Viv Hardwick finds Shane Richie is ready for stage drama in Newcastle, but preparing to keep open a return to the streets of Walford... via Ireland

HAVING landed a killer role on Tyneside last year, in The Perfect Murder, Shane Richie returns to Newcastle Theatre Royal next week as well-known fictional detective Roy Grace in another adaptation from the pen of Peter James, Not Dead Enough.

On switching sides of the law, Richie says: “I’ve been friends with Peter for years and he’d mentioned to me that he thought I’d make a wonderful Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. I started to read the books and I didn’t quite see it. The character is taller than me and a bit older.

Then I did The Perfect Murder and the more time I spent with Peter, the more he convinced me about playing the detective.

“I’m really enjoying it because The Perfect Murder was more of a comedy with Jessie Wallace, albeit quite a dark one. This new play is a psychological thriller, although there is some humour in it that’s more down to the relationship between Roy Grace and the character Cleo, played by Laura Whitmore.”

There are a whole series of Roy Grace mysteries and Richie jokes he’s got a job for life if the book-to-stage scripts continue to enjoy popularity.

“I think Peter really wants to put these murder mysteries on television... and I’d really be up for that because who wouldn’t want to play Grace on TV? This is all about timing. There’s no DCI Banks, there’s no Inspector Frost and Luther seems over, so the time is right for another cop show,” Richie says.

Best-known as Alfie Moon in BBC soap EastEnders, Richie started off in stand-up, switched to game show presenting, added roles in stage musicals like Grease before the decision to play Alfie in 2002 earned him a series of acting awards. Although he has played drama on TV and film, Richie admits that his latest stage role was a challenge. “I think fans of the books will have an idea of who Roy Grace is and the last person they are going to think of is me. It’s a bit like Jack Reacher and the books there. He’s a 6ft 2ns blond, but Tom Cruise plays him in the movies and they are now £100m blockbusters and has quadrupled the readership for the author. Those who don’t know Roy Grace will come at this with open eyes and their image of Roy Grace will be me, God bless them. The majority have told me, ‘We had a vision of who Roy Grace is, but Shane Richie has convinced us’. I think I’ve got the heart and humour of Roy and certainly the determination and patience to solve something.

“Peter wanted a warm character and I think that’s what I provide.”

In this case, the Brighton copper has to solve the puzzling case of a murder suspect who appears to have the ability to be in two places at once. “It’s like, three murders, one suspect, no proof... sounds like an album cover. And I’m the man to sing the theme tune,” jokes Richie.

This is a slightly different whodunit because everyone seems convinced of the guilt of one man, but Richie explains there is a moment where the audience is faced with, “Maybe it’s not him and then you’re saying, ‘But it has to be him’, and I can’t tell you more without giving away the twist in the plot”.

“The audience is being led down a garden path that goes nowhere and Roy is the only one saying, ‘Something is not right’,” says Richie, who is giving the role over to former Corrie star Bill Ward in April.

“I’m handing Roy over because I’m off to film Benidorm for ITV. That’s quite a change going from Roy Grace to Sammy Valentino in Spain. That’s the joy of being an actor. One moment I’ve solving a murder, the next I’m supping a pina colada and having a comedy row with someone,” he adds.

The twice-married father-of-five counts himself as lucky to have had so many strands to his career.

“I’m a big fan of the business, but if I just said I was an actor I’d be sitting on my backside waiting for the next job. I wanted a life in this business and when I wasn’t working on a script I’d write musicals or songs, do stand-up or play with my band. I’ve been really fortunate that people have allowed me to do that. First and foremost I’m an entertainer and that’s the umbrella and under that umbrella comes actor, dancer, singer. Not everything is a success, but I love pushing myself,” says Richie.

The one project that is finally pushing itself forward is the long-awaited Kat and Alfie adventure in Ireland called Redwater.

The high-cost six-part BBC drama looks set to run from May 11 and Richie says: “At the moment it’s six one-hour episodes, but the scriptwriters have left it wide open for Kat and Alfie to return to EastEnders, pending the reaction to this. Although mine and Jessie’s characters are in this, the main plot is about an Irish family keeping a dark secret. So a follow-up series could go on without the two of us if the other characters are popular enough.

“We don’t mention Albert Square at all or Walford or the Queen Vic. The only reference is when I’m asked if I’ve worked in a bar and I say something like. ‘Yes a little bit’,” says Richie, who has dubbed Redwater as like Broadchurch meets The Wicker Man.

“I think we see another side of Kat and Alfie in this drama. In this, they are out of their comfort zone and only got each other. They are surrounded by strangers and get dragged into a situation as a result of the pair going to Ireland in search of Kat’s son Luke. But, even if you’ve never seen EastEnders before it doesn’t matter because the storyline is so good.”

  • Not Dead Enough runs Monday, March 20 to Saturday, March 25. Box Office: 08448-112121 or theatreroyal.co.uk