Compare actor Sean Jones’ 14-year association with the hugely successful touring musical Blood Brothers to a marriage, and he gently replies that it actually is. He met his wife (actress Tracy Spencer), while working on the show, where he plays Mickey, one of the estranged twins of the title and she is Mrs Lyons, the well-to-do adoptive mother of his brother Edward. For much of the year, the pair live on the road with their young daughter, but he says the experience is ‘rather lovely. The role’s got everything for an actor to get their teeth into. I’d be hard-pushed to find one that suited me more.’

Even after nearly a decade and a half, Jones is at a loss to explain the huge and enduring success of Willy Russell’s musical, but he has his theories. ‘The structure is great,’ he says. ‘It’s such a tightly-woven piece of writing to essentially get 40 years of people’s lives into a three-hour musical. There’s something about the characters that an audience just warms to such as the archetypal strong mother: we love that in this country, don’t we? And the question of class is a big thing, of course, and the whole issue of nature versus nurture. It’s got it all alongside some nice little tunes and funny moments. It’s like Horlicks, isn’t it? Comforting. We’re always there for you if you need us.’

Edinburgh Playhouse, Mon 24--Sat 29 Jun