A former regional daily editor has teamed up with a journalist-turned-playwright to produce a stage show about a fictional local newspaper.

Rob Lawson, left, who edited the Sunderland Echo, has joined forces with Susan Wear, who used to work as a reporter with Newcastle-based daily The Journal, for the play.

Entitled Five Dead Nobodies, the show is a thriller set in the office of The Tyneside Times, a local newspaper which is fighting for survival.

The editor of the Times knows he needs strong stories to sell more newspapers – like a murder or two.

The show will be put on by the Customs House, in South Shields, where Susan’s first play, The Duke in The Cupboard, debuted last year.  It will run from 15-18 February 2017.

Rob spent a decade in charge of the Echo before stepping down in 2012.

Another new show being hosted by the venue in March is The Rock, which explores the legends behind one of South Tyneside’s most iconic landmarks.

Customs House executive director Ray Spencer said: “It’s a programme we’re proud to set before local and regional audiences and one I hope will bring people back again and again to The Customs House.

“It’s great to host the premieres of two new shows written by South Tyneside writers and which feature such local settings.”