Bill Ward brings DS Roy Grace from page to stage

Bill, who will be joined on stage by Laura Whitmore and award winning actor Stephen Billington, is stepping in to the shoes of DS Roy Grace, the main protagonist in the novels penned by best selling author Peter James.

The play is, at its heart, a murder mystery, with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Not Dead Enough is the third book in the series of DS Roy Grace books to be adapted for the stage, and bringing the character to life is not something that Bill takes lightly, particularly as he has just recently taken over the roll from another Eastenders stalwart - Shane Ritchie.

“I took over from Shane half way through the run,” he explained. “I read the book first and I really liked it and then I saw the show about three or four times before I started rehearsals. We are such different actors and I think it is quite a different show with me in it.

“Roy Grace is a career detective, the only thing he ever wanted to be was a policeman.

“What’s interesting from my point of view is that he has a very unusual brain. He is fiercely logical but unusually lateral. He can follow a line of argument right to the bitter end very logically but is quite capable of thinking outside the box.

“He also has an unsolved mystery in his life. His wife went missing on his birthday a number of years ago and he has absolutely no idea what happened to her. Running in parallel to the murder in this particular play, he is also trying to solve her disappearance and those two things runs concurrently.”

Adapted by award winning writer Shaun McKenna and directed by Olivier award winner Ian Talbot, Not Dead Enough, will have you on the edge of your seat and guessing right to the end. Don’t miss your chance to see the world premiere tour of the UK’s newest box office hit.

The show runs from June 26 - July 1, and tickets are on sale now from the Grand Opera House Box Office,