BLACK COFFEE to Play Theatre Royal Glasgow, From 3 November

Few actors come with sleuthing skills as sharp as Jason Durr who continues his celebrated run as the diminutive detective Hercule Poirot in the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie's, espionage classic Black Coffee this autumn. As the Belgian investigator, Jason is now set to get his "little grey cells" working in the celebrated crime collective's latest production at the Theatre Royal Glasgow from Monday 3 November.

Having recently appeared on UK stages in the title role of Sherlock Holmes: The Best Kept Secret, Jason Durr's previous detective training saw him emerge as a household name following starring roles in hit television series such as Lewis (ITV); Midsomer Murders (ITV) Miss Marple: The Blue Geranium (ITV); Inspector Morse (ITV); The Chief (ITV) and, of course, Heartbeat (ITV) where he consolidated his heartthrob status playing the role of PC Mike Bradley for six years.

Jason is joined by an all-star cast including rising starlet, Georgina Leonidas who shot to international fame playing the cursed Katie Bell in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1&2. Prior to this, film and stage credits included Wizards Vs Aliens and Father Brown for TV and Little Cosette in LES MISERABLES. With her number of credits climbing, it would seem that Georgina is certainly one to watch for the future. Bill Kenwright is delighted to have her joining the cast of this delectable thriller.

Joining them is Deborah Grant who has starred in numerous television shows including Not Going Out, Peak Practice and Bergerac and Oliver Mellor, who for 4 years played Dr. Matt Carter in Coronation Street, before appearing as beloved vet, James Herriot in a UK tour of the stage show All Creatures Great and Small. Also appearing are Agatha Christie Company regulars Gary Mavers who is best known for playing heart-throb doctor Andrew Attwood in Peak Practice and Ben Nealon, perhaps best loved for his role as Capt. Forsythe in the ITV drama Soldier Soldier.

Trained at LAMDA, Jason Durr's additional theatre credits include: Donkeys Years (Rose Theatre Kingston) The Mummy (Belgrade Coventry) Sherlock Holmes (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Volcano (number one tour/West End); (RSC). Other TV credits include: New Tricks (BBC); Above Suspicion (ITV); Numb3rs (Paramount/CBS); Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice (both Clasart Film Productions); Fooling Hitler (Tiger Aspect); Bugs series three (Carnival/BBC); Christmas (World Productions/Channel 4); Femme Fatale (BBC2); Gawain and the Green Knight (Thames TV); The Paradise Club (BBC); Iphigenia at Aulius (BBC)Jupiter Moon (BBC) Film Credits Include: True True Lie (Castel Films); Porridge (Moonstone Film Lab); The Killer Tongue (Lola Films); Between Two Worlds (BFI); Young Soul Rebels (BFI) In A Heartbeat (Lovelight/Raoul Girard Productions) Down Dog (Apropos Films)

A quintessential English country estate is thrown into chaos following the murder of eccentric inventor Sir Claud Amory, and the theft of his new earth shattering formula. Arriving at the estate just moments too late, one man immediately senses a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the estate's occupants. That man is Hercule Poirot.

From the pen of the great Dame Christie - (who, having sold over 2 billion books worldwide, is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare) - Poirot debuted in Christie's 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, making his first - and only - stage outing in the mistress of murder's debut play, Black Coffee.

The Belgian investigator went on to become one of world's most cherished and long-lived fictional characters, appearing in 33 novels, one play and more than 50 short stories published between 1920 and 1975. To this day he remains the only fictitious character to receive a front-page obituary in the New York Times.

His legend has proved ripe for adaptation and Poirot has been portrayed in comics, on radio and on screen for films and television, by actors such as Albert Finney, Sir Peter Ustinov, Sir Ian Holm, Alfred Molina and David Suchet who, of course, played the eponymous hero in the ITV series since 1989, through the entire catalogue of books and dozens of short stories. He recently bid audiences an emotional farewell as Series 13 of the classic series concluded with his demise in Christie's dramatic farewell, Curtain.

Such is Poirot's on-going popularity that the first official novel to continue Christie's work will be published in September 2014. Written by crime writer and poet Sophie Howard, the title alone will be announced this May with the support of the Christie estate.

Intrigue and suspense form the back-bone of this classic spy-thriller which follows The Agatha Christie Theatre Company's hugely successful; The Hollow, The Unexpected Guest, And Then There Were None, Spider's Web, Witness for the Prosecution, Verdict, Murder on the Nile and Go Back For Murder.

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