TWO very familiar faces from our television screens will shortly be playing opposite each other in Malvern in a touring comedy play.

Shobna Gulati and Joe McGann are to star in the UK tour of John Godber’s bittersweet comedy, April in Paris, which will be playing at Malvern’s Festival Theatre between August 12-16.

Al and Bet’s relationship is on the rocks. He recently lost his job, while she works in a shoe shop and can only dream of a better life. But things are about to change...

When Bet wins a romantic night in Paris, the city of love, Al wonders who she’ll take with her. Resigned to taking her husband, Paris actually reignites their relationship as never before, but the reality of returning home looms large.

This hilarious romantic adventure, featuring Godber’s unique brand of observational comedy, was nominated Comedy of the Year in the Olivier Awards.

Shobna Gulati is best known for playing Anita in Victoria Wood’s wonderful Dinnerladies and Sunita Alahan in Coronation Street from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009 and departed again in 2013. Since then she has been a panellist on Loose Women.

Joe McGann became a household name as Charlie Burrows, the ‘housekeeper’ in the hit TV comedy series The Upper Hand, which ran for six years. His major stage roles include Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Ray Say in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.

John Godber is the third most performed playwright in the UK, after William Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. His plays are performed across the world with Bouncers being the most popular.