Tina Hobley and Jamie Lomas Lead Stage Premiere of DEAD SIMPLE at Belgrade Theatre Coventry

Following in the wake of last year's hugely successful production of The Perfect Murder, Dead Simple - Peter James' all-time best-selling novel will be brought to life on stage for the first time in a thrilling new adaptation which will visit the Belgrade Theatre Coventry from Mon 26 - Sat 31 Jan 2015.

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 and was seen earlier this year in Celebrity Master Chef. She currently presents the prime time Sunday morning programme on Smooth FM.

Tina will be joined on stage by award-winning TV heartthrob, Jamie Lomas. Jamie is perhaps best known for his roles as the murderous Jake Stone in Eastenders and bad boy Warren Fox in Channel 4's Hollyoaks, a role he played for five years. 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. Completing the all-star cast are Rik Makarem (Emmerdale, Torchwood) in the role of Mark Warren, Michael McKell (Doctors, Emmerdale) as Bradley Cunningham, Joshua Brown as Davey Wheeler, Marc Small and Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson, Sarah Baxendale as Zoe Frame and Alan Freestone as Robbo.

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.

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. 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. As well as The Perfect Murder, Andrews has recently co-produced 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 starred Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby. An 'NT Live' broadcast of A Streetcar Named Desire was screened live in cinemas around the world earlier this year.

Author Peter James said:

"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."

Tickets for Dead Simple are available now from the Belgrade Theatre's Box Office on 024 7655 3055 priced from £16.75 - £32 or via www.belgrade.co.uk where cheaper tickets are available.

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