What was the original radio play title that became 'The Mousetrap'?

The original radio play that became “The Mousetrap” was titled “Three Blind Mice.” Agatha Christie wrote the half-hour play for a 1947 BBC broadcast celebrating Queen Mary’s eightieth birthday.

The broadcast took place on 30 May 1947 on the BBC Light Programme. Christie donated her fee of one hundred guineas to the Southport Infirmary Children’s Toy Fund. The story was inspired by the real-life death of Dennis O’Neill, a child who suffered abuse while living with foster parents in 1945.

Christie later expanded the radio play into a full-length stage production. It opened in Nottingham in 1952 before moving to London’s West End. The title had to change because another play called Three Blind Mice had already been produced in the West End before the Second World War. The replacement title, The Mousetrap, comes from a line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The stage play became renowned for its long run and its secret ending. Audiences are traditionally asked not to reveal the solution, helping preserve the mystery for future visitors.