Ian McShane, Tom Hollander and Rebecca Front will lead the cast of ITV’s Doctor Thorne.

The three-part drama is adapted by Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes from one of his favourite novels by Anthony Trollope.

The cast includes Alison Brie (Mad Men), Richard McCabe (Indian Summers), Phoebe Nicholls (Downton Abbey), Gwyneth Keyworth (Misfits), Kate O’Flynn (Ordinary Lies) and Edward Franklin (Doctors), also introducing newcomers Stefanie Martini and Harry Richardson.

Julian Fellowes commented: “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.”

ITV’s Director of Drama Steve November added: “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”

Tom Hollander (Rev) will play the titular 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 (Rebecca Front), 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).

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