An Interview with the Author and Cast of Picture You Dead

Peter James has sold 23 million copies of his crime thrillers worldwide with 21 consecutive UK Sunday Times number ones, as well as chart-toppers in Germany, France, Russia and Canada. He’s also a New York Times bestseller, his murder mysteries translated into 38 languages.

It’s afforded him an enviable lifestyle. At the end of his 60s (he’s now 76), he and second wife, Lara, moved to Jersey. “We’re Brexiles,” he says. “I wanted somewhere quiet, a bolt-hole in which to write.”

He’s back on home turf today to launch the seventh adaptation of one of his thrillers, Picture You Dead, set in the veiled world of high-end art forgery. Already a bestseller on paper, it’s surely set to replicate that success on stage in its upcoming major UK tour.

“Two hours of theatre”

Peter met producer Josh Andrews at a party in 2010 and they hit it off immediately. “We have similar taste.” Writing books and writing stage plays are two quite different disciplines, of course, quite apart from the fact it would be torture, says Peter, slimming down 120,000 words or so on paper into a 25,000-word script for two hours of theatre.

Step forward Shaun McKenna, the writer who has adapted six of the thrillers for the stage and has just completed the script for Picture You Dead – the last Grace book but three.

What made the book such a pleasure to write in the first place, says Peter, was that he had the great good fortune to meet real-life forger David Henty, 65, who lives up the road in Saltdean.

“Back in 2015, I co-wrote a book, Death Comes Knocking: Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton, with former Commander of Brighton and Hove Police, Graham Bartlett. It was Graham who introduced me to Henty.”

“A plot born from forgery”

Twenty years earlier, Henty had been a highly successful passport forger specialising in fake watermarks. When the police eventually kicked in the door of the forgery factory, Henty was arrested, along with his co-conspirators, and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. It was to be the very making of him.

His relatively harmless white-collar crime meant he had a pretty easy time of it inside. “I quickly found my way to the art room where I could paint to my heart’s content under the watchful eye of a couple of teachers.” What he couldn’t have predicted was his innate talent.

He has the rare gift of being able to copy the work of any painter from Fragonard to Caravaggio (“He’s my favourite: I love the drama in his paintings”), from Van Gogh to Rembrandt, from Picasso to modern-day Banksy. And he can fool almost anyone that these paintings are genuine originals. “It’s what gave me the idea of the plot for Picture You Dead,” says Peter.

“Ore Oduba joins the tour”

The new stage adaptation stars Ore Oduba, 2016 Strictly Come Dancing champion and musical theatre star ricocheting from one project to the next. After making his stage debut in Grease, and a long spell as Brad Majors in the tour of The Rocky Horror Show, he has recently finished touring the UK in Pretty Woman the Musical.

From May 20 he’ll join the cast of Picture You Dead, touring New Brighton, Cheltenham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Bath, Birmingham, Truro, Bradford and ending in Southend in July.

“I play Stuart Piper, a dyed-in-the-wool baddie,” says Ore, 39, with a face-splitting smile. “Stuart is my villain hero. He has a penchant for a painting, an expert in his field but not someone to be messed with.”

“George returns to Roy”

For actor George Rainsford, 42, who played Ethan Hardy in Casualty for nine years, this will be his second turn as DSI Roy Grace after 2023’s UK tour of Wish You Were Dead. “That one had Roy on holiday in France. This time, he’s back in Brighton at work and doing what fans will recognise.”

The 22-gig tour means he’ll be on the road for much of the year. “It’ll be home on a Sunday to wash my smalls! No Monday shows helps with family time.” George and his actress wife Jaimi Barbakoff, both 42, have two children aged 10 and eight.

“Picture You Dead came out when I was last on tour. I listened to the audiobook while running.” And would he do a third? “Never say never,” he grins.

“Fiona Ward takes the gamble”

Fiona Ward is Freya Kipling, married to Harry, an innocent couple who buy a painting at a car boot sale. It’s later discovered there may be an original beneath it – or is it a forgery?

She reunites with George Rainsford after playing his wife in the hit tour of 2.22 A Ghost Story. This followed a long run as Priya Sharma in Emmerdale.

“It changed my life. But I wanted to take the gamble and see what else was out there.” She’ll also appear in the upcoming comedy series Going Dutch.

“Life on the road”

Her husband, actor Simon Cotton, is also touring – currently in Murder on the Orient Express. “We understand each other’s crazy timetables.” Fiona is especially looking forward to playing Bradford and returning to Richmond’s Frank Matcham theatre.

“Touring in a production is a lovely way to see the UK,” says Fiona, 45. “And I’m a huge fan of crime novels. I’ll start working my way through Peter James’s books, beginning with Picture You Dead.”

“Jodie Steele goes dark”

Jodie Steele, 33, plays Roberta Kilgore, involved in the darker aspects of the art world. “I’ve made it my business to play baddies – they’re more fun and meaty.”

Jodie has just filmed Malory Towers where she’s also a villain, and comes from a background in musicals: Heathers, Bonnie and Clyde, Wicked, Six and Filumena.

She’s excited to perform at the Mayflower in Southampton and return to venues like The Lowry in Salford and Richmond. “And my sister Chloe is Peter James’s biggest fan!”

Last word to Peter James. “People love being scared – safely. Bad things happen in life, so seeing them resolved on stage is satisfying. And a little gallows humour helps.”

Welcome to two hours of thrills and spills in a theatre near you!

Picture You Dead opens at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre from Tuesday 3 – Saturday 7 June. For tickets, visit sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.