LEADING actor Jonathan Pryce will play Patrick Brontë in the upcoming TV drama about the famous literary family.

The BBC this week announced the cast for To Walk Invisible which has been penned by Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax writer Sally Wainwright.

Internationally-renowned Jonathan starred in BBC history drama hit Wolf Hall and blockbuster fantasy series Game Of Thrones.

He and the quartet of young actors playing his children will film this summer in Haworth Main Street, as well as at the replica of the Brontë Parsonage - labelled a "monstrosity" by one councillor - which is currently being built on Penistone Hill.

Jonathan said: “I am such an admirer of Sally Wainwright that if she were filming the phone book I would want to be in it!

“Her film will be a characteristically honest look at the whole Brontë family. I am really looking forward to it.”

Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë will be played by Chloe Pirrie, who appeared recently on TV in An Inspector Calls and War and Peace.

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Finn Atkins, from TV’s Vera and Common, will play deeply ambitious older sister Charlotte, while Charlie Murphy from The Last Kingdom and Happy Valley will be determined, level-headed younger sister Anne.

The women’s brilliant but reckless brother Branwell, whose destructive behaviour threatened to destroy his family, will probably be played by Adam Nagaitis, who also appeared in Happy Valley.

The BBC said the 120-minute-long To Walk Invisible would tell the story behind three remarkable women who, despite the obstacles they faced, came from obscurity to produce some of the greatest novels in the English language.

Sally Wainwright said: “This is such an exciting and ambitious project, and we have already had a huge amount of interest in it.

“Something about the lives of these three brilliant, talented Yorkshire women seems to touch people at a very deep level. I am honoured that the BBC have asked me to bring to life this fascinating family in a story set in the heart of West Yorkshire."

Executive producer Faith Penhale said Jonathan, Chloe, Finn, Charlie and Adam would show the Bronte family in a new and original light.

She added: “To bring such fresh and exciting talent together for To Walk Invisible is testament to Sally's extraordinary script, which sets out to tell the true story of this iconic literary family."

Although the drama is being part-filmed in Haworth, the producers chose to build a replica Parsonage on Penistone Hill to better resemble the original 1840s setting.

Last month the unpainted timber structure was labelled a "monstrosity" by local councillor Glen Miller who believes that the short-term damage to the views will be worth it in the end.

He said the drama will bring in more people to the district.

And parish council chairman John Huxley has predicted that the replica Parsonage will become an attraction in its own right.