CALENDAR Girls is never less than endearing and retains an emotional punch despite the familiarity of the story.

Lynda Bellingham and Patricia Hodge lead the cast as members of the Yorkshire women’s institute who pose nude to raise money for cancer sufferers, after Annie (Hodge) loses her husband to leukaemia.

Writer Tim Frith revels in the challenge of adapting his own screenplay, exploiting the difficulty of presenting six ladies naked on stage without the audience spying so much as a nipple.

Hamish McColl’s production keeps inside the village hall where the WI holds its meetings, though designer Robert Jones reminds us of the sweep of the moors outside throughout the action.

Director McColl whips up the necessary nervous excitement among both the ladies and audience as the women contrive ever more amusing and fanciful ways to uncover themselves while keeping breasts and below concealed by comic props “nude, not naked” as they were keen to point out. It certainly led you into the interval with a smile on your face.

Elaine C Smith and Sian Phillips deliver the pick of the comic lines, not least the latter’s strident dealbreaker “no front bottoms!”

But Gaynor Faye and Julia Hills are every bit as game and its very much an ensemble piece. Calendar girls runs until tonight.