Interview: Peter James’ Picture You Dead at Newcastle Theatre Royal

 Who Said Crime Doesn’t Pay?

Peter James’ Picture You Dead

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 13 – Saturday 17 May 2025

Peter James has sold 23 million copies of his crime thrillers worldwide. With 21 consecutive UK Sunday Times number ones, he’s also a New York Times best-seller, and his murder mysteries have been translated into 38 languages. Now, Picture You Dead, the latest stage adaptation of Peter James’ work is on route to Newcastle Theatre Royal, 2 years after DCI Grace’s previous visit to the venue.

Peter met producer Josh Andrews at a party in 2010 and they hit it off immediately. “We have similar taste.” Writing books and writing stage plays are two quite different disciplines, of course, quite apart from the fact it would be torture, says Peter, slimming down 120,000 words or so on paper into a 25,000-word script for two hours of theatre.

What made the book such a pleasure to write in the first place, says Peter, was that he had the great good fortune to meet real-life forger David Henty, 65.

“Back in 2015, I co-wrote a book, Death Comes Knocking: Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton, with former Commander of Brighton and Hove Police, Graham Bartlett. It was Graham who introduced me to Henty.”

 

Twenty years earlier, Henty had been a highly successful passport forger specialising in fake watermarks. When the police eventually kicked in the door of the forgery factory, Henty was arrested, along with his co-conspirators, and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. It was to be the very making of him.

 

His relatively harmless white-collar crime meant he had a pretty easy time of it inside. “I quickly found my way to the art room where I could paint to my heart’s content under the watchful eye of a couple of teachers.” What he couldn’t have predicted was his innate talent.

 

He has the rare gift of being able to copy the work of any painter from Fragonard to Caravaggio (“He’s my favourite: I love the drama in his paintings”), from Van Gogh to Rembrandt, from Picasso to modern-day Banksy. And he can fool almost anyone that these paintings are genuine originals. “It’s what gave me the idea of the plot for Picture You Dead,” says Peter.

The stage version stars Peter Ash, fresh from his memorable and moving portrayal of Paul Foreman in Coronation Street, for which he won various awards including the 2024 National Television Award for Best Serial Drama Performance. He was on the soap for six years in total and is much looking forward now to touring the UK.

The role of the forger intrigues him. “He’s obviously very talented and passionate about his art. He’s got a history with Roy Grace from when he used to forge passports.” With big money changing hands, there’s going to be skullduggery along the way.

 

And fisticuffs? “I must be careful what I reveal but yes, I think we can say there’ll be thrills and spills. It’s going to be quite a ride.” 

 

For actor George Rainsford, 42, who played Ethan Hardy in Casualty for nine years, this will be his second turn round the block having played Roy Grace in the successful UK tour of Peter James’s Wish You Were Dead in 2023.

“In Picture You Dead, he’s back in Brighton at work and doing what fans will recognise. He’s heavily involved in a live case with all its twists and turns.” This one is going to be a bit different, he thinks, because it takes place in a number of locations. 

 

The 22-gig tour means he’ll be on the road for the better part of half the year. “Funnily enough, Picture You Dead came out in novel form when I was on the last tour as Roy Grace. I downloaded the audio version and listened to it when I was running.” Could we be sitting here in. two years’ time with George about to tackle Roy for a third time? “Never say never,” he says, with a broad smile.

 

Jodie Steele, 33, plays Roberta Kilgore, who plays in the darker aspects of the art world. “I’ve made it my business wherever possible,” she says, “to play baddies: so much more fun and something to get your teeth into. Quite different, I should add, from real life because I’m a total softie.”

 

Picture You Dead will be her first thriller in a busy career dominated by musicals: Heathers, Blanche in Bonnie and Clyde, Wicked, and Catherine Howard in the all-conquering SIX. Most recently, she toured in a new production of Filumena starring Felicity Kendal.

Jodie’s delighted, she says, to be in the stage adaptation of a Peter James book because her older sister, Chloe, is his biggest fan. “She’s read all 21 of his Roy Grace thrillers. The stories are like jigsaw puzzles. He’s a sort of modern-day Agatha Christie.”

 

Fiona Wade is Freya Kipling married to Harry, an innocent couple who go to a car boot sale where they buy a painting she’s not keen on but that Harry likes. In time, it’s discovered that there may be an original beneath the painting which, when exposed, could be worth a small fortune. Or is it a forgery?

Fiona bowed out of Emmerdale last year after more than a decade - “It was a long run and it changed my life. But I wanted to take the gamble of seeing what else was out there so I asked to be written out of the soap. I very much believe in the power of positive thinking and my gamble has paid off.”

“Touring in a production is a lovely way to see the UK,” says Fiona, 45. And she’s a huge fan of crime novels. “So now, I’m going to start working my way through Peter James’s long list of thrillers, beginning, of course, with Picture You Dead.”

 

Last word to Peter himself. So, what is it about whodunits, in his opinion, that appeals to the reading – or theatre-going – public? “People love being scared,” he says, “although in a safe way. Bad things happen in the world so it’s satisfying to see them resolved. And there’s no harm in throwing in a little gallows humour along the way.”

Photos: Alastair Muir

Tickets:

Picture You Dead plays Newcastle Theatre Royal Tuesday 13 – Saturday 17 May 2025. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.