Dial M for Murder, Theatre Royal, Winchester

A GOOD whodunnit needs a scheming husband, an elegant wife, a secret lover and a bumbling policeman.

And in recent years if the scheming husband is played by Steven Pinder (Max from Brookside) all the better!

Frederik Knott's classic 1950s thriller has all the right ingredients and must be one of the best murder mysteries on the stage circuit despite its advancing years.

Pinder plays Tony Wendice, a retired tennis star who discovers his wife Sheila (Joy Brook) has been having an affair with crime writer Max Halliday (Richard Grieve).

He blackmails old schoolfriend Charlie Swan, now posing as Captain Lesgate (Richard Walsh) into murdering Sheila so he will inherit her considerable fortunes.

Tony plans the perfect murder but of course there is no such thing and events never go according to plan.

Enter bumbling Inspector Hubbard (Michael Lunney) and off the plot goes, twisting and turning enough to keep the audience entertained, but not so improbably farcical that the play is made a mockery.

The conclusion really only leaves one question unanswered.

Will Steven Pinder ever play a character who doesn't attempt to murder his wife?