Tom Jones Casting News

Hannah Waddingham and Pearl Mackie Join Solly McLeod and Sophie Wilde in MASTERPIECE/Mammoth Screen Production

Boston, MA; September 30, 2021 -Primetime Emmy award-winner Hannah Waddingham has been cast as the seductive and vengeful Lady Bellaston in Tom Jones, a MASTERPIECE, ITV and Mammoth Screen (Victoria, Poldark) miniseries currently filming in Northern Ireland.

Waddingham won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Rebecca Welton in Ted Lasso at the 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards. This follows the announcement that Solly McLeod (The Rising) is playing the hero Tom, alongside Sophie Wilde (You Don't Know Me) as the heroine Sophia Western and Pearl Mackie (Doctor Who) as Sophia's trusted maid, Honour, in this reimagining of The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling based on Henry Fielding's classic novel.

A rollercoaster story of the title character's complicated journey to find real love, Tom Jones has delighted and scandalized readers since it was originally published in 1749.

"Tom Jones is brimming with richly colorful characters," says MASTERPIECE executive producer Susanne Simpson. "This is the perfect cast to bring them all to life." MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by GBH Boston.

Also starring are James Fleet (Bridgerton) as Squire Allworthy, Tom's warm-hearted adoptive father; Alun Armstrong (Breeders) as Squire Western, Sophia's hard drinking but loving grandfather, and Olivier-winner Shirley Henderson (Happy Valley) as Sophia's Aunt Western. Tamzin Merchant (Carnival Row) is Sophia's Aunt Harriet, with Julian Rhind-Tutt (Britannia) as her bellicose husband Fitzpatrick. Susannah Fielding (Life) is Mrs. Waters.

BAFTA-winner Daniel Rigby (Black Mirror) is the disgraced schoolteacher Partridge, who befriends Tom on his journey; James Wilbraham (In My Skin) is Tom's bitter cousin Blifil; Felicity Montagu (The Durrells in Corfu) plays Blifil's mother Bridget Allworthy, a devoted aunt to Tom, and Janine Duvitski (Benidorm) is Mrs. Wilkins, Allworthy's testy housekeeper. Dean Lennox Kelly (Jamestown) is poacher-turned-gamekeeper Black George and NTA-winner Lucy Fallon (Coronation Street) is his daughter Molly, who charms young Tom.

Written by Gwyneth Hughes (Vanity Fair, Miss Austen Regrets), Tom Jones is directed by Georgia Parris (Mari) and produced by Benjamin Greenacre. The executive producers are James Gandhi, Gwyneth Hughes, Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler for Mammoth Screen, Susanne Simpson and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE, and Polly Hill for ITV. Tom Jones is a co-production between Mammoth Screen and MASTERPIECE. Global distribution for the series is being handled by ITV Studios.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/specialfeatures/tom-jones-casting-news/