Father Brown whodunit thriller coming to Blackpool Grand Theatre in March

Father Brown is a mild-mannered Roman Catholic priest who happens to have a knack for rooting out killers using his intuition - and thanks to his unique character and clever writing, GK Chesterton's murder mysteries are renowned the world over.

The latest touring production presents one his best cases, Father Brown: The Murderer in the Mirror, with a colourful array of possible candidates for the hangman’s noose, and more twists and turns than Agatha Christie.

Given his intriguing persona, Father Brown has been portrayed many times on the screen and on stage, and this latest incarnation is portrayed by John Lyons, best known for playing DS George Toolan, David Jason’s sidekick in A Touch of Frost.

John’s other TV appearances seem like a treasury of vintage TV gold - Upstairs Downstairs, The Onedin Line, On the Buses, George and Mildred, and The Sweeney.

Father Brown certainly finds himself in the middle of intrigue this time.

When a famous actor is found dead just before the opening of his latest West End production, the priest sees in the shattered dressing room mirror that all is not as it seems... and if all the possible suspects were on stage at the time, who could possibly be the murderer?

Chesterton wrote 53 short stories about Father Brown, published between 1910 and 1936.

The novelist loosely based him on the Rt Rev. Msgr. John O'Connor (1870–1952), a parish priest in Bradford, who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922.

The stories caught on and over the years Father Brown has been played by a string of actors, including Kenneth More, Alec Guinness, Andrew Sachs and, much more recently on TV, Mark Williams,. best known for his work on The Fast Show and the Harry Potter films.

The production coming to Blackpool is being presented by The Rumpus Theatre Company and audiences have described it as “fabulous, outstanding, superb… spellbound from start to finish”.

Father Brown: The Murderer in the Mirror, is being performed at Blackpool Grand Theatre from Tuesday March 22 to Saturday March 26 at 7.30pm each night, but there is also an audio described performance at 2.30pm on the Saturday

Tickets cost from £18 to £25, with various deals and concessions available, and to book visit the website or call the box office on (01253) 290190.