This Immersive Detective Experience In London Turns A Childhood Tale Into A Gritty Noir Mystery—And You Decide If There’s A Happily Ever After

What is Once Upon a Crime?

A fantastical fairy tale collides with a gritty detective thriller at Once Upon a Crime in London. In this 60-minute adults-only experience, characters like Little Red Riding Hood suddenly fall under a cloud of suspicion. There’s tension, shocking twists and a dose of dark humour—our childhood’s favourite lady in red puffs on a cigarette as she tries to wangle her way out of a sticky situation. And the verdict doesn’t just lie with the detective—a live voting system lets you decide the suspect’s fate.

Little Red Riding Hood: Which story do you know?

Whispers of a Little Red Riding Hood first circulated in oral folklore over 1000 years ago. One of the first recorded variants of the fairy tale is Perrault’s Le Petit Chaperon Rouge. Published in 1697, this version has no happy ending—the wolf eats Grandma and Red and they make no grand escape. In 1812, the Grimm Brothers released a less cynical, more child-friendly adaptation where a brave huntsman saves both characters from the hungry villain.

At Once Upon a Crime, you don’t just get to hear a tantalising new version of the age-old tale; you get to decide how it ends. The immersive theatre show puts a Sherlock-esque spin on Little Red’s trip to Grandma’s house. The audience then votes on the detective’s murky theories and prime suspects, steering the story towards one of several possible endings.