THEATRE and television favourite Nigel Havers stars in Alan Bennett’s award-winning comedy Single Spies at The Lowry this week.

Havers plays spies Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt in the double-header which sparkles with Bennett’s wit and was considered by some to be his finest work.

Single Spies originally opened at the National Theatre in 1988 and went on to become a major international hit, winning the Olivier Award for Best Comedy.

It consists of two pieces, An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution sparkle with Alan Bennett’s trademark wit.

In An Englishman Abroad, the famous actress Coral Brown (Diana Quick) accepts an invitation to lunch with double agent Guy Burgess (Nigel Havers), living in exile in a seedy Moscow apartment. She finds a man longing for society gossip and a new suit from his London tailor.

In A Question of Attribution, Her Majesty The Queen (Diana Quick) happens upon the eminent art historian Anthony Blunt (Nigel Havers) replacing one of her favourite Titians. The painting is a fake, but is The Queen also aware that her enigmatic servant is actually the traitorous ‘fourth man’?

Havers has starred in a string of hit television series and films including The Charmer, Born and Bred, Manchild, Don’t Wait Up, Dangerfield, Chariots of Fire and A Passage to India while Diana Quick is probably best remembered by everyone for her portrayal of Julia Flyte in the television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.

Single Spies is at The Lowry for the rest of the week until Saturday. Tickets range in price from £10.50 to £24, book online at www.thelowry.com or phone the box office on 0870 787 5793.