Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall and onetime Spooks actor Matthew Macfadyen will appear in a production in Bath ahead of its launch in the West End.

The pair are the stars of a new production of Noel Coward's Private Lives which will be directed by acclaimed theatre and film director Richard Eyre.

The play will be staged at the Theatre Royal from February 10 to 20 before a season at the Vaudeville Theatre in London.

The Theatre Royal Bath Productions enterprise is another coup for the venue, which recently launched an appeal to raise the final £1.25 million needed for a £3.65 million facelift.

British actress Cattrall won a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Samantha Jones in the TV show and has appeared in movies such as Star Trek VI and on stage in Whose Life Is It, Anyway?

Macfadyen's latest TV role was in the gripping five-part BBC1 drama Criminal Justice II.

Best known for playing Tom Quinn in spy series Sppoks, he also appeared as Mr Darcy in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice.

Other highlights of the theatre's newly-announced spring programme include:

* Bond actress Rosamund Pike and Blackadder star Tim McInnerny in a production of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler which starts on February 23 - again before a stint in the West End

* Ever Decreasing Circles actor Peter Egan and Darling Buds of May and Heartbeat star Philip Franks in the thriller The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in March

* Alison Steadman and David Troughton appear in Alan Bennett's comedy about an elderly couple, Enjoy, in April

* TV talent contest winner Lee Mead will make his comedy acting debut alongside Gary Wilmot, David Ross and Kate O'Mara in Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Savile's Crime later in April. Mead won Any Dream Will Do to claim the lead role in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for 72 weeks in the West End.

The theatre will also be running a series of Shakespeare events in February and March, while the Ustinov and Egg have full programmes alongside the main house.

The theatre box office is on 01225 448844 and more information about its productions is on the website www.theatreroyal.org.uk