A MURDER is announced and will take place on Friday, October the thirteenth, at little Paddocks – at six-thirty pm, the newspaper advert reads.

In reality, A Murder Is Announced will take place from Tuesday, October the seventeenth until Saturday, October the twenty first at York Theatre Royal at seven-thirty pm nightly plus two pm on Thursday and two-thirty pm on Saturday.

This Miss Marple mystery, adapted for the stage from Agatha Christie's novel by Leslie Darbon, will be presented by the Middle Ground Theatre Company in a week when there will be thrillers at the double in York, with Ruth Rendell's A Judgement In Stone booked into the Grand Opera House from Monday to Saturday.

Louise Jameson will lead Michael Lunney's cast of 12 as spinster sleuth Miss Marple, having last been seen in York playing the bad-tempered Mrs Boyle – "an absolute battleaxe and a bit of a misery," she says – in the 60th anniversary tour of Christie's murder mystery The Mousetrap at the Opera House in February 2016.

"I began rehearsals in April and joined the tour in June and it feels like I've been doing Christie all my life! Me and Aggie are best friends now as I came to this from doing The Mousetrap for eight months!" says Louise, who enjoyed long-running roles as Leela, companion to Tom Baker’s Doctor in Doctor Who; Susan Young in Bergerac; Eleanor Glasson in Doc Martin and Rosa di Marco in EastEnders.

"Agatha Christie certainly championed women's roles, and definitely for older women," adds Louise, who is 66 and has found plenty of room to bring her own interpretation of Miss Marple to Lunney's staging of Christie's story of the residents of Chipping Cleghorn being astonished to read an advert in the local newspaper that a murder will take place at Little Paddocks, the home of Letitia Blacklock.

Unable to resist, a group gathers at the house at the appointed time of 6.30pm, when the lights go out and a gun is fired. Enter Miss Marple, who must unravel a complex series of relationships and events to solve the mystery of the killer.

"What Agatha Christie is brilliant at is the story arc, the laying of the red herrings, slipping in just enough clues for the clever ones in the audience to pick up on!" says Louise.

York Press:

Janet Dibley as Letitia Blacklock and and Louise Jameson as Miss Marple in A Murder Is Announced

"She's not so good at fleshing out the characters in her books, so with Miss Marple I've kind of exaggerated some of her characteristics; we know she carries a knitting bag and as she's off to a rheumatism clinic, I've given her a little limp."

Louise praises Michael Lunney for allowing her so much leeway in interpreting the role afresh for a touring show that is now in its third year. "He was incredibly generous, especially as Judy Cornwell played her before in this production with a very different take on Miss Marple as a doddery old lady, whereas I've gone for more physical power," she says.

"What's interesting about Miss Marple is that her brain is as sharp as any brain can be, as sharp as any 20 year old, even though she's off to the rheumatism clinic! It's all about her mental power, so when she's near to solving the mystery, I make her more and more energised, and it's only when she's solved it that she sits down and needs a rest."

In a production where the director has encouraged attention to detail, right down to the delicious lemon drizzle cake, Louise has enjoyed developing her Miss Marple through the summer months.

"To be honest, my performance has grown throughout the run; it probably took me about a fortnight to feel that I owned her; I was still struggling at first before 'being' her, the point where you react, rather than act, when it's all about why you do something rather than how you do it," she says.

"I like to think that I'm a very unselfconscious actor, where I'm not directly aware of what I'm doing, so that means it can be different every night and hopefully I give Miss Marple spontaneity."

Louise believes audiences for Christie's stage shows can be split into two. "There's an audience that loves the whodunit element; the pub-quiz mind, the crossword mind, different to the usual theatre punter, but there's also the Christie aficionado who wants to see how you've done it," she says.

You can find out exactly how from Tuesday.

Middle Ground Theatre Company presents Agatha Christie's A Murder Is Announced, A Miss Marple Mystery, at York Theatre Royal from Tuesday to Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk