The producers have brought in playwright Kevin Elyot to adapt and modernize Christie’s novel (rather than simply use her own play script). According to the Society of London Theatre, the show will open in October 2005. The story tells of ten strangers who are invited to a mansion on an island. Once there, it soon becomes evident that there is a killer among them — and unless they can stop him or her in time, they will all be wiped out one by one.

It has always been one of Christie’s most popular yarns (in fact her best selling novel in the UK), with several film versions — the first of which was released in 1945. There was even a Hammer Horror remake, which made one of the guests, not a straightforward murderer, but a werewolf!

Steven Pimlott will direct. Casting will be announced closer to the opening. As a matter of theatrical trivia, there is no film version of The Mousetrap — Christie did sell the rights, but with the proviso that the film would not be made until the stage run had ended. More than 52 years later, the curtain has yet to come down.