Tina Hobley, Jamie Lomas & More to Star in DEAD SIMPLE UK Tour

Following the critically acclaimed hit premiere stage production of Peter James' The Perfect Murder - which recently opened its autumn tour at the Canterbury Marlowe to further rave reviews - the best-selling work of the No.1 novelist will return to the stage in 2015 with the adaptation of his most famous and popular book to date Dead Simple. A host of famous faces including Tina Hobley, Jamie Lomas and Gray O' Brien are to bring the next claustrophobically thrilling instalment of Peter James' work to life on stage when the tour opens in Dartford in January.

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, buried alive 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.

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 heartthrob, 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.

Peter James has gone straight in at no 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller charts seven times in the last four years with his Roy Grace series - with last year's Roy Grace novel, Dead Man's Time going straight to No.1 in the Autumn of 2013. His new novel, Want You Dead, is released in paperback at the end of October. The international bestselling crime thriller novelist has won numerous awards both in the UK and in the USA and In 2012 Peter won the coveted US Barry Award for Best British Crime Thriller. He has sold over 15 million books of his Roy Grace series, and is published in 36 languages. Dead Simple has itself sold over 2 million copies around the word and has been a No.1 best seller in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Holland and Russia

Dead Simple is the second of James' novels to be adapted by Shaun McKenna and produced by Peter James and Joshua Andrews in association with Paul Tyrer and Jamie Clark at the Booking Office. Andrews is currently co-producing the sell-out run of A Streetcar Named Desire with the Young Vic - the fastest selling show in the theatre's history - which opened to rave reviews and stars Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby. An 'NT Live' broadcast of A Streetcar Named Desire will be screened live in cinemas on Tuesday September 16th.

Author Peter James said of the ongoing collaboration with Andrews:

"From the age of eight, when my parents first took me to the Theatre Royal in Brighton, it had been my dream that one day the curtains would rise in a theatre and a play of my work would be performed. That dream came true after a chance meeting with my old friend, producer, Joshua Andrews, at a party in November 2012. Josh had seen first-hand the success of the recent Agatha Christie stage productions and he joked that I was the nearest thing to a living modern day Agatha Christie - so he asked if I had any novels that I felt might adapt well to the stage. The result was the first run of The Perfect Murder, over 16 weeks from early January this year, and to my delight it played to packed houses, enthusiastic audiences and a great critical response around the country and has just started its second tour this autumn!

"The success of The Perfect Murder on stage, together with the news that my books are soon to be adapted for television and the recent successful release of my latest novel have already made 2014 a wonderful year. It is a real thrill now for Josh and I to be launching our second collaboration, an adaptation by the brilliant Shaun McKenna of my first Roy Grace novel, Dead Simple, a tale of treachery and deceit, which seems to touch a nerve in everyone who reads it and has been one of my best-selling books to date. The story begins with a wedding prank that goes horribly wrong, leaving the groom-to-be buried alive in a coffin in remote woodlands, running out of air, and everyone who knows his whereabouts dead. Everyone except for one person... And Detective Roy Grace has to discover who that one person is before it's too late.

"I had myself locked in a coffin for 30 mins as part of my research, and it was one of the scariest moments of my life. It's so many people's worst nightmare to be buried alive and I'm looking forward to recreating some of that terror in the theatres soon with another incredible cast of actors!"

DEAD SIMPLE TOUR 2015 TOUR DATES

** TINA HOBLEY IS CONFIRMED TO PERFORM AT THESE VENUES

Further casting to be announced this autumn

Wed 14 - Sat 17 January Box Office: 01322 220000

DARTFORD ORCHARD THEATRE www.orchardtheatre.co.uk **

Tues 20 - Sat 24 January Box Office: 01603 630000

NORWICH THEATRE ROYAL www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk **

Mon 26 - Sat 31 January Box Office: 024 7655 3055

COVENTRY BELGRADE THEATRE www.belgrade.co.uk **

Mon 2 - Sat 7 February Box Office: 0131 529 6000

EDINBURGH KING'S THEATRE www.edtheatres.com **

Mon 9 - Sat 14 February Box Office: 01684 892 277

MALVERN THEATRE www.malvern-theatres.co.uk **

Mon 16 - 21 February Box Office: 01223 503333

CAMBRIDGE ARTS THEATRE www.cambridgeartstheatre.com **

Mon 23 - Sat 28 February Box Office: 0844 871 7627

BRIGHTON THEATRE ROYAL www.atgtickets.com/brighton**

Mon 2 - Sat 7 March Box Office: 0844 871 3018

MANCHESTER OPERA HOUSE www.atgtickets.com/manchester **

Mon 9 - Sat 14 March Box Office: 0844 871 7651

RICHMOND THEATRE www.atgtickets.com/richmond **

Tues 14 - Sat 18 April Box Office: 0115 989 5555

NOTTINGHAM THEATRE ROYAL www.trch.co.uk

Mon 20 - Sat 25 April Box Office: 01793 524 481

SWINDON WYVERN THEATRE www.swindontheatres.co.uk

Tues 28 April - Sat 2 May Box Office: 023 8071 1811

SOUTHAMPTON MAYFLOWER www.mayflower.org.uk

Tue 5 - Sat 9 May Box Office: 0844 871 7645

WOKING NEW VICTORIA THEATRE www.atgtickets.com/woking

Mon 11 - Sat 16 May Box Office: 01225 448844

BATH THEATRE ROYAL www.theatreroyal.org.uk

Mon 18 - Sat 23 May Box Office: 0844 871 7627

GLASGOW THEATRE ROYAL www.atgtickets.com/glasgow

Tues 26 - Sat 30 May Box Office: 0844 811 2121

NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL www.theatreroyal.co.uk

Tues 2 - Sat 6 June Box Office: 029 2087 8889

CARDIFF NEW THEATRE www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk/

Mon 8 - Sat 13 June Box Office: 0844 871 7652

MILTON KEYNES THEATRE www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes

Mon 15 - Sat 20 June Box Office: 01872 262466

TRURO HALL FOR CORNWALL www.hallforcornwall.co.uk

Mon 29 June - Sat 4 July Box Office: 0844 871 3011

BIRMINGHAM ALEXANDRA THEATRE www.atgtickets/com

Mon 6 - Sat 11 July Box Office: 01227 787787

CANTERBURY MARLOWE THEATRE www.marlowetheatre.com

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