Andrea and her wife Caroline have it all – great jobs, a loving relationship and a new home. There’s just one thing missing – a baby.

Amidst the drink-sodden traditions of a family Christmas, they have an idea – if nature can’t give them a child that shares both their genes, perhaps Andrea’s under-achieving brother Jimmy can. When he and his girlfriend Sharon agree, the four are forced closer than any family expects to be. Will this be the perfect solution, or a recipe for disaster?

“And hilarity ensues,“ laughs Angela Griffin, the former Coronation Street, Holby City and Lewis star, who plays Caroline to Tamzin Outhwaite’s Andrea in Breeders, which is a new play by Ben Ockrent and directed by Tamara Harvey.

“The play looks at what makes a family, why people become parents, how they become parents. It’s not like the olden days where you’ve got your mum, your dad, they get married at 21, and they have two children, a boy and a girl, and a car in the drive,” says the 38-year-old from Leeds who now lives in Barnet..

“So we, our couple, feel that genetics are very important. But it’s like, is that really important, does that matter?

“Caroline and Andrea go through a change, there’s a massive journey for each of the four characters as they try to understand what parenthood will mean to them and how it will change their life.

“And also how hard getting pregnant can actually be.“

Angela, with her two young daughters with actor husband Jason Milligan, knew she wanted to be in the play as soon as she read it.

“I found it really, really funny,“ she says. “I read it and it made me laugh out loud. It’s a play that I would go and see even if I didn’t get the part.“

The other cast members were also a big draw for Angela, as she and Tamzin Outhwaite have been close friends for about 15 years, having met when Angela starred in the BBC hospital drama Holby City and Tamzin had a role in EastEnders. They used to meet up during breaks from filming and go to “a dodgy little bar and eat jacket potatoes and prawn cocktails and talk“.

Angela also knows Jemima Rooper, who plays Sharon, the on-stage girlfriend of Nicholas Burns’ Jimmy, from One Man, Two Guvnors, in which Angela made her West End debut last year.

“It’s so nice, with the four of us,“ says Angela, likening the cast and crew to a little family in itself.

“We’ve had a lot of fun in the rehearsal room, we all get on, there’s no massive egos – no weirdos, basically! It’s quite a natural play and I think that’s reflected in our personalities, everyone’s so down-to-earth.“

One Man, Two Guvnors and now Breeders mark the culmination of Angela’s dream to tread the boards, held since she was six years old and a friend of her mother’s asked if she’d like to go along with her to a Saturday morning theatre club.

“I knew I wanted to be in the theatre from then,“ she says.

She continued in drama groups and productions throughout her teens until landing the part of hairdresser Fiona in Coronation Street when she was just 16 – her favourite memories include pouring a pint over Steve McDonald’s head and her wedding-that-wasn’t to Alan that was scuppered by Jim McDonald declaring his love for her – which she played for six years. She then moved straight on to playing staff nurse Jasmine Hopkins for three series in Holby City.

Her subsequent TV commitments have kept her away from the theatre, and now she is delighted to finally be doing what she has always dreamed of.

“It’s incredible,“ she says, “the high after a performance is just amazing“

  • Breeders is at St James Theatre, Palace Street, SW1E, until Saturday, October 4. Details: 0844 264 2140, stjamestheatre.co.uk