As Simon Templar in the 1970s television series Return of the Saint, Ian Ogilvy pulled off some amazing tricks, and he does so again as writer-director of Swap! in which he produces nine dead bodies with a cast of seven.

The gifted Oglivy, whose memoir 'Once a Saint' is being published on May 5, flew from his Los Angeles home just three weeks ago to begin rehearsals for Swap's UK premiere, and it could benefit from a few tweaks.

But there are some great lines and comic moments as the bodies literally pile up.

Brian Flowers and wife Susan arrive in Spain for a house swapping vacation, only to discover a dead body in a cupboard and realise they’ve unknowingly traded houses with a gangster.

The talented talking Scarlet cast throw themselves into an increasingly farcical situation.

David Callister and Patric Kearns excel as the clueless, pedantic husband and his slightly brighter brother-in-law, while Freya Copeland makes an ideal hysterical wife.

Kim Tiddy, as the crook's dim ex-girlfriend, Michael Kirk, Davies Palmer and Alan Mehdizadeh add to the meyhem, but the villains were not quite nasty enough.

Farces usually have absurd plots and characters – and Swap! certainly achieves that.