Four brand-new murder mystery afternoon teas are coming to Liverpool in 2026

A season of brand-new Murder Mystery Afternoon Teas is coming to the Everyman after completely selling out every show in 2025.

The hugely popular whodunnits are created by Liverpool-based DBY Interactive and written by the company’s founder Becky Brooks.

Last year they put on around 20 shows Downstairs at the Everyman and amateur sleuths snapped up every ticket almost as soon as they went on sale.

Now the theatre has commissioned another series of four new Agatha Christie style Afternoon Tea shows across the new year – plus there’ll be a murderous Valentine’s Special entitled ‘The Grand Finale’.

Becky, who lives in Wirral, came up with the idea of combining afternoon tea with an immersive murder mystery where audience members get to play detective and work out which character is the villain.

She launched the concept in April 2024, working with a core cast of talented local actors, and they proved an instant hit.

Becky said:

“The Everyman have really supported us, and helped us grow our voice and our identity, which has been brilliant,”

“I want the audiences to feel part of the shows, it’s escapism so they can really throw themselves into the experience and just enjoy themselves.

“You can feel the atmosphere in the room, how relaxed people are and how much they’re getting into it, and there’s such a mixed age range.

“When we first started out it was an older audience but now a lot more younger people come with parents or grandparents, and we get a few teenagers too, they’re normally the best detectives in the room!”

Becky says she writes her shows in layers, so people can get decide for themselves how much they get involved in the sleuthing

“Some people come just for the theatrical experience and the fun of it, and some really want to be challenged with all the clues and working out a motive.

“I tend to write the show and then go through it and work on the finer details and connections to make sure there are enough subtle clues. There’s nothing better than having a sudden twist when, as an audience member, you think you know what’s happened, but it’s also great for the cast to see someone get it because they were really listening.

“I love those moments when there’s a collective gasp because a room full of people are totally in your story, that’s such a good feeling.”

One of the things audiences love most about DBY’s murder mystery afternoon teas – as well as the scones – is the interaction: they get to interrogate characters at their tables as part of the show.

“People do work together and collaborate on ideas with other tables, so you get this community detective hub going on,” adds Becky.

“I think the setting really helps that because it’s a bistro and we only have 76 people in the room so it’s such an immersive very personal experience.”

MURDER AT THE MANOR ACTORS - Murder Mystery - The Guide Liverpool

Tickets for the Valentine’s Special, The Grand Finale featuring world-famous illusionist Theodore the Magnificent, are already on sale with shows from Thursday February 12 to Saturday February 14.

Then there’ll be a further four brand-new ones to come in April, July, September and December. Rest In Pieces is set at the wake of a WWII decoder who’s put a code in her will which the audience needs to decipher. Last One Standing has guests with hidden histories heading to a luxury island in the 1920s, and Union of Revenge is based in the 1960s in an ex-asylum now turned into the home of an artist.

The final show of the year, a Christmas special, will be Murder at Blackout, where the Everyman basement becomes a WW2 bunker filled with characters who may or may not be who they say they are.

Tickets for those four shows will go on sale soon, and Becky is excited to welcome new and returning fans, and reunite her cast.

“I’ve been growing the company for 10 years and the actors I work with I think are some of the best in the North West,” she says. “They bring it all to life and I’m so lucky to have them.

“Having all our shows sell out is a writer’s dream, I’ve always loved murder mysteries and interactive theatre so it’s so nice that other people love it too.”