Corrie star is Cleo for Peter James' play

Katie took over the role of Cleo Morey from Giovanna Fletcher who started the tour. It will be Katie’s professional stage play debut. Katie joins other cast members, George Rainsford (Casualty, Holby City, Call The Midwife) as DSI Roy Grace and Clive Mantle (Game of Thrones, The Vicar of Dibley, Sherlock, Casualty) as Curtis. Other cast include Rebecca McKinnis, Callum Sheridan-Lee, Alex Stedman and Gemma Stroyan. Leon Stewart will reprise his role as DS Glenn Branson, having previously featured in another Peter James stage adaptation, Looking Good Dead. The understudies are Lizzie Grace, Jayda Kariuki and Christopher Killik.

Katie said: “I can’t think of a better way to make my stage play debut than with this brilliant and thrilling Peter James masterpiece and am so excited to be performing alongside such an incredibly talented cast. I’m really looking forward to visiting theatres all over the country, witnessing the audience reaction to the many twists, turns and edge-of-your-seat moments in the show.”

Wish You Were Dead follows five successful stage plays and the critically acclaimed primetime ITV series Grace, which are all based on the best-selling novels by the UK's number one crime author Peter James. This will be the sixth stage adaptation of James’ novels, making it the most successful crime thriller stage franchise since Agatha Christie. The stage play of Wish You Were Dead follows DSI Roy Grace and Cleo Morey as they take a much-needed holiday together. They are hoping for a few days away from their dark worlds of murder and the mortuary. But their dream escape turns out to be the holiday from hell as the past comes back to haunt them.

Produced by Josh Andrews and Peter James and adapted by award winning writer Shaun McKenna, who has adapted the five previous Peter James plays. Previous Peter James novels brought to the stage include: Looking Good Dead which premiered last year starring Adam Woodyatt and Gaynor Faye; The House on Cold Hill starring Joe McFadden and Rita Simons in 2019; Not Dead Enough starring Shane Richie and Laura Whitmore in 2017; Dead Simple starring Tina Hobley in 2015 and The Perfect Murder starring Les Dennis and Claire Goose in 2014.

Peter James is a number one bestselling author of crime and thriller novels and the creator of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. He has topped the Sunday Times bestseller list 19 times and has achieved global book sales of over 21 million copies which have been translated into 37 languages and lauded as plot-twisting page turners.