The Mousetrap premiered at The Theatre Royal in Nottingham on October 6, 1952, opening to rave reviews thanks to a big twist ending which breaks all the normal “whodunnit” rules.
It soon transferred to London’s West End and, in 1974, it took up residence at St Martin’s Theatre, where an intimate atmosphere is said to add to the claustrophobic feel of the play. All those who see it are sworn to secrecy over its surprise ending.
It was originally written as a short radio drama called Three Blind Mice, broadcast on May 30, 1947, to celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Mary. Agatha Christie expected the renamed play to run for less than a year and the film rights were sold with a clause that no movie should be released until six months after it came off stage. But it became a huge hit and ran uninterrupted until coronavirus forced a 20-month halt in 2020.
The current cast is headed by Italia Conti-trained actor Daniel Solbe as the perplexed Detective Trotter who tells seven strangers in a spooky old manor house that one of them is a murderer.
The role was first played by Richard “Dickie” Attenborough, the late elder brother of national treasure David, with his wife Sheila Sim taking the main female role of Mollie Ralston.
The current hit comedy film See How They Run, starring Saoirse Ronan, is set around a theatre showing The Mousetrap in the 1950s, with young actors playing Attenborough and Sim.
In 2012, a 60th-anniversary special was staged with stars including Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters, Miranda Hart, Hugh Bonneville and Tamsin Greig.
The familiar names featured today, however, were once part of the play’s regular cast.
Irene Sutcliffe
Years: 1964-1965
Role: Mollie Ralston
Best known as shop manager Maggie Clegg in Coronation Street from 1968 to 1975, Irene, who died in May 2019 aged 94, had a long TV career, appearing in shows including Doc Martin and All Creatures Great & Small.
In 1987, she won international fame playing waitress Mabs Blenehassit in the hit comedy Withnail & I with Richard E Grant.
Richard Attenborough
Year: 1952
Role: Detective Sergeant Trotter
Before becoming a hotshot director, young Dickie starred in Brighton Rock (1948) and The Great Escape (1963). He went on to win Academy Awards for both best director and best picture for his 1983 Indian independence epic, Gandhi.
Heather Chasen
Years: 1959-1960
Role: Mollie Ralston
Heather, who died in 2020 aged 92, was best known as cheating wife Valerie Pollard, whose antics shocked viewers in the early 1980s in ITV ’s long-running soap opera Crossroads. In 2011, the Singapore-born actress went on to play Lydia Simmonds, Janine Butcher’s maternal grandmother in EastEnders, and she also had TV roles in The Bill and Holby City.
Ray Cooney
Years: 1964-1965
Role: Det Sgt Trotter
Paywright Ray, now 90, starred in The Mousetrap before becoming the king of British stage farce. No less than 17 of his plays have made the West End, including Run for Your Wife, which in 2011 was turned into a film starring Danny Dyer.
Madeline Smith
Year: 1991
Role: Mollie Ralston
Madeline, a Bond girl in 1973’s Live And Let die, told The Oldie mag how her Mousetrap co-star, the late Nicolas Smith (Mr Rumbold of TV’s Are you Being Served?) had “a thing” for wandering backstage in the semi-nude. “He had a big belly... it was not a pretty sight,” she sighed.
Madoline Thomas
Years: 1960-1961
Role: Mrs Boyle
Madoline, who died in 1983 just three days before turning 100, was a piano teacher who didn’t start acting until middle age. She went on to play Bertha Lumley in Coronation Street and had roles in Dixon of Dock Green, Shoestring, and When The Boat Comes In. She also performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare company.
