More stars join Michael Gambon & Lindsay Duncan for ITV drama

ITV has announced further casting for feature-length drama, Churchill’s Secret.

Joining already announced cast members Michael Gambon and Lindsay Duncan, is Romola Garai (The Hour) as nurse Millie Appleyard. Churchill’s adult children are played by Matthew Macfadyen (Ripper Street) as Randolph Churchill, Daisy Lewis (Downton Abbey) as Mary Churchill, Rachael Stirling (The Bletchley Circle) as Sarah Churchill and Tara Fitzgerald (Game of Thrones) as Diana Churchill.

A co-production with Daybreak Productions/MASTERPIECE, Churchill’s Secret is based on Jonathan Smith’s recently published book, The Churchill Secret: KBO.

Adapted by Stewart Harcourt, Churchill’s Secret is set summer of 1953 and tells the story of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s life-threatening stroke in his late 70’s, from the viewpoint of his young Nurse, Millie Appleyard.

The news was kept hidden from the world, while his long suffering wife Clemmie, desperately hopes the stroke will force Winston to retire while his political friends and foe scheme to plot who will succeed him.

Further cast includes Bill Paterson (Law & Order: UK) as Lord Moran, James Wilby as Lord Bracken (Endeavour), Alex Jennings as Anthony Eden (Silk), Patrick Kennedy (Boardwalk Empire) as Jock Colville, Christian McKay (Borgia) as Christopher Soames, Chris Larkin (Doctors) as Rab Butler and John Standing (Borgia) as Lord Camrose.

Churchill’s Secret begins filming begins this month (June 2015) in London, Hayes and at Churchill’s principal family home, Chartwell in Kent. The drama will air in the UK on ITV, and PBS in the US in 2016.