From date nights and street fights to dicey run ins with Thai airport security, Bridget Jones and Daniel Cleaver have been through a lot together. As have the actors who play them, Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant.

Seeing them reunited on the red carpet at the premiere of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was the rush of nostalgia we all needed – and a reminder to book tickets to see the film when it lands in cinemas on 13 February.

Despite gracefully bowing out of the third film, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Grant makes a triumphant return as the archetypal f*ck boy Daniel Cleaver in the final instalment. It’s been 20 years since we last saw Daniel in The Edge of Reason and he’s back in Bridget’s life teasing her about her love life as a widow, calling her a ‘naughty nun’ and pulling up to her Hampstead home in a sports car that screams mid-life crisis.

When Grant and Zellweger first started working together, they were 40 and 30 years old respectively. As well as cementing their statuses as legends of the romcom genre over the past two decade, the films have allowed a profound friendship to blossom too.

The duo was all smiles on the red carpet at the Paris premiere as they posed for pictures together, arguably wearing matching outfits, with Grant in a black suit and Renee in a black lacey dress. In fact, they both wore similar outfits to the UK premiere of Bridget Jones’s Diary in London back in 2001. All that was missing was the trusty third leg of their love triangle, Colin Firth.

Let’s be honest, getting a beaming smile out of Grant is no mean feat. He has a reputation for being a grumpy Englishman and makes his disdain for other people fairly well known. ‘I get very annoyed when people think I’m nice or diffident or a polite English gentleman,’ he told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. ‘I’m a nasty piece of work, and people should know that.’ Speaking about his role reprisal on SiriusXM, Grant said he ‘loves’ Zellweger and that she is ‘one of the few actresses I haven’t fallen out with’.

As for their relationship in Mad About the Boy, he says Daniel and Bridget will always have a soft spot for each other. ‘They know exactly who each other are. Where there was once a spark, there’s always a little spark… and we mess around with that in this film.’

What fans are really wondering, then, is whether that undeniable chemistry and long-term friendship has ever translated off screen? Sadly, it has not, but the two actors obviously think very highly of each other and have always made an effort to stay in touch. In fact, Grant reads Zellweger’s emails in her well-honed English accent.

As for the chemistry, it hasn’t gone anywhere either. In a recent joint interview with Vogue, Grant joked, ‘Who is a better kisser, me or Colin Firth?’. He then proceeded to tell Zellweger what he’s always thought of her, namely that ‘with a lot of actors you think they’re really great and then suddenly you see a glint of steely, scary ambition and you realise this person would trample their grandmother to get what they want in this business, but I’ve never seen that glint coming off you’.

Zellweger responded to that Grant-esque compliment by saying, ‘You’re fascinating, with a vast hidden trove of outstanding kills. You’re hilariously brilliant at everything you hate. And, though you hate humans, you’re a very good and loyal friend. I like you very much. And I love working with you.’ Are Zellweger and Grant the unlikely pinnacle of long-term work friendships? They might just be.

Elsewhere in the interview, they reminisced about the first time they met at the Bridget Jones read through and how they ended up in a pub across the road ‘for lunch’. Both actors seem to share a profound sense of pride in being part of the cultural behemoth that is Bridget Jones.

‘In a nutshell, I say it is the antidote to Instagram,’ Grant says while reflecting on why the franchise is still so popular. ‘Instagram is telling people, especially women, “Your life’s not good enough.” It’s not as good as this woman’s or this woman’s, making you insecure. Whereas what Helen [Fielding] did with Bridget is to celebrate failure, while making it funny and joyful.’

Zellweger agreed and recalled the number of people who have come up to her over the years to tell her that they are just like Bridget Jones. ‘I think maybe folks recognise themselves in her and relate to her struggles and feelings of self-doubt. Bridget is authentically herself and doesn’t always get it right, but whatever her imperfections, she remains joyful.’

These are clearly people with a trove of shared experiences, a unique grounding when it comes to fame and celebrity and the kind of low maintenance relationship that comes from really knowing one another. While Zellweger and Grant, and Bridget and Daniel (thank God), never ended up together in real life, the platonic flirtation they seem to enjoy is borne from a genuine and mutually rewarding friendship. They seem to really each other, just as they are.