By Brian Clemens and Dennis Spooner
Theatre Royal Nottingham
11–15 August 2026

The Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season has changed considerably over the years, as you would expect from a series of plays which were first presented almost 40 years ago.

It began as a genuine repertory season, with a cast of actors performing one play in the evenings and rehearsing the following week’s production during the afternoons. It led to occasional under-rehearsed performances which added to the plays’ charm. Some audience members attended just to see what would go wrong.

Now the season is more slick and highly professional. It will often feature one play with a reasonably large cast along with a production that’s been touring before it reaches the Theatre Royal.

Anybody for Murder has the largest cast of the three plays in the 2026 season. Seven years ago Tabs Productions and sister company Rumpus presented it as the penultimate offering in a seven-play rep season to celebrate 70 years of Chesterfield’s Pomegranate Theatre.

Four of the cast members from that show reprise their roles while the other two actors are Thriller Season regulars who have no problem settling into their parts.

Anybody for Murder was the fourth and final play written by Brian Clemens and Dennis Spooner. They have come up with a clever plot that keeps you guessing right until the end.

On a tiny Greek island Max Harrington is preparing to kill his wife Janet and cash in the insurance money. His lover Suzy Stevens will take Janet’s place. They’ll live happily ever after – or so they think.

Their plan takes a fascinating twist with the unexpected arrival of Mary and George Ticklewell. A distant relative has died, leaving millions of pounds. Some of the money will go to Mary as she was the man’s second cousin. But Janet will get more because she was a first cousin. Max isn’t the only one with murder in mind . . .

John Goodrum gives his usual accomplished performance as Max, the cunning conniver who has to think on his feet when things don’t go to plan. Occasionally Goodrum hams it up although the script has plenty of humour which the audience appreciated.

Karen Henson who also directs spends a lot of the play in a bedroom after taking a substance concocted by Max. She is “dweadfully” charming as Janet who can’t pronounce her “r”s.

Susan Earnshaw relishes her role as bossy, greedy Mary Ticklewell. She dominates her husband and reprehensibly forces him to consider murdering Janet so the pair of them can get their hands on all the money.

Alongside her David Gilbrook is commendable as her downtrodden lawyer husband George who tries to resist Mary’s lethal leanings which go against all his principles.

Sarah Wynne Kordas gives a neat interpretation of Suzy, Max’s intellectually challenged girlfriend who has a habit of coming back from the dead.

Jeremy Lloyd Thomas adds a touch of humour as crime writer Edgar Chambers. Although he enjoys more than the odd glass of ouzo, he gets dangerously close to finding out what’s really happening because of his ability to recognise suspicious behaviour.

When I saw Anybody for Murder at the Pomegranate I was disappointed with the ending. But here everything is tidied up in the final scene – and you probably won’t be able to guess who comes out on top.

At a time when there’s little live theatre on offer, Anybody for Murder is a clever, thought-provoking play acted with enthusiasm and polish by a company with enough experience to know exactly what its audience wants.

* This review originally appeared on the British Theatre Guide website