Christine Baranski is fulfilling a "dream" by performing in London's West End.

The 73-year-old actress will make her West End debut later this year, in a new production of Noel Coward's comedy Hay Fever, and Christine can't wait to tread the boards in London.

She told BBC News: "It's been on my bucket list for years.

"It's going to be just wonderful, I can't tell you how excited I am. Believe me, I'm already studying the role, learning my lines, and working to polish an English accent."

Christine, who will appear in the production opposite Richard E Grant, said her busy filming schedule had always prevented her from returning to her theatre roots.

She said: "The problem has always been my filming schedule, which has not allowed me to carve out enough time to do a play, but if ever there was a play for me to do, it would be this one.

"The skill set involved is so to my liking - dusting off my light comedy skills and doing it with an ensemble cast of actors who are keen to revive Coward in that way."

Christine is looking forward to getting her teeth into Coward's dialogue.

She said: "Classical plays give you language, the ability to speak it and to give a kind of spin to a sentence that you don't have with modern playwriting. I just love the quicksilver delivery and suave flamboyance of Coward, it's delightful to play."

Christine started out as "predominantly a theatre actress" with "no desire to be a television actor". However, her career "took something of a U-turn" when she was cast in 1990s sitcom Cybill.

She said: "That really transformed my career, and suddenly I was offered wonderful movie roles. So to my astonishment, the latter part of my career has been film and mostly television."

The actress also revealed that she was immediately smitten with her co-star after they met via Zoom.

Speaking about Richard E Grant, she said: "I was utterly captivated by him. He's whip smart, wickedly funny."