TWO stars of The Archers will visit Dorchester Corn Exchange to read the moving letters exchanged between Brief Encounter star Celia Johnson and her husband, Peter Fleming.

During the Second World War, Peter - brother of James Bond creator Ian Fleming - was posted to India and the Far East, working for military intelligence. During this time, Celia was accepting acting roles with David Lean and Noel Coward, making propaganda films, and ultimately starring in the 1945 classic, Brief Encounter.

The letters exchanged between the couple offer a romantic, funny and touching portrait of life during the early 1940s. They will be read by their daughter, Lucy Fleming - who plays Miranda in the Radio 4 soap - and her husband Simon Williams, who plays Justin in The Archers and who has also starred in Eastenders and Upstairs Downstairs.

Mark Tattersall, artistic director of Dorchester Arts, said: "The letters are full of love and warmth and offer an insight into a young mother’s life whose husband has gone to war. We hear how Celia coped with a large isolated house packed with evacuated children, rationing, learning to drive a tractor, becoming an auxiliary police woman in Henley-on-Thames, and holidays in Cornwall trying to surf."

The performance, entitled Posting Letters to the Moon, comes to Dorchester on Friday, February 21, at 8pm. Tickets are £15 for adults or £13 for concessions, available from Dorchester Arts or from the Corn Exchange.