Before playing close friends Ted Mosby and Barney Stinson in the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother, actors Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris portrayed gay lovers in a play.

Their first collaboration happened in 2004 when the actors starred as lovers in a production of The Paris Letter.

A play by Jon Robin Baitz, The Paris Letter tells the story of Sandy Sonnenberg (Ron Rifkin), a Wall Street powerhouse struggling with his true identity.

The play spans 40 years, exploring Sandy’s relationships with his wife Katie (Patricia Wettig), his business partner/ lover Burt (Neil Patrick Harris), and his former lover Anton (Neil Patrick Harris/ Lawrence Pressman).

After Burt’s shocking suicide, the story unfolds through flashbacks, revealing Sandy’s desperate attempts to deny his homosexuality and the pain it causes those around him.

Josh Radnor played the younger Sandy Sonnenberg in Paris Letter, who got into a relationship with a restaurateur, Anton. The two men are alternately shown, between 1962 and 2002, as 21-year-olds and then in old age.

In How I Met Your Mother, Ted Mosby and Barney Stinson share a brotherly bond, evolving from their initial meeting into a life-long friendship.

Barney initially seeks to teach Ted a hedonistic lifestyle, but despite their conflicting views on relationships, they become best friends and wingmen. Their friendship is tested when Barney sleeps with Robin (Cobie Smulders), but it is reaffirmed after they declare each other brothers.

The relationship is characterised by Barney’s constant claims to be Ted’s best friend and Ted’s support during Barney’s wedding and fatherhood.

How I Met Your Mother, which aired from 2005 to 2014, followed a group of friends who dealt with the ups and downs of life and love. The drama is currently streaming on JioHotstar.