IT'LL be a battle of the soap stars when Frederick Nott's classic crime thriller Dial M For Murder opens at Worcester's Swan Theatre on September 13.

Because the cast is full of "I remember him/her" characters. He/she was in..."

Brookside, Neighbours, Home and Away, The Bill, London's Burning and Peak Practice are all represented in a stage version of the play that was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Ray Milland and Grace Kelly.

It's not quite Hollywood in The Moors, but the Swan's production by the Middle Ground Theatre Company is quite a coup for Worcester, with faces, perhaps rather than names, you will instantly recognise.

The action takes place in 1952 and the story begins with Tony Prentice (Steven Pinder, below, who was Max in Brookside), a retired tennis star who has blatantly married Sheila (Joy Brook, The Bill and Peak Practice) for her money.

Feeling unloved and neglected by her errant husband during his days as a tennis pro, Sheila embarked on an affair with Max Halliday (Richard Grieve from Home and Away and Neighbours), who is a writer.

However, since Tony's retirement a year ago, he has settled down, become a copybook husband and their marriage seems to be back on track.

Then, after a year in America, Halliday returns.

Aware that their affair is in danger of being rekindled, which would result in the loss of his lifestyle and fortune, Tony plots Sheila's murder by hiring Captain Lesgate (Richard Walsh, Sicknote from London's Burning) to carry out the act, while he establishes his alibi.

But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?

Should be a clean-cut case for the soap stars.