Unlike prolific crime writer Max Halliday (Michael Salami) who in the opening scene boasts to Margot Wendice (Sally Bretton), with whom he is having an affair, that he has penned a murder a week for a year, Frederick Knott’s far from dramatic output numbered less than a murder a decade.

Three to be precise: Write Me A Murder, Wait Until Dark and the equally successful Dial M For Murder which after starting off as a live television drama for the BBC’s Sunday Night Theatre, he later adapted for the stage and the big screen. The latter of which directed by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly.

The plot, which hinges upon the perfect murder of Margot by her scheming husband Tony (Tom Chambers) going belly up, and his subsequent attempts to create order out of chaos so as to pin the blame on his wife and walk off with a tidy sum, is crafted to precision like a mathematical equation.

With each honed exchange developing the plot, heightening the tension and most successful of all in director Anthony Banks’ enjoyable touring production (which next week transfers to the Theatre Royal in Glasgow) adding to the merriment. As do the comical performances by Tom Chambers and, in particular, Christopher Harper as the droll detective Hubbard.

While Dial M For Murder lacks the depth and social commentary of An Inspector Calls, and is not as gripping or chilling as The Hound Of The Baskervilles, it nonetheless remains a crowd-pleasing thriller. Which is not bad for a reluctant dramatist who according to his widow is said to have “hated writing”.

Peter Callaghan
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