One of the great mysteries at the heart of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is why this classic stage whodunnit has stood the test of time for more than 70 years – and Todd Carty is as stumped as everyone else.
“I honestly don’t know. That’s the $64,000 question, isn’t it?” said the EastEnders star, who is heading for Eden Court in Inverness and His Majesty’s Aberdeen with the 70th anniversary tour of the record-breaking show.
“I think basically we all like a whodunnit because we’re all amateur detectives, we’re all modern day Columbos. In the audience there are kids – 13 right up to grandmas and granddads, all going ‘He did it’ or ‘No, it was her or him’. When I first saw it I couldn’t quite work it out myself but it’s great fun trying to figure out who the killer is.”
‘Minor miracle’ no one has ever revealed Mousetrap secret says Todd
And the fact that no one has ever spilled the beans on who the murderer is a minor miracle – especially in this day of social media when spoilers are an everyday occurrence, said Todd.
“With all the social media nowadays it’s very hard to keep a secret, but for some reason people honour the request not to reveal any secrets once they’ve seen the show. “
“And following on from what I said earlier, it’s a family show. It’s got ups and downs, twists and turns, with a gentle humour to it. The fact it’s still going strong shows that nothing beats a good story, a good mystery and good old-fashioned entertainment.”
It’s not giving anything away to say that The Mousetrap is the longest-running play in the world and to mark its seven-decade milestone, the UK tour has been crisscrossing the UK and Ireland to visit more than 70 theatres, including all the cities it originally played.
It tells of a group of seven strangers snowed in at a remote countryside manor when a police sergeant arrives to reveal there is a killer is in their midst. One by one, the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts. Which one is the murderer? Who will be their next victim?
Audience will be detectives in The Mousetrap at Eden Court and HMT
“All of the characters have a secret and a mysterious background that audiences can’t quite put a finger on,” said Todd. “The audience, become detectives trying to work out who’s up to skulduggery and who isn’t, along with the real detective on stage.”
Todd is playing Major Metcalf, a retired army major and one of the snowed-in guests. It’s a role he has relished getting his teeth into.
“He enjoys the odd drop of brandy in the evening and maybe the odd drop of Scotch at lunch,” he said. “On the face of it he seems to want to help people but every now and then the characters in the play disappear and we don’t know what they’re up to, Major Metcalf included.”
Away from the stage, Todd has had a glittering career, starring in much-loved shows such as EastEnders and The Bill. But he will be forever associated with the role that first made him a household name, Tucker Jenkins in the BBC’s iconic kids’ show, Grange Hill.
‘One day I was going to school, the next day I was Tucker Jenkins’
“Not to give my age away, I’d been acting since I was four. I loved doing all those adverts when I first started out but Grange Hill changed my whole life,” he said.
“One day I was happily going to school, the next day I was Tucker Jenkins. The day before it first aired in 1978 nobody on the Tube knew who I was, then the next day it was ‘Bang’. Anonymity was a thing of the past.”
While he has loved his many and varied TV roles, Todd has a real love of live theatre.
He said: “It sounds obvious and clichéd but it’s the audience. With plays the audience is listening to every word, and with The Mousetrap they’re thinking ‘Ooh, I thought it was so and so’.
“I love live theatre and it’s especially pleasing now, after the pandemic when people who work in theatre had a really tough time. There was a time long gone by when we took it for granted but now it feels like we’re all ten feet tall. It’s a lovely feeling. I can’t tell you how much it warms our hearts to be back in front of an audience.”
How to get tickets to see The Mousetrap at Eden Court and HMT
The Mousetrap 70th anniversary tour is at Eden Court in Inverness from Monday June 5 to Saturday June 10. For information and tickets visit eden-court.co.uk or call 01465 234234
The show will then be at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen from June 12 to June 17. For information and tickets visit aberdeenperformingarts.com or call 01224 641122
Conversation