Tom Hollander, Rebecca Front and Ian McShane to star in Doctor orne

Tom Hollander, Rebecca Front and Ian McShane to star in Doctor Thorne

Tom Hollander, Rebecca Front and Ian McShane have been cast in Doctor Thorne, adapted for ITV by Academy award winning Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, from one of his favourite novels by Anthony Trollope.

The cast also includes Alison Brie, who played Trudy Campbell in the acclaimed US series Mad Men, Olivier and Tony award winner Richard McCabe (Indian Summers, The Great Fire, Peaky Blinders), Phoebe Nicholls (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Fortitude, Downton Abbey), Gwyneth Keyworth (Game of Thrones, Misfits), Kate O'Flynn (No Offence, Ordinary Lies), Edward Franklin (The Brain Hack, Doctors) and introduces two newcomers Stefanie Martini and Harry Richardson.

Tom Hollander (Rev, A Poet In New York, Pirates of the Caribbean), stars as Dr Thomas Thorne, who lives in the village of Greshamsbury in Barsetshire, with his young niece, Mary (Stefanie Martini), a girl blessed with every gift except money.

Mary Thorne has grown up alongside the Gresham family, whose house, Greshamsbury Park, and status dominate the county. However Francis Gresham Senior (Richard McCabe) has frittered away the family fortune and now his wife, Lady Arabella Gresham, played by Rebecca Front (Humans, Lewis, The Thick of It), their daughters Augusta (Gwyneth Keyworth) and Beatrice (Nell Barlow), and their handsome brother Frank (Harry Richardson) face losing their home.

When the terrifying Lady Arabella Gresham discovers that her darling son, Frank, has fallen in love with Dr Thorne's penniless niece, she is horrified. Her husband Gresham is only being kept afloat by very favourable loans that Dr Thorne has secured from a railway millionaire, Sir Roger Scatcherd, played by Ian McShane (Ray Donovan, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Pillars of the Earth). However, Sir Roger is drinking himself into an early grave and the family's financial future lies with his unreliable son Louis Scatcherd (Edward Franklin).

Lady Arabella believes it is her son's duty to make a rich marriage to save the family estate and launches a campaign to secure her son an heiress for a bride, aided by her scheming sister in law, the very grand Countess De Courcy (Phoebe Nicholls) and her conniving niece Alexandrina De Courcy (Kate O'Flynn). Their target is wealthy American heiress Miss Martha Dunstable (Alison Brie).

Cressida Bonas (Tulip Fever) is also cast as Mary's friend and confidante, Patience Oriel, and Danny Kirrane (Critical, Trollied), appears as Lady Augusta's wealthy, but ill- mannered fianc Mr Moffatt. Janine Duvitski (Benidorm, This is Jinsy, Little Dorrit) is cast as Lady Scatcherd and Tom Bell (Humans, Ludus) as Lord Porlock.

The director is Niall McCormick (The Long Walk to Finchley, Complicit, The Game) and the producer is Helen Gregory (Case Histories, Cider With Rosie).

Doctor Thorne has been commissioned by ITV's Director of Drama Steve November and Controller of Drama Victoria Fea.

The three-part drama will be produced by Hat Trick Productions and filming begins in September 2015.

Doctor Thorne will be executive produced by Julian Fellowes with Hat Trick's Head of Drama, Mark Redhead (Critical, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Case Sensitive), Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Christopher Kelly and Ted Childs.

Writer Julian Fellowes said: "Doctor Thorne is a wonderful example of Trollope s gift for understanding the tangles we humans get into. He is sharply observant, critical and merciful in equal measure and, above all, highly entertaining. With the cast we have assembled, I am confident we can bring all of these qualities to the screen."

Mark Redhead said: With his characteristic genius, Julian Fellowes has brought to life a wonderful gallery of engaging, lovable, charming and monstrous characters in a script that is brilliantly funny and deeply touching.

Steve November commented: We are delighted with the incredible cast we have assembled for Doctor Thorne and are excited to see them bring this rich, multi-layered story of class, love and social standing to life

Hat Trick International is handling international distribution with The Weinstein Company who have North American rights.

LINK:	http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/tom-hollander-rebecca-fr...
	See more stories from itv

Most recent headlines