A NEW season of drama has been announced by a Dorset theatre.

There’s something for everyone at Poole’s Centre for the Arts this autumn.

Agatha Christie’s classic story A Murder Is Announced opens proceedings with Judy Cornwell, best known for her much-loved portrayal of Daisy in the hugely successful sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, as Miss Marple.

She heads a stellar cast that also includes Diane Fletcher (Elizabeth Urquhart in the classic BBC dramatisation of House of Cards), Sarah Thomas (Glenda in Last of the Summer Wine) and Rachel Bright (Poppy from EastEnders).

The third of Alan Ayckbourn’s famed Norman Conquests trilogy, Round and Round the Garden runs from October 1 to 3 and finds the relentlessly solicitous Norman simultaneously attempting to seduce carer Annie, charm her brother’s wife Sarah and satisfy his own wife Ruth with varying degrees of success.

Reliving a golden era of radio comedy, Round the Horne, from October 15 to 17 puts a cast of incomparable characters like Rambling Sid Rumpo, J Peasemold Gruntfuttock and Julian and Sandy, back on stage with dialogue from the original scripts of Barry Took and Marty Feldman.

A delightful retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen on October 29 adds new songs, beautiful costumes and stunning scenery to the classic fairy tale; while Matthew Bugg’s musical Miss Nightingale brings the on-stage glamour and off-stage affairs of war-torn London to life with bags of 1940s glitz and glamour.

The award-winning Let’s Hang On takes a musical journey through the career of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons on November 4.

The run up to the festive season begins on November 6 and 7 with Box Clever Theatre’s bold reworking of A Christmas Carol.

The Christmas show opens on December 4, an original but faithful take on Peter Pan with the unmistakable Christopher Ellison (from TV’s The Bill) as Captain Hook and Bluestone 42 star Jamie Quinn in the title role.

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