Dial M For Murder
Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne
from Thursday, July 2 to Saturday, July 11, 2026
Dial M for Murder has proved a hit on both screen and stage, and this new version from Phil&Ben Productions, in association with Eastbourne Productions, does full justice to a classic story of deception and betrayal.
A delighted audience showed their appreciation at the Saturday matinee I attended by giving prolonged applause at the end. My fellow writer Robert Crouch, who went with his wife Carol on the opening night performance, agreed, saying: ”We thoroughly enjoyed a clever, twisting story with some deft touches, and it was well acted throughout.”
Dial M For Murder was originally written as a play by English playwright Frederick Knott in 1952, and has survived the test of time as a great thriller.
Tony Wendice, a former English professional tennis player, is married to wealthy socialite Margot, but discovers she has been having an affair with Mark Halliday, an American crime-fiction writer. Tony plots Margot’s murder to inherit her fortune, fearing a divorce would leave him penniless.
The ruthless husband invites small-time crook Charles Swann to his Maida Vale flat, and threatens to expose Swann as a blackmailer unless he kills Margot. Tony throws in a payment of £1,000.
Swann agrees to carry out the murder while Tony and Mark are attending a party, leaving Margot at home alone. After Margot goes to bed, Swann opens the flat’s door with Margot’s latchkey, which Tony has left hidden on the hall staircase under the carpet. When Tony telephones from the party, Swann is to kill Margot as she answers the call, and then make it look like a burglary before putting the key back under the staircase.
But nothing goes according to plan, and a frantic Tony has to improvise.
It would be a big ask to match the acting skills of Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock-directed film, but this cast gives it a good go.
Tanya-Loretta Dee and Pete Ashmore are outstanding as Margot and Tony Wendice in creating tension and friction through dialogue rather than action. Ashmore switches from a charming, concerned husband to a threatening villain in an instant.
They are given excellent support by Simon Pothecary as Margot’s lover, the devoted Max Halliday, and Phil Stewart as the hired assassin who has used several names to carry out his criminal activities.
Katy Dean gives us a good insight into the suspicious mind of Inspector Hubbard, but I feel the role would be better suited to a male actor, as has been the tradition for many years.
Director Josh Mathieson, who points out that this 1950s play couldn’t be set in modern times because mobile phones would wreck the plot, creates a fast pace, but still gives us sufficient time to take in the complex, clever scheming. The set, lighting and sound add to a tense atmosphere which keeps us on edge.
