WAVERLEY Borough Council may have finally met its match after the great detective Poirot himself added his name to those fighting to save the Redgrave Theatre in East Street.

Farnham Theatre Association (FTA) director Abigail McKern was recently introduced to actor David Suchet after a performance at the Hampstead Theatre, who to her surprise immediately asked her how the Redgrave Theatre campaign was doing.

She filled him in on the long struggle to save the Redgrave from demolition as part of Waverley’s Brightwells regeneration scheme, and he subsequently offered to add his name to the FTA’s long list of celebrity supporters.

This already includes such luminaries as Dame Judi Dench, Simon Russell-Beale, Simon Callow, Sir Anthony Sher, James Bolam, Sir Nicholas Hytner, Lenny Henry and Graham Norton.

The Redgrave Theatre, adjoining the Grade II listed Brightwell House, was paid for largely by public subscription in 1973 but was closed by the council in 1999 and has since been allowed to fall into disrepair.