THE story of the women behind fictional super sleuth Miss Marple is at the heart of a new theatre show at Salisbury Playhouse.

Murder, Margaret and Me by Philip Meeks is about Agatha Christie and Margaret Rutherford, the actress who played Miss Marple in a series of 1960s films.

Sarah Parks plays the character of Margaret Rutherford alongside Kate Brown as Agatha Christie and Tina Gray as Spinster.

“The play is not one of the Agatha Christie stories. It is the story of those women with the character that brought them together so it is very different because it’s not fiction,” she says. “There is a mystery at its heart. There are two mysteries really because Agatha Christie has her own mystery but Margaret Rutherford had a very interesting mystery that doesn’t appear in her autobiography that she did keep very quiet and emerged later, and that it what the play reveals.”

Their paths crossed when Miss Marple was going to be made into a film. But, Agatha was not keen on Margaret playing the role of the precious spinster.

As Sarah explains: “It is about Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple and her relationship with Agatha Christie. It is fair to say that people realised it wasn’t quite the Miss Marple that Agatha Christie had written so it did create a bit of friction between them but ultimately they did become friends and certainly admired each other.

“The play is a three-hander so we have an Agatha Christie, Margaret Rutherford and the third character is really Miss Marple and is really the character that brought them together. Otherwise their paths may never have crossed at all.”

She continued: “I’m always interested in playing people from life and Margaret is a bit of an enigma and so British and so unique as well. And Agatha Christie at the moment seems to be on a wave - we are rediscovering her yet again.”

On what audiences can expect, she says: “There are an awful lot of details and stuff about Agatha Christie and Margaret Rutherford that is not terribly well-known.

“It is also quiet funny. It is really good fun.”

This is the first time Sarah has performed at the Playhouse. “I’ve seen a couple shows here but I’ve never performed here,” she says. “It is lovely, I’m glad to be here - I love Salisbury.”

Murder, Margaret and Me runs in the Main House from next Thursday (February 1) to Saturday 24 February. Tickets: 01722 320333 or salisburyplayhouse.com.