THE inventive and funny New Old Friends are at Frome’s Merlin Theatre, from Wednesday 17th to Sunday 28th December over (not Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) with a revival of their popular comedy thriller, Crimes Against Christmas.

Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s Then There Were None, the story follows a group of strangers summoned to a remote island – only to start dying in mysteriously Christmassy (and increasingly ridiculous) ways. Can P Artridge crack the case before a date with a noose … and a pear tree?

Just four actors bring to life more than a dozen eccentric characters in this laugh-a-minute pastiche of a classic murder mystery. Expect lightning-fast costume changes, sharp wit, inventive staging and more jokes than you can shake a candy cane at.

New Old Friends is a Merlin Associate Company.