Robert Powell plays Poirot in UK tour of Christie's Black Coffee

Robert Powell will star as Hercule Poirot in a new production of Agatha Christie's first every stage play Black Coffee next month.

Powell, whose screen credits include The Detectives and The 39 Steps, has previously appeared on stage in Alan Bennett’s Single Spies, Keith Waterhouse’s Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Black Coffee will open at the Theatre Royal, Windsor on 7 January 2014.

The play sees a quintessential English country estate thrown into chaos following the murder of eccentric inventor Sir Claud Amory, and the theft of his new earth shattering formula.

Arriving at the estate just moments too late, one man immediately senses a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the estate's occupants. That man is Hercule Poirot.

Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie's grandson, said: “I am so pleased that Robert Powell has agreed to play Poirot in the Agatha Christie Theatre Co's production of Black Coffee starting in January. He will be the latest in a long line of distinguished actors to play the role, and a real treat lies in store in 2014 for all those around the country who go to see the play.”

The cast will also include Liza Goddard, Gary Mavers, and Ben Nealon.

After Windsor, the tour will visit venues including Cambridge, Bath, Richmond, Stoke, Cardiff, Edinburgh, York and Guildford.