Tom’s new role is just what the doctor ordered
If you’re still missing Downton Abbey, the good news is that its creator Julian Fellowes is back with three-part period drama DoctorThorne (Sunday, ITV, 9pm), adapted from one of his favourite novels by Anthony Trollope. And there’s no need to worry if you’re not familiar with the book – neither was actor Tom Hollander, and he’s playing the title role. Luckily, he did have prior knowledge of Fellowes’ writing: “I worked with Julian Fellowes on Gosford Park a long time ago. It was lovely to be reunited with him after all that time. On my first day filming we were in Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire where we had also filmed Gosford Park in 2001. Fourteen years later there we are, Julian is Lord Fellowes, I’ve got grey in my hair and we were doing his latest. So that was fun.” And then of course there’s the role itself. Although Tom has been in period dramas before – as well as the aforementioned Gosford Park, he also played Mr Collins in the 2005 movie version of Pride & Prejudice – being the leading man was something of a new experience. He’s definitely at the heart of the first episode, which opens in 1855, as Dr Thorne is forced to explain to his niece Mary (Stefanie Martini) that she hasn’t been invited to help with the preparations for an old friend’s wedding because she’s illegitimate. The news also looks set to blight Mary’s own marriage prospects, as she’s fallen for Frank (Harry Richardson), the heir to the local Greshamsbury Estate – and his mother Lady Arabella (Rebecca Front) isn’t about to stand by and let him wed a woman with no money or breeding when he could be shoring up the family’s shaky finances by wooing a rich American. Meanwhile, the good doctor is also dishing out advice to the railway baron Sir Roger Scatcherd (Ian McShane), who holds the future of Greshamsbury in his hands. Hollander is certainly hoping it will be a hit with viewers, saying: “Costume dramas are really about escaping from anything that is too familiar. It’s a world of glistening sunshine and dewdecked meadows. It’s not contemporary social realism with a political punch. It’s something to calm you down before you go to sleep, before the stresses of work the next day.” But if you do want something more contemporary, you can always watch Hollander in The Night Manager over on BBC1 at the same time…