THE county’s prime theatre venue is getting set to play host to a new production of a psychological thriller.

Arriving at Malvern’s Festival Theatre at the beginning of December will be the Theatre Royal Bath with its new version of Daphne du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel, which has been adapted by Joseph O’Connor and will be directed by Anthony Banks.

Helen George (Trixie Franklin in Call The Midwife) stars in the title role, and will be joined by Simon Shepherd (Peak Practice, Casualty), Jack Holden, Christopher Hollis, John Lumsden, Sean Murray and Aruhan Galieva.

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, author of Rebecca and Don’t Look Now, enthralled readers when it was first published in 1951 and went on to become an international bestseller.

This acclaimed stage adaptation by O’Connor premiered at Dublin’s Gate Theatre in 2012 and now returns to the stage in a brand new production. The novel was also adapted for film in 2017.

Murderess, seducer, thief, enchantress - or merely a woman intent on survival?

Alluring, exotic and unconventional, Countess Rachel Sangalletti travels from Florence to the Ashley Estate in Cornwall, home of her recently deceased husband.

Her presence in the house arouses dark suspicions and uncontrollable desires, not least in young Philip, cousin and heir to the Ashley home.

Feverish passion battles reason in this classic Gothic romance set in the wild landscape of the rock-ribbed Cornish coast.

Helen George (Rachel) is best known for playing the lead role of Trixie Franklin in the BAFTA-winning BBC One series Call the Midwife. Further credits include Paul WS Anderson's The Three Musketeers and 7 Lives. And she has received critical acclaim for her varied stage credits, including Trevor Nunn's revival of Terrance Rattigan's Love in Idleness and in the title role of Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie.

She also appeared on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing in 2015 where she reached the semi-finals.

Simon Shepherd (Nicholas Kendall) has appeared in the West End in Hay Fever, Duck House and Posh. Other stage credits include Betrayal (Bristol Old Vic), Anatol (Gate Theatre), Dracula, Romeo and Juliet (Lyric Hammersmith) and Bent (Royal Court), while his screen credits include Peak Practice, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Casualty, Father Brown and Riviera for television, and Wuthering Heights and Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V for film.

Jack Holden’s (Philip Ashley) stage credits include Ink (Almeida Theatre and West End), the National Theatre’s War Horse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Shoemakers Holiday (RSC), Oppenheimer (RSC and West End), What the Butler Saw (Leicester Curve), The Crucible (The Yard). For TV he has starred in Outlander, Carnage and Lewis.

Also in the cast is Christopher Hollis (Guido Rainaldi), who recently completed filming as Captain Ricketts in season 2 of Das Boot. Other TV credits include The Bill, EastEnders, A Touch of Frost and Brookside. For stage, he has appeared in Mamma Mia! (West End and UK tour), The Nightingales (Theatre Royal Bath), Hamlet, Henry V, Taming of the Shrew (PSF).

My Cousin Rachel will be on stage at the Festival Theatre from Tuesday, December 3 to Saturday, December 7 and tickets are on sale at the Box Office 01684 892277 and online at malvern-theatres.co.uk.