Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Catherine Tate said David Tennant called her and asked her to join him in the production

David Tennant and Catherine Tate are to appear together on stage in a new West End production of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

The stars will portray reluctant lovers and constant sparring partners Beatrice and Benedick in the Bard's comedy.

It will be Tate and Tennant's first appearance together since starring in BBC One's Doctor Who.

The play, directed by Josie Rourke, will open at Wyndham's Theatre on 1 June and run until 3 September.

Producers said further casting would be announced shortly.

Tennant is no stranger to the Bard's works, having worked extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company with appearances in As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He most recently appeared in Love Labour's Lost and Hamlet in 2008.

His portrayal of the tragic character saw him win the Critics' Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance.

But he is best known for playing the 10th incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who.

Tate also starred as his companion in the fourth series of the show.

She is currently appearing in Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings at the National Theatre and was last in the West End in David Eldridge's Under the Blue Sky.

She is also currently seen on the big screen in Jack Black film Gulliver's Travels.