REVIEW: Murder on Air at Derby Theatre until tomorrow (7.30pm tonight, 2.30pm and & 7.30pm tomorrow). Tickets from £8. Call 01332 255800.

DERBY staged a world premiere last night as the city's reopened theatre put on its first professional performance.

It's a shame the hard-working cast was not playing to a full house because it was an excellent play, or should I say trio of radio plays.

Murder On Air is a clever amalgam of three Agatha Christie plays, originally aired on BBC radio in 1937, 1948 and 1954.

But rather than try to act out the plays, the cast re-enacted the broadcasts.

So effectively, we are spying on the production of three radio plays on a theatre stage, complete with sound effects.

It's a no-nonsense format that has the potential to be boring but the constant change of characters and the on-stage sound effects are entertaining to watch.

But don't forget the stories themselves and they have all the spice usually associated with Christie.

The first – Personal Call – has it all: mysterious phone calls, public announcements, train whistles and carriage doors slamming – a sound effects dream.

The 30-minute story is more of a "what's going to happen" rather than a "who dunnit?" and was a great way to start the evening.

The Yellow Iris, the second play, features Christie stalwart Hercule Poirot, who examines "ze little grey cells" to solve a four-year-old suicide – or was it murder?

The interval arrived with almost unwelcome intrusion as I got into the half-world of visual and audio effects.

But normal service was resumed straight after with the masterly Butter in a Lordly Dish, where a philandering Sir Luke Enderby meets his latest conquest for an illicit weekend.

Dressed in full evening dress – as was the case of radio plays of the era – the cast, led by Roy Marsden, mimicked, sang and acted their way through all three plays.

They each had an amazing range of vocal talents, including Louise Faulkner, who sang throughout the only-ever Christie musical, The Yellow Iris.

The original score has gone missing but composer, and also sound effects man, Alexander S Bermange has written a new score to suit the nightclub setting.

Marsden's Poirot owed more to Clouseau at times but the intonation was there.

Susan Penhaligon, recently in Emmerdale, was good, but the same throughout, as the posh woman, but Sonia Saville's Peruvian accent was to die for.

The Agatha Christie Theatre Company has a winner on its hands. Don't forget you can see it first in Derby.