EXCLUSIVE: BBC One’s upcoming three-part drama Death Comes To Pemberley has added three actors to its already large cast. I’ve just learned that Hayley Doherty (Accused), Lewis Rainer (Crash) and Stephen Casey (Emmerdale) have joined the cast of the drama, which is being eyed as a key part of BBC One’s Christmas line up.
The three actors join a large cast which also includes Matthew Rhys (The Americans), Anna Maxwell Martin (The Bletchley Circle), Matthew Goode (Dancing on the Edge), Jenna-Louise Coleman (Doctor Who), Trevor Eve (Waking The Dead), Rebecca Front (The Thick Of It), James Fleet (The Vicar of Dibley), Penelope Keith (To The Manor Born), Joanna Scanlan (Stella), Tom Ward (Silent Witness), Eleanor Tomlinson (The White Queen) and James Norton (Doctor Who).
Based on the P.D. James bestselling novel which was first published in 2011, Death Comes To Pemberley is a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This three-part drama was penned by Juliette Towhidi and follows Elizabeth and Darcy, now six years married with two young sons, who are preparing for the lavish annual ball at their magnificent Pemberley home. The unannounced arrival of Elizabeth’s wayward sister Lydia, however, brings an abrupt and shocking halt to proceedings when she stumbles out of her chaise screaming that her husband Wickham has been murdered. Darcy leads a search party out to the woodlands, and when they discover the blood-smeared corpse not of Wickham but his traveling companion, suspicion is at once aroused. The dramatic and unnerving events of the evening have shattered the peace both of the Darcys and of Pemberley, and as the family becomes caught up in the ensuing murder investigation, a mysterious web of secrets and deceit will threaten all that the Darcys hold dear. Death Comes To Pemberley is being produced by Origin Pictures, with investment from Screen Yorkshire, and directed by veteran director Daniel Percival. The executive producers are Ed Rubin and Polly Hill.
