THREE "equally powerful creative" women are preparing to take centre stage at York Theatre Royal as part of a year of work put together by an all-female panel.

Award-winning Nichola McAuliffe will be the queen of crime, Agatha Christie, as she returns to York to work again with director Damian Cruden.

She will be joined on stage by Coronation Street star Susie Blake as the Oscar-winning actress Margaret Rutherford, and Indira Joshi, from the BBC comedy series The Kumars At Number 42, who will play The Spinster.

Together they will star in the premiere production of Murder, Margaret and Me, which is based around how Rutherford, initially reluctant to be involved in a film about murder, came to play the role of the spinster sleuth Miss Marple, created by Christie, who didn't want Rutherford to play the part.

The production, which runs from February 17 to March 4, will be directed by Cruden and designed by Dawn Allsopp.

The play's author, Philip Meeks, said: "I'm thrilled that in Susie, Nichola and Indira the play is in the hands of a trio of equally powerful creative women. They are the perfect team to bring Damian's vision for the production to life."