There are not many actors up to the job of taking on the lead role in Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III. However, David Haig is tailor-made for the role as Chris Price discovered.

As he prepared to play the mad monarch in Alan Bennett’s classic The Madness of George III, David Haig knew he had his work cut out.

The former star of The Thin Blue Line was following in the footsteps of the late Nigel Hawthorne who turned in one the great performances in both the original production in 1991 and the 1994 film, both directed by Nicholas Hytner.

The play follows the latter part of King George III’s reign as he battles with mental illness, leaving his court struggling to deal with his condition.

“I know I am up against it,” said David, 56.

“I have seen the film and loved it. Nigel Hawthorne put in one of the great performances of the last 50 years doing it but we are very different people. I cannot hope to better it but I can hope to match it.”

Of course David is selling himself short. In an acting career spanning more than 25 years, he won an Olivier Award in 1988 for Actor of the Year in a New Play for his performance in Our Country’s Good.

Renowned as a versatile performer, standout roles in Four Weddings and A Funeral and The Thin Blue Line in the 1990s made him a well-known face but his achievements are not limited to acting. He considers writing the play My Boy Jack as one of his greatest achievements. It’s the tale of Rudyard Kipling’s grief for his son John who died in the First World War and after starring in the play in 1997, it was made into a television drama by ITV in 2007 with David as Rudyard and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe as Jack.

Despite achieving so much, he is as excited as ever by the role in Alan Bennett’s play, one of the northern playwright’s classic pieces alongside works such as The History Boys, Talking Heads and The Lady In The Van.

“I think it is one of the greatest roles ever written,” said David, who has five children and only recently married his long-term partner Jane Galloway after living together for 31 years.

“I have always loved Alan Bennett’s writing anyway but I love this play because of its huge scale and humanity. From the start of huge regality he becomes this poor wretched disturbed man. That journey is not dissimilar to a part like King Lear.

“Everything it deals with is so human and accessible. We have all been near that verge at some point or other and it is about family love, politics and intrigue. It covers everything.”

Despite feeling lucky to have had a successful film and stage career, David does remember times when his theatre work was not quite so revered.

“The worst moment was when I was going through a quiet period in the early 1980s when I had not been acting that long,” he said. “I was in a pub theatre gig in London with three people in the audience. I was in the middle of a speech when the pub owner’s son came on stage and said 'you are making too much noise and I can’t get to sleep’. That was a lowpoint.”

The Madness of George III is at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre from Monday, October 17 to Saturday, October 22. The show is part of the Canterbury Festival, which runs from Saturday, October 15 to Saturday, October 29.