IAN Kelsey and Patrick Robinson are starring in a major new stage production of The Shawshank Redemption at the New Theatre, Cardiff.

Ian Kelsey has hardly been off our screens for the last two decades, playing practice manager Howard Bellamy in BBC’s Doctors and starring as leading roles in Emmerdale, Casualty and The Bill becoming one of TV’s best loved and most prolific leading men.

However, on announcing he was to bring to an end his role in Doctors there was immediate speculation as to what would be next. It’s now revealed that Ian has left his starring role, in closely guarded story lines, to play Andy Dufresne in this exciting new adaptation of the Stephen King story, The Shawshank Redemption.

Joining Ian as Ellis ‘Red’ Redding, is television’s Patrick Robinson whose impressive TV career has also spanned the last two decades. In 2013 Patrick reached the semi-finals of Strictly Come Dancing but is most well-known for his role as nurse-turned-consultant Martin ‘Ash’ Ashford in BBC’s Casualty, filmed in Cardiff.

The story, which is based on the short novel Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption by world famous crime writer Stephen King, sees banker Andy Dufresne, played by Kelsey, unjustly handed a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover. He then finds himself incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank penitentiary.

Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with prison fixer Red, played by Robinson, and things take a turn for the better. However, when the warden decides to bully Andy and exploit his talents, a desperate plan is quietly hatched.

This new production is directed by award-winning Broadway director David Esbjorn, whose work includes the Broadway and West End debut of Driving Miss Daisy with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones.

Catch The Shawshank Redemption when it comes to the Theatre from Monday, November 23 to Saturday, November 28.

Tickets cost from £9.50 to £30.50 (tickets are subject to a £2.95 Ticketing Service Charge - exemptions apply).

Tickets are on sale now from £9.50 - £30.50. For further details about the show or to book tickets visit newtheatrecardiff.co.uk or call the Box Office on 02920 878889.