Husband & wife Dr Michael Mosley and Dr Clare Bailey are taking to the road with a new live theatre show in which they aim to help us Eat (Well), Sleep (Better) Live (Longer!). Here, the couple talk about what audiences can expect from the show. And with this month’s Valentine’s Day in mind, they also tell us a bit about how they met - and Michael’s romantic proposal!

Clare, how do you view the prospect of performing live for the first time in Britain with Eat (Well), Sleep (Better), Live (Longer!)?
Clare: In some ways it’s quite daunting, as  I’m not experienced doing live shows, where anything can happen, but I’m also really looking forward to it. I think the audiences will be very warm, and I think it will be fun.

Michael: I first met Clare at medical school 43 years ago, and we’ve been married for 36 years, so I’m obviously biased, but Clare's written a lot of wonderful recipe books that people love; she is one of the UK’s best-selling cookery writers, but I suspect most people don't know that her books have sold in the millions. She hasn’t done live shows in the UK before, so this is a rare opportunity to meet Clare and have a chat. We did a few shows in Australia in 2013, and they were very popular - particularly the cooking demos. People bought lots of books to be signed, and they clearly loved chatting to Clare after the shows. They wanted to tell her about how much they love her recipes.

Will you be cooking some of your recipes on stage, Clare?
Clare: Yes, I’m really looking forward to demonstrating a couple of easy, tasty and healthy recipes. The other thing I would love, for those who are not yet fermenting foods, is to show how tasty and affordable it is to do! It’s basic kimchi or sauerkraut. It’s easy and becomes almost addictive. You slash and chop it all together with a bit of salt, give it a massage, put it in a bowl, stuff it in a jar with a few spices and seal it. Hey presto - sauerkraut! It does need gas releasing every day for about a week, as the microbes leap into action. We will also share some of the health benefits you get from fermented food.

Michael: The idea is that Clare will be doing the demos, and I will be chatting through some of the science and interrupting. We will basically be doing it as a kind of double act. We will be like a medical version of The Hairy Bikers…

What do you enjoy about the live experience?
Michael: I love the audience interaction because when you're doing a podcast, or you're doing a TV show, you don't get any live response. Plenty of people stop me in the street to chat about my books, TV programmes or podcasts, but normally long after the event. I like telling stories. I also love the fact that you get to meet the audience. We have a Q&A section in the show, when you hear from the audience and get their reaction to the stories you tell. And afterwards, we always hang around for an hour or so to take questions and do selfies. A lot of people come along because they want to share their stories. A lot of people have questions, but many of them just want to say “Look, you changed my life in this way...” And that's lovely and very heartwarming.

You’re running parenting courses, Clare. Is parenting going to be part of Eat (Well), Sleep (Better), Live (Longer!) as well?
Clare: We would like to incorporate it, because if you get children early, you can set their appetites and bring them up with a much healthier diet. Michael grew up being allowed to drink fizzy drinks and eat sweets, and for him it's been a bit of a struggle at times. Whereas if you can try and set up good things like meals together as a family, you tend to eat better.

What else will you be discussing during Eat (Well), Sleep (Better), Live (Longer!)?
Michael: I'm going to be doing quite a big section on sleep. I've got a book on sleep coming out - 4 Weeks To Better Sleep - and I've just made a three-part TV series on sleep. It's an obsession of mine. There is a big audience out there who are curious about sleep, what goes on during sleep, and how you can improve it. You really can make big changes and drastically improve your health... There are four pillars to health. One of them is losing weight and then maintaining it, which is the area we're best known for. The second is obviously eating well, the third is sleeping well, and the fourth is being active. So we're going to touch on the different ways you can do these things.

And you will also be addressing the subject of ageing...
Michael: Yes. I've just made a series called Secrets Of The Superagers, and I'll be showing some exclusive clips from that. In that series, I went around the world looking at people who are in their 70s, 80s, 90s. It's the science of ageing. What is the latest science of ageing? If you want to hold back the clock, what should you do? How good is the science, where is it? It will be practical tips on staying young.

Clare, do you remember when you and Michael first met at medical school?
Clare: I have to say, my first memory of Michael was of him baring his torso in the anatomy lab. They used him to draw where the liver is and where the heart is, and where the other organs are. I wouldn't say it was love at first sight! We didn't get together for a while after that. It wasn’t the most romantic of settings!

Michael: We had a mutual group of friends. One of the things we did at medical school were very silly live comedy shows. I'd really got interested in writing and performing in revues when I was at Oxford University -  I was a contemporary of Rowan Atkinson. And so I introduced some of those sketches at medical school. We used to sing some appalling songs, like ‘Save All Your Kidneys For Me’, and entertain our fellow medical students. And that's where Clare and I got together, I suppose, because we have a mutual interest in being ludicrous.

Tell us about how Michael proposed to you, Clare?
Clare: I was in the jungle in deepest, darkest Peru. I was doing my elective as a student with Save The Children's Fund, giving vaccinations in the jungle. Michael managed to trace me. We’d gone way upriver, and there was no access to the town that we were in. Michael managed to find somebody to paddle him up the Amazon in a canoe. He asked, “Where are the gringo doctors?” When he arrived, it was a total surprise!

Michael and Clare take Eat (Well), Sleep (Better), Live (Longer!) to Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Monday 12 February and Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Wednesday 14 February