As Planet Earth awaits the excruciatingly long-overdue return of Downton Abbey, lets not forget what’s on the horizon in early 2015 with the return of Mr. Selfridge, starring Jeremy Piven as Harry Gordon Selfridge, the man who changed the face retail by laying the groundwork for what we know today. Zoë Wanamaker, Kara Tointon, Hannah Tointon and Leon Ockenden have joined the cast of Mr Selfridge for its third series which is penciled in for transmission on both ITV and PBS for early 2015.
 

The third series will pick up the story in 1919 just after the end of the first World War with the first episode opening with the joyous occasion of a wedding as Harry’s eldest daughter, Rosalie, marries Princess Marie’s son, Serge. Wanamaker (My Family, Harry Potter, Agatha Christie’s Poirot), will play the trouble-making Russian Princess, Marie de Bolotoff, with Serge being played by Waterloo Road actor Leon Ockenden. Rosalie will be played by former EastEnders actress Kara Tointon, while her real-life sister, former Hollyoaks star Hannah Tointon, will play her rebellious younger sister Violette marking the first time the sisters have ever appeared together on screen. Former Coronation Street actress Sacha Parkinson has also joined the cast as Kitty Hawkins’ ambitious younger sister, while Kelly Adams (Hustle, Bluestone 42 will play Harry’s new love interest, Nancy Webb.

As with the previous two series, filming is taking place on location in Greater London with a lavish replica of the 1909 Selfridge’s shop floor being recreated in a former carpet warehouse. The exterior of the store will, again, be filmed in the historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent. With all the cast additions for series 3, the forthcoming series will not include Frances O’Conner, who played Rose Selfridge, Harry’s wife. “Historically she wouldn’t have made it to the third series,” O’Connor told Digital Spy. The real Rose Selfridge died in 1918 while the third series takes place beginning in 1919.
 

Kate Lewis, executive producer for ITV Studios gave a hint as to what will be in store for viewers next season saying: “We have some surprises in store for an audience in this third series. You only have to walk down Oxford St today to know that Selfridges Department Store continued to be successful, but for its founder, Harry Selfridge, things were very different. His story was a roller coaster ride that ended rather tragically. We pick up Series 3 in 1919, the point at which his life really begins to unravel.”

Look for Mr. Selfridge to return to ITV in early 2015 and March 29, 2015 as part of PBS’ Masterpiece series in America.