Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley.

I’m currently checking out a trio of theatre productions. One in Cardiff, which I saw on Wednesday evening, and two in London for this weekend. The first theatre production I’ve seen this week is a stage adaptation of the 2011 novel called ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’.

Here are a couple of photos of me and my parents attending ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ at the New Theatre in Cardiff.

Tim Bradley and his parents at the New Theatre in Cardiff, July 2025

The stage for ‘Death Come to Pemberley’ at the New Theatre in Cardiff, July 2025

I enjoyed ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ at the theatre recently. For those who don’t know, this is a sequel to ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the 1813 novel by Jane Austen. This of course is a novel by British writer P.D. James, and is a whodunnit murder mystery compared to a romance.

There are romance elements in ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’, emulating the style of Jane Austen’s works, but the murder mystery is more the focus. Back in 2017, I saw a stage production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, which was at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

How fitting therefore to check out the sequel to ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as a stage production in Cardiff years later. Not that this is a direct continuation of the 2017 stage production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ of course, but I still find it very fitting to check it out. 🙂

As far as I’m aware, this is the second visual adaptation of ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ so far. There’s the three-part BBC TV version of the story, which was shown in December 2013, starring Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin, Jenna Coleman and Matthew Goode.

I need to do a review on that sometime to make a comparison between that and this theatre production. I enjoyed the BBC TV version very much and it was easy to follow the story’s plot from watching the BBC TV version when checking out the stage production. 🙂

Essentially, the story of ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ involves the murder of Captain Denny, a minor character from ‘Pride and Prejudice’, who is found dead at Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley estate. George Wickham, Darcy’s childhood friend, is accused of the murder.

I like how the stage production unfolds the murder mystery element of the story as well as blend in some very good character drama, particularly involving Elizabeth (formerly Lizzie Bennett), her husband Mr. Darcy and George Wickham when he’s accused of murder.

There’s a lot of things absent in the theatre production from watching the TV version, especially when you consider the stage production is about two hours long. Mind you, I do wonder how much is accurate in the stage production in being adapted from the book.

The stage production’s cast is very good throughout. James Bye (of ‘EastEnders’ fame) is very good as Fitzwilliam Darcy as is Jamie-Rose Duke as Elizabeth Darcy. There’s Celia Cruwys-Finnigan as Georgina, Mr. Darcy’s sister and Sean Rigby as Colonel Fitzwilliam. 🙂

Sam Woodhams plays George Wickham as well as Will Bidwell in the theatre production. There’s David Osmond as Henry Alveston, Georgina’s love interest. I like how the semi-romance going on between Georgina and Mr. Alveston is played out in the story.

It was a nice surprise to see Paul Jerricho play four characters in ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’. For me, Paul Jerricho played the Castellan in two ‘Doctor Who’ stories, including ‘Arc of Infinity’ and ‘The Five Doctors’ and he also guest starred in ‘Lucky Day’. 🙂

In ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’, he played Mr. Bidwell the footman, Dr. McFee, Jim Pratt the coachman and the Judge. There’s Mogali Masuku who plays two characters in the stage production. This includes Lydia Wickham, Lizzie’s sister, and there’s Louisa Bidwell.

Todd Boyce plays Selwyn Hardcastle, the investigator of the murder of Captain Denny in the story. Sarah Berger (who played a Rost, a Cryon, in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Attack of the Cybermen’) plays Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mrs. Bidwell in the stage production.

Louise Faulkner plays three characters in the stage production, including Joan the housemaid, Mrs. Younge and Mrs. Piggot. Louise Faulkner has guest starred in several ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish, including ‘The Genocide Machine’ and ‘Dust Breeding’.

The latest theatre production of ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ was a joy to check out at the New Theatre in Cardiff. The cast are good, the story is well-told on stage and I enjoyed actors like Paul Jerricho, Sarah Berger and Louise Faulkner from ‘Doctor Who’ appearing in it.

I must get around to revisiting the BBC TV version sometime. 🙂 If you’d like to check out ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ on stage, it’s currently on tour. Its next destination in Bath and after that, it’ll be shown in Guildford, Bromley, Wycombe, Brighton and Richmond.

Here’s the website link for ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ on its UK tour for you to check out – https://deathcomestopemberleytour.co.uk/

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂