KEY PLAYERS WHO WILL MAKE OR BREAK THE SERIES

Olivia Cooke (Becky Sharp)

Cooke, 24, failed to get into Rada, despite reaching the final round of auditions. But the same day she received her rejection letter Cooke was told she had got a lead role in Hammer horror The Quiet Ones and she was on her way. Fun fact: she appeared in One Direction’s Autumn Tour video as a student getting a piggyback ride from Harry Styles.

Martin Clunes (Sir Pitt Crawley)

Clunes, 56, first made his name as Gary in Men Behaving Badly, an ITV sitcom about two beer-guzzling flatmates. But it was as Doc Martin in the comedy drama series of the same name that he became a star. Now in its ninth series, the story of the irascible GP in a sleepy Cornish village still attracts up to 7.5 million viewers per episode.

Michael Palin (William Makepeace Thackeray, pictured left)

As a member of Monty Python Palin’s place in British culture is assured. In recent years the 75-year-old has reinvented himself as a travel writer and film-maker but Vanity Fair’s director had no hesitation in hiring him to play the role of Thackeray: “We wanted someone you trust and love. I don’t think you could do better than Michael Palin. He is perfect.”

Suranne Jones (Miss Pinkerton)

Jones cut her teeth in Coronation Street between 2000 and 2004 but it was as Dr Gemma Foster – a GP betrayed by her husband – in the BBC One drama Dr Foster that she hit the very big time. The 39-year-old was garlanded with awards for the role, including a Bafta for Best Actress. Like Becky Sharp actress Olivia Cooke, she was bought up in Oldham.

Frances de la Tour (Miss Mathilda Crawley)

A popular comic actress in the 1970s thanks to her role as Miss Ruth Jones in Rising Damp, De la Tour, 73, went on to win a Tony Award for her role in The History Boys on Broadway. She now also appeals to a younger generation thanks to her appearances as Madame Olympe Maxime in two Harry Potter films.