It was 21 years ago that Sophie Thompson and David Haig paired up as bride and groom Bernard and Linda in comedy smash hit Four Weddings and a Funeral all the way back in 1994.

Fortunately for us, they’ve been reunited as Miss Adelaide and Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys and Dolls, which is coming to Manchester for an eleven-date run at the Palace Theatre before moving on to Birmingham and London for a Christmas stay in the West End.

The sizzling New York tale of gamblers, gangsters and nightclub singers will be premiering in Manchester on November 11 and will be featuring some of Broadway’s greatest show?stopping tunes, including Luck Be a Lady, Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat and My Time of Day. With dazzling choreography by world?renowned Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta and Andrew Wright (Singin’ in the Rain and Barnum), and direction from New York’s Gordon Greenberg.

David Haig is a renown actor and writer who’s appeared alongside Sandra Bullock and Rowan Atkinson. An Olivier Award-winning actor, he’s appeared in top roles in stage productions all over the West End and has done numerous TV and film roles over the past 25 years.

Sophie, who’s also won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Into The Woods comes from acting dynasty – her sister is Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson, her mother is actress and writer Phyllida Law and her father is Magic Roundabout creator Eric Thompson.

The talented and seasoned actors spoke to VIVA’s Teresa McMahon about working together again, and their love of Manchester.

“Miss Adelaide is a wonderful bird,” says Sophie,  “who is just full of love for Nathan Detroit and she’s desperate to marry him. She’s mad about him, and he’s mad about her too. She’s kind of just like a heart on legs, really. That’s how I feel about her.

“The whole show is a very funny, beautifully structured show. It’s the kind of musical that is up there with the greats as far as the writing and the songs are concerned. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s moving, it’s up-lifting. It’s just one of those show  s with the full set of ingredients.”

“Nathan Detroit,” adds David, “is a sort of low status hoodlum and hustler on the streets of New York in 1950, and he’s looking for venues for illegal card games so he’s always energised and neurotic and hopefully funny.

“[Guys and Dolls] is one of the greatest musicals ever written, I think. I’m not an expert on musicals – although I did Mary Poppins in the West End. And I said after that ‘I’m not really a musical man, I think that’s my lot.’ But when they came about Guys and Dolls I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute, that’s an exception,’ because the script is just brilliant, the music’s brilliant, the characters are well written.”

So will David be doing much singing? “that depends how you define singing! Nathan doesn’t have to be a great singer, he’s more of a speaking singer.”

When the conversation turns to the pair working together again after all these years, there’s genuine warmth between the two: “It’s absolutely lovely.” Sophie says, “We’ve been so delighted because we worked together all those years ago. To get the opportunity to work on something like this again is just fantastic. It feels like it does with good old friends. It feels like we worked together yesterday on Four Weddings.”

“We often meet at Christmas charity events,” says David, “but it’s great to be back together because we had a great time doing Four Weddings, always got on so well and now we’re playing this couple who are the eternal finances.”

The pair are both based in London but, while Sophie’s going to struggle being away from her boys, they’re both really enthusiastic about coming to Manchester: “Very much!” Says David when I ask him if he’s looking forward to staying in the city, “I love Manchester. I’ve worked there a lot over the years and my daughter was at university there studying nursing so I used to visit her and go to the Northern Quarter and all that sort of thing.”

“Oh, yes,” Sophie adds, “I love the Northern Quarter. and that wonderful place where all the artists work and make things.” I’m assuming she’s talking about Afflecks Palace, “When I go for a wander I’ll walk up to the Northern Quarter to those wonderful cafés. I just love it because there’s all the independent shops which are my favourites so I’ll treat myself to something. I’m going to go to the Royal Exchange. I won’t be able to see a show because I’m in one, but I’ll go there and have a look.

“It’s going to be pretty tough being away from the boys. I haven’t gone on tour since my boys arrived on the planet and I’m not very good at being away but actually I love Manchester. I did my first theatre job at the Royal Exchange when I was 16 so I’m really looking forward to being there.”

“Well I’ve got five kids for a start,” says David,  “and no doubt they’ll be dropping in and out. It’s our first venue so I don’t think there’ll be much time to do things unfortunately.”

Having both had such versatile careers, I’m intrigued to know where in the acting spectre they feel most at home: “It’s awful” says Sophie, “because I don’t have favourites. I suppose my first love is theatre as I suppose that’s where I’ve always felt most at home. Having been quite a shy and small person it seems very odd to want to get up on a stage and talk loudly but somehow that sort of made sense to me.

“I’m really chuffed that I have been able to do a mixture because they’re all really different disciplines.

“I feel blessed because work doesn’t always come your way and you have to be very dogged in this curious profession and I’m very lucky to have enjoyed so many different aspects of it.”

“The role I most enjoyed doing” says David, “was George III in The Madness of George the III which was amazing, an absolutely amazing part. I love the theatre, always have done. It’s less repetitious than filming. It sounds  strange but a day of filming can be 30 or 40 times filming one scene.

“Theatre and writing are the two things I enjoy the most. Since the early 90s I wanted to not just be in the picture but paint the whole picture. As an actor you’re always a part of the jigsaw whereas when you’re a writer you can structure the whole thing in your head and it’s great to let your imagination go like that.”

Sophie is also very well remembered for her role as child-abusing psycho Stella Crawford who was married to Phil Mitchell in Eastenders back in 2006/07, I’m intrigued as to what it would be like to play such a universally hated character: “I was so delighted to get such an interesting part in such a wonderful soap.” She tells me, “I loved the experience because it was playing such an interesting character and I’d never played anyone who wasn’t empathetic before and that was what I found so intriguing about Stella because I’d never played anyone like that before.

“I really enjoyed my time on Eastenders because I got a really good insight into soaps. I love soaps but I never get the time to watch them. I’ve had to wean myself off Corrie.”

So besides being busy over Christmas performing Guys and Dolls, what else have this dynamic duo got in the creative pipeline?

“I wanted to try to write one day,” says Sophie, “and I did actually write a children’s book. My dad was my main inspiration for writing a children’s book because there’s a character in it that reminds me of Doogal, and I’m hoping – I would never achieve the dry wit of my father  – but I’m hoping I’ve got a smattering of it.”

And David? “I had a new play on at Chichester last year which is hopefully going to come into the West End and I’ve just written a new play which I’ve not shown anyone yet but will be soon.” When I press him for the low down he refuses to divulge, “No, I’m not going to say anything except that it’s about pigeons.”

Guys and Dolls will be showing at Manchester’s Palace Theatre from November 11. Get tickets here: http://www.guysanddollsthemusical.co.uk