The BBC have today released new promotional pictures for their new epic adaptation of War & Peace. Adapted be famous scribe Andrew Davies, the novel is Tolstoy’s most famous work alongside Anna Karenina. First printed in 1869 the novel has gone on to achieve worldwide fame and has been hailed as a classic of literature. Made by BBC Cymru Wales Drama, Andrew Davies scripts will draw all the elements into powerful focus for a modern audience. The extensive cast includes Paul Dano (12 Years A Slave, Prisoners, There Will Be Blood), Lily James (Cinderella, Downton Abbey) and James Norton (Happy Valley, Belle, Grantchester), Jim Broadbent (Paddington, The Great Train Robbery, Harry Potter) as Prince Bolkonsky, Gillian Anderson (The Fall, Hannibal) as Anna Pavlovna, Rebecca Front (Death Comes To Pemberley, The Thick Of It, Lewis) as Anna Mikhailovna and Kenneth Cranham (In The Flesh, 37 Days) as Uncle Mikhail. Aneurin Barnard (Cilla, We’ll Take Manhattan) will play Boris, Tuppence Middleton (The Imitation Game) and Callum Turner (Glue, Leaving, Queen and Country) will play Helene and Anatole respectively and Jessie Buckley (Endeavour) will play Princess Marya and Brian Cox (The Game, Shetland) as General Kutuzov with Ken Stott (The Hobbit, The Missing) as Bazdeev. Also appearing are Stephen Rea (An Honourable Woman, The Shadow Line) as Prince Vassily Kuragin, Ade Edmondson (Prey, Blood) and Greta Scacchi (The Falling, Brideshead Revisited) as Count and Countess Rostov. Jack Lowden (The Passing Bells, The Tunnel) will star as Nikolai, Tom Burke (The Musketeers, The Hour) as Dolokhov and Aisling Loftus (Mr Selfridge, Good Cop) as Sonya.

The drama is set to air in either late 2015 or early 2016. More news soon.

With thanks to BBC Media.