Richard E. Grant and Christine Baranski on Hay Fever and Celebrity Traitors

Richard E. Grant and Christine Baranski have appeared together in a West End revival of Noel Coward's Hay Fever, and used a joint interview to discuss the play's themes, Baranski's career and Grant's recent exit from Celebrity Traitors.

The pair play a sparring couple in the century-old comedy. Grant said Coward wrote it as a comment on the 1920s, which he saw as a performative age in which people were obsessed with image and how they presented themselves. He compared that to contemporary life, citing selfies, fashion, cosmetic surgery and social media. Grant agreed with the suggestion that people can be self-involved and self-obsessed, and admitted he was 'guilty as charged' about posting on social media.

The Radio Times has said Grant brings chaos to his role. He took that as a compliment and said it was deliberate. His character is chaotic, he said, and the household in the play thrives on drama. The characters are 'drama addicts' who will create drama if none exists, using house guests as supporting actors.

Baranski discussed the character Judith Bliss, a former star who may not accept that her fame has faded. Asked whether female actors face a shelf life, Baranski, 74, said the presumption exists but did not apply to her because she is still working, now in the West End with Grant. She said women have a terrible time growing old and face an obsession with staying young, including cosmetic procedures and fitness. She said she was lucky to get strong material after 50 and 60, including The Good Wife, The Good Fight and The Gilded Age.

The conversation also turned to Celebrity Traitors. Grant, who was recently banished from the castle, said he had not watched the show back on iPlayer. He described watching himself unscripted as uncomfortable because there is no character or costume to hide behind. He said he blurted out that he was a traitor when Joe Light asked him, because he never thought anyone would take him seriously. He paid the price.

Grant also described the show's conditions as isolating and institutionalising. Contestants are kept in separate rooms, have a guard outside the door, receive delivered food, have no internet access and are told what to wear in advance. He said deceiving people was awful and that his daughter had warned him he would be 'slaughtered' because he cannot hide what he feels. He took part because he loves the format.