GEORGE Rainsford says he is really excited to be touring the UK in a new production of Peter James’s thriller, Wish You Were Dead, which has been adapted for the stage from the best-selling book. 

George plays Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, returning to the stage for the first time in around ten years after a long sojourn on TV. 

“It’s good to be part of an ensemble again,” he said. 

This absence from the boards is explained by the time – some 300 episodes in all – he spent playing Ethan Hardy in BBC One’s Casualty. 

Before that, he was Jessica Raine’s unfaithful boyfriend, Jimmy Wilson, in the first two series of Call the Midwife.

George gravitated to theatre work after studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. 

“I’ve always enjoyed the live element of doing a play, the audience reaction, the adrenalin it generates and so on,” he said. 

“And the reaction we are getting from audiences so far on the tour has been amazing. They seem to be loving it.”

He auditioned for the key role of Roy Grace last August.

 “It’s a fantastic role, something I can really get my teeth into,” George added. 

As a result, he has been reading author Peter James’s back catalogue of murder mysteries – “always so beautifully plotted” – and watching the first two television series of Grace with actor John Simm playing the eponymous policeman.

The twist in Wish You Were Dead is that Roy is on holiday in France with his wife Cleo and their baby. 

“He’s not working but, when a crime boss, Curtis, is released from prison, he’s a man desperate to take revenge on the policeman who got him incarcerated. So, crime comes looking for Grace.”

Is it scary? “I hope so. Roy has to use all his wits to ensure his loved ones come to no harm. 

“It’s full of surprises. I think audiences like being scared. Hearing the audience jump and gasp each night is great. But it’s also great fun.” 

Will it involve fisticuffs? “Oh yes, a bit of that and possibly some bodies although I’m not about to give the game away.”

As for the touring in the show… “I’m really enjoying visiting places I’ve never been before,” said George. “I’m only able to get home once a week, or Sunday wash day, as I call it.”

The cast includes another former Casualty star, Clive Mantle, with whom George has worked before.

Both were in a Doctor Who audio drama and an edition of Pointless Celebrities that featured actors who had been in Casualty.

“As I’m sure he’ll be only too happy to point out, I was kicked off at the end of the first round and he and his partner went on to win,” said George.”

Clive says he fell in love with his character, Curtis, as soon as he read the script of Wish You Were Dead. 

“And I speak as someone who used to hide behind the sofa as a youngster when the theme music of Doctor Who struck up.” 

Is it fun to play a baddie, though? “Oh yes. He’s been the head of a mob based in Brighton, an old-fashioned family villain with his own set of values,” he said.

“He has a personal moral code which covers slitting your throat without a second’s thought. And don’t you dare say anything bad to his mum.

“I’ve enjoyed making the audience laugh and they seem to quite like Curtis, despite his criminal intent, but I do also like to frighten the audience at some points in the evening.”

The story is not left open-ended. “People like to try to solve the clues ahead of the action but, either way, they want a satisfying resolution at the end of play.”

In a career covering some 45 years, Clive has played everything from poor lumbering Lenny in Of Mice and Men – “seven times now, I think” – to longstanding cast member, surgeon Mike Barratt, in both Casualty and Holby City. 

He was a recurring character, Simon Horton, in the Vicar of Dibley and, more recently, he was seen in another light comedy, White Van Man, opposite Will Mellor, a big success on Strictly last year. 

The part of Cleo is taken by TV star and award-winning actor Katie McGlynn, best known from The Syndicate, Waterloo Road and, most particularly, via her seven-year stint as Sinead Tinker in Coronation Street. 

It is the first time she has worked in the theatre. 

“I am quite nervous but also super eager to get started because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. 

“And what better place to start than with a Peter James play? As soon as I read the script, I completely fell in love with it and the character Cleo.

“I’m excited. My career was born and bred on TV but, on stage, you get to tell the story in the right order, something that rarely happens on television.”

On the other hand, if you make a mistake when filming a TV show, you can do it again. Not in the theatre. “That’s right, it’s a completely different beast. There are no second takes so you’ve got to get it right the first time.”

Wish You Were Dead is the sixth stage adaptation of Peter James’s novels, making it the most successful crime thriller theatrical franchise since Agatha Christie.

Previous James novels brought to the stage include Looking Good Dead starring Adam Woodyatt and Gaynor Faye; The House on Cold Hill with Joe McFadden and Rita Simons in 2019; Not Dead Enough starring Shane Richie and Laura Whitmore in 2017; Dead Simple with Tina Hobley in 2015 and The Perfect Murder starring Les Dennis and Claire Goose in 2014.

This world premiere tour of Wish You Were Dead comes to the New Victoria Theatre in Woking from Tuesday to Saturday, July 25 to 29.