Yes, Downton Abbey is ending after next season, but creator Julian Fellowes already has his next iron in the fire. The man behind the megahit costume drama is set to adapt another period piece, based on Anthony Trollope’s novel Doctor Thorne.
The novel tells the story of Thomas Thorne, who lives in the village of Greshamsbury in Barsetshire, with his beautiful niece, Mary, a girl blessed with every gift – except, as it always seems to go in these instances, money. Mary Thorne has grown up alongside the Gresham sisters – Augusta, Beatrice and Alexandrina and their handsome brother Frank – whose home is the great house and estate at Greshamsbury Park.