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The Weinstein Company has licensed Us and Canadian rights from Hat Trick International to Julian Fellowes’ mini-series ahead of Mipcom.

Tom Hollander, Ian McShane, Alison Brie and Rebecca Front will star in the three one-hour episodes based on the Anthony Trollope novel about love and social ambition.

Executive producers are Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Hat Trick’s head of drama Mark Redhead, Fellowes, Chris Kelly and Ted Childs.

Robert Walak and Michal Podell Steinberg negotiated on behalf of TWC with Paul Cohen at Hat Trick.

Dimension Television is to adapt Stephen King novella The Mist for television from Christian Torpe, the writer of Danish show Rita.

While Downton Abbey is preparing for its final season on the UK’s ITV, creator Julian Fellowes will be returning to the network with a new drama to begin shooting later this year. Fellowes is to adapt Anthony Trollope’s Victorian era novel Doctor Thorne as a three-part drama. Hat Trick Productions is producing with Mark Redhead (Critical) and Fellowes exec producing with Chris Kelly and Ted Childs. The story centers on Dr Thomas Thorne, who lives in the village of…...

Series like Call the Midwife and Scott & Bailey are attracting record audiences with a mix of strong female characters

Call the Midwife has been crowned as the BBC's most successful new drama of the past decade, thanks to its mix of strong female characters and a realistic portrayal of childbirth. Now ITV is poised to strike back, with a female detective series also entirely shaped by women.

Industry figures believe these programmes represent a tipping point, with women now producing, writing, directing and acting in more television drama than ever before – and their efforts are proving hugely successful.

Pippa Harris, executive producer of Call the Midwife, said: "It is an interesting moment. We have always had women producers and drama executives, but now we are seeing women directors and writers taking centre stage. It does make a tonal difference and it is leading to a shift in the dramas we are seeing.