AFTER breaking records on Broadway and playing to sold out audiences in London’s West End, David Esbjornson’s award-winning production of Driving Miss Daisy is making its way to Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre this week.

Starring Gwen Taylor and Don Warrington, the play tells the tale of an unlikely friendship that blossoms between a prickly, elderly southern matriarch, Daisy Werthan, and her kind-hearted chauffeur, Hoke Colburn.

Alfred Uhry wrote Driving Miss Daisy in 1987 and two years later the play was made into a film with Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy.

Uhry received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the film was awarded Best Picture.

The story begins in 1948 when Daisy Werthan, a 72-year-old Jewish widow living in Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive. Her son Boolie hires Hoke Coleburn, an African American, to serve as her chauffeur. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them.

Gwen Taylor, who plays Daisy Werthan, recently played Anne Foster in Coronation Street, while she has also had roles in Heartbeat, Barbara, A Bit of A Do, Belonging and Conjugal Rites. Her film work includes Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Richard’s Things.

Don Warrington, who plays Hoke Coleburn, is best known for playing Philip Smith in the hit TV series Rising Damp, while he also has acted in Morse, Red Dwarf, Lovejoy, Doctor Who, Casualty, The Crouches, New Street Law and Death in Paradise.

The show is on from tonight until Saturday February 16. For tickets, which cost £15.75 to £30, call 024 7655 3055 or go online, where cheaper prices are available.