Tag Archives: JOe McFadden

Writer: Peter James Adapter: Shaun McKenna Director: Ian Talbot Reviewer: Simon Topping It’s 2019 and the Harcourt family have taken the plunge to move to a beguiling 18th-century manor house just outside Brighton, which has laid empty since the late 1980s. Ollie Harcourt (Joe McFadden - Casualty star and Strictly Come Dancing winner) has sold his advertising business in the ...

Writer: Peter James Adaptor: Shaun McKenna Director: Ian Talbot Reviewer: Frances Scott Plunging all their money into a rundown 1750s manor in Sussex, the Harcourt family have packed up their city life and relocated for a chance at country living. Freelance web designer, Ollie (Joe McFadden, Heartbeat and Holby City), his high-powered solicitor wife, Caro (Rita Simons, EastEnders) and their sixteen-year-old ...

Writer: Peter James Adaptor: Shaun McKenna Director: Ian Talbot Reviewer: Alex Ramon Stage adaptations of the best-selling crime novels of Peter James have proved quite successful in the last few years, in touring productions with casts made up of popular, TV-familiar actors. Directed by Ian Talbot and written by James's regular adapter Shaun McKenna, The House on Cold Hill continues that ...

Writer: Shaun McKenna from the book by Peter James Director: Ian Talbot Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Ollie needs a new challenge. He’s sold his advertising agency for megabucks and set himself up as a web designer – albeit one who can’t set up his own wifi. He and solicitor wife Caro have used the proceeds to buy Cold Hill House, an ...

Writer: Shaun McKenna from the book by Peter James Director: Ian Talbot Reviewer: James Garrington Moving house is said to be one of the most stressful things that you can do. Some moves, though, can be more stressful than others, as Ollie Harcourt and his family find out. They have bought the house of their dreams – and from being ...

Writer: Alan Ayckbourn Director: Andrew Hall Reviewer: Angela Wilson [rating:4] This week’s visiting production at Derby Theatre is Haunting Julia by Alan Ayckbourn – and it’s rather different to the type of work normally associated with one of Britain’s most prolific and popular playwrights of the past forty years. We are all familiar with Ayckbourn’s comedies about middle class, suburban ...

Writer: Alan Ayckbourn Director: Andrew Hall Reviewer: Ann Bawtree [rating:3.5] “Haunting Julia” is, on the face of it, a ghost story. A widower is himself haunted by the thought that his talented daughter should have been so unhappy in her family life that she was driven to suicide while still in her teens. Having done all that was in his ...

Writer: Alan Ayckbourn Director: Andrew Hall Reviewer: Glen Pearce [rating:2.5] Onedoesn'tnormally associate Alan Ayckbourn with horror. The prolific writer, normally more familiar with suburban comedy, has though turned his hand to a chilling thriller. First performed in 1994 and revived in Lichfield and London in 2011, Haunting Julia now stretches its spectral legs on a first ever national tour. While ...