AMANDA Abbington, who will be familiar to Sherlock fans as Mary Morstan, Dr Watson's late wife, will be heading back to the 90s to play one of theatre's most memorable creations, social climber Beverly in Abigail's Party.

Reflecting on the enduring appeal of the play, Amanda says: "I think Mike Leigh is one of our finest creators and directors and it was such an iconic play in the 1970s. Alison Steadman made it such an iconic part and the writing is so strong, the subject matter is so strong and it's a lovely period piece."

Not to mention offering the actor playing Beverly a part to get her teeth into: "It's about getting the essence of Alison, because you can't get away from how she created the character, but also finding my own take on her and trying to make her a little bit different to Alison's," says Amanda. "But you can't get too far away from her because it's her words and her creation. It's about paying homage to Alison and the character plus it's such an amazing role because Beverly is flawed and funny. I'm looking forward to delving into all that."

But while many may think Beverly is a monster, Amanda begs to differ: "I don't think she's a monster at all. She's just a bit ham-fisted in how she talks to people and how she reacts. She thinks she's a genius in social situations, but she's not very good at them, and I think that's what is so funny.

"I relate to her sense of humour and to her wanting everybody to have a nice time, but I would never speak to people the way she does.

She speaks to her husband Laurence really badly and she tells Ange how to wear her lipstick. I would never dream of doing that – I would never dream of telling people what they should be doing."

Having spent a lot of her working life in recent years on the TV, Amanda admits to being nervous about returning to the stage. "I'm terrified," she admits. "I haven't done theatre for, like, two years so I'm absolutely dreading it. But I have to do it because I really wanted to do a piece of theatre. It hones your acting muscle and my acting muscle needed a bit of exercise so when this gift of a part came along I thought 'You only live once so you have to be bold and brave and you have to take it on because you're going to be playing Beverly, which is just an amazing role'. It's about taking it, embracing it, running with the fear and anxiety and seeing what happens.

"How will I conquer the nerves? I might just do it completely drunk, going on stage completely hammered like some of the old actors used to in the 1940s," she jokes.

Abigail's Party will be at Malvern Theatres from April 17 to April 22. To book, call the box office on 01684 892277 or visit malvern-theatres.co.uk