, for the first time, at the read-through of the play was a truly magical experience for me.”