MILLIONS know Susie Amy as glamour girl Chardonnay with a starring role in the sloppy scripts of TV's Footballer's Wives, but her toughest acting test so far is surely that of recently-blinded Suzy facing a psychotic killer and his accomplices in this 1960s Frederick Knott thriller.

Amy studiously bumps into furniture, scrabbles about seeking familiar spots and displays a range of emotions as her photographer husband Sam (Antony Edridge) unwittingly smuggles a drug-filled doll into the country and leaves her at the mercy of a gang who want the toy. Things are going so well, until Amy steps carefully over the half-hidden doll, which she wasn't supposed to be aware of, while pacing her basement flat in Notting Hill Gate. It is a real pity and, inevitably, opens up the debate about disabled roles going to disabled actors.

Her teenage "eyes" Gloria (Minnie Crowe) supplies some much-needed humour as this 1960s thriller struggles to build up the suspense in an auditorium seating area bathed in too much light while the stage plunges into darkness.

Derren Nesbitt may be a heavier heavy than in his Where Eagles Dare days but he provides another multi-faceted baddie in the murderous Roat. Not quite so convincing are his cunningly-recruited con team pair Mike (James Carlton) and Croker (Michael Melia), who manage to make a stage fight look exactly that. If you can cut the air of tension with a blunt spoon, this becomes a slightly amusing potboiler from the days of 4d phone box calls.

Runs until Saturday. Box Office: 0870 905 5060.

Published: 20/07/2005