If your ideal Christmas night out involves less awkward small talk and more interrogating murder suspects, the National Justice Museum has just the thing.
This festive season, Nottingham’s historic Shire Hall is being transformed into the setting for an immersive 1950s murder mystery, where guests become detectives for the evening and attempt to crack a cold case before dessert.
Called Ding Dong Merrily and Die!, the experience drops visitors into December 1953, when a local amateur dramatics group, the entirely fictional Broadmarsh Players, gather to perform a Christmas murder mystery. The problem? The actors soon discover they’re not putting on a murder mystery. They’re trapped inside one.
Because of a shortage of performers, several backstage staff have been forced into starring roles, and it quickly becomes clear everyone is hiding something.
Among the suspects is glamorous leading lady Adelaide Kelly, who plays Lady Crimson and has collected plenty of enemies during her rise to local fame. Then there’s Colonel Custard, portrayed by Donald Day, a self-declared “Nottingham’s own Fred Astaire” whose confidence appears to outweigh his talent.
Guests will also meet stage manager Jeanie Rogers, cast as Madame Pigeon, and the mysterious Howard Reynolds, owner of the theatre company, whose connection to the suspicious death of the previous owner is raising more than a few eyebrows.
Throughout the evening, visitors will roam the Grade II-listed courthouse searching for clues, questioning suspects and piecing together evidence from a murder that refuses to stay buried.
And because it’s Christmas, you’ll get a three-course festive dinner while you work out whodunnit.
Once everyone has settled on their prime suspect, the action moves to the museum’s stunning Victorian courtroom, where the truth is finally revealed.
It’s part murder mystery, part immersive theatre and part Christmas party, making it a lot more exciting than another festive meal at the local pub.
Ding Dong Merrily and Die! A Festive Murder Mystery runs on selected evenings from 28 November to 19 December. Tickets cost £62.50 and include a welcome fizz cocktail or mocktail, a three-course Christmas meal and the full interactive experience.
Safe to say: someone isn’t making it to Christmas. And it’s up to you to work out who. Blimey!
