Miranda Hart reunites with her Miranda co-stars amid health battle as they celebrate Patricia Hodge's 80th birthday

Miranda Hart reunited with her co-stars amid her health battle as they celebrated Patricia Hodge's 80th birthday. 

The actress, 53, continues to live with the 'invisible' effects of ME/chronic fatigue syndrome after contracting Lyme disease. 

Sarah Hadland, who played Miranda's loyal best friend and shopkeeper Stevie Sutton in the hit BBC comedy, shared a series of photographs from the celebration on Instagram.  

In the first snap, Miranda, Sarah, Sally Phillips and Patricia could be seen posing together, with a heart drawn around the four actresses.

Sarah, 55, captioned the post: 'Our divine dame Hodglington is 80 today. What I call a reunion: WE LOVE OOOO so much Hodlington you are an absolute Queen. Thank you for having us... SUCH FUN.'

Patricia portrayed Miranda's formidable mother, Penny, in the sitcom. 

Miranda played the titular character, an awkward, accident-prone woman navigating friendship, family, romance and the everyday embarrassments of adult life, while Sally, 56, played Tilly, Miranda's glamorous friend.

The sitcom first aired in 2009 and ran for three series before coming to an end in 2015.

Although it has been years since the original series finished, the cast have remained friends and continued their TV careers. 

Sarah notably swapped the comedy set for the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom, taking part in the BBC's celebrity dancing competition. She reached the final with her partner Vito Coppola.

Miranda is set to appear on Celebrity Traitors, which is set to air on October 1st, in her television comeback. 

‘I haven't done much TV work for a long time, having only recently come out of long-term ill health issues, and when I was offered this, my whole body sort of relaxed, I smiled, and I just wanted to jump about like a schoolgirl with joy,’ she said of taking part.  

It took medics 33 years to discover Miranda had been battling the bacterial infection Lyme disease, after initially mislabelling her as being agoraphobic – an anxiety disorder characterised by symptoms of anxiety in unfamiliar situations.

She was also diagnosed with ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, which is a long-term illness that causes debilitating fatigue not improved by rest.

Following her mainstream success for her 2009 BBC show Miranda, she has remained out of the spotlight in more recent years with her TV appearances limited to guest spots on chat shows and Comic Relief. 

Sally, meanwhile, recently reprised her role as Shazzer in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy last year.