ROBERT POWELL will play Poirot in the first major revival of Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee, the only play to feature the world famous sleuth in 40 years, at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre this month.

Robert is supported by a heavyweight cast including Liza Goddard (Bergerac, Give Us A Clue), Gary Mavers, (Andrew Attwood in Peak Practice) and Ben Nealon (Capt Forsythe in the ITV drama Soldier Soldier).

A quintessential English country estate is thrown into chaos following the murder of eccentric inventor Sir Claud Amory and the theft of his new earth-shattering formula.

Arriving at the estate just moments too late, one man immediately senses a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the estate’s occupants. That man is Hercule Poirot.

From the pen of the great Dame Christie – who, having sold over four billion books worldwide is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare – Poirot debuted in Christie’s 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

The Belgian investigator went on to become one of world’s most cherished and long-lived fictional characters, appearing in 33 novels, one play and more than 50 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

To this day he remains the only fictitious character to receive a front-page obituary in the New York Times.

See Black Coffee in Guildford from Tuesday, April 22 until Saturday 26.

Tickets are available from the box office on 01483 44 00 00 or online at yvonne-arnaud.co.uk.