Comedian and actor Dave Johns has joined the cast of the screen version of Blithe Sprit starring Dame Judi Dench.

Johns plays the gardener in this modernised version based on the classic Noel Coward comedy which enjoyed a record-breaking run in the West End and on Broadway and remains one of the playwright’s most popular works.

In the play novelist Charles and his second wife Ruth are haunted by a past relationship when an eccentric medium Madame Arcati inadvertently conjures up the ghost of his first wife Elvira at a séance. When she appears, visible only to Charles, things get complicated.

The film is directed by Edward Hall and also stars Dan Stevens and Isla Fisher. By coincidence Jennifer Saunders is about to star in a stage revival of the play.

Comedian Dave Johns' acting career has gone from strengtht to strength since his acclaimed performance in Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake. He has just finished shooting a film with Alison Steadman set in London called 23 Walks. There is also talk of a sequel to the box office hit Fisherman's Friends set in Australia, in which Johns played one of the Cornish singers.