THEATREGOERS who love a good murder thriller will be in their element if they pop along to Malvern’s Festival Theatre this week.

There they will find the Middle Ground Theatre Company’s production of The Business of Murder, the acclaimed psychological thriller from the pen of Richard Harris, the man who was responsible for such major television hits as The Sweeney, A Touch Of Frost and The Avengers).

This thriller, which enjoyed a successful nine-year run in the West End, features Stone, a humourless and dour man, who invites Dee, a television playwright, over to his flat on the premise of discussing a script.

Once there, she is surprised when Superintendent Hallett, the man with whom she is having an affair, also arrives for an entirely different reason.

But nothing is as it seems, and as the plot twists and turns the motive of their host Stone gradually becomes clear.

They are all, it would seem, in the same business.... the business of murder.

The plays will star Robert Gwilym, known by millions for his role as Dr Max Gallagher in Casualty, alongside Paul Opacic (a regular as Steve Marchant in Emmerdale, Mark Waddle in Bad Girls and Carl Costello in Hollyoaks), and Joanna Higson, who played Maxine Donnelly for two series of Shameless and is currently appearing as Vicky Hall in BBC TV's WPC56.


The Business of Murder will be appearing at Malvern Theatres from Tuesday, June 23 to Saturday, June. 27.