Hannah Waddingham is ready for Tom Jones

As the scene-stealing Lady Ballaston in Tom Jones, an ITVX, Masterpiece and Mammoth Screen miniseries currently streaming on ITVX, viewers will see Hannah Waddingham as never before in an array of stunning handmade period costumes.

Hannah Waddingham:

“I had always wanted to do a period drama but you know, being nearly six foot in heels it’ not something that has ever come my way! Oh my god, Lady Bellaston! …she’s such an over-the-top creation with this horrifically sybaritic lifestyle of debauchery. That’s brilliant.”

The four-part adaptation of Henry Fielding’s classic novel, Tom Jones, is a rollercoaster story of the title character’s complicated journey to find real love. The story has delighted and scandalised readers since it was originally published in 1749.

Lady Ballaston in Tom Jones, Hannah Waddingham

Abandoned as a baby, rescued and adopted by a country gentleman called Squire Allworthy, Tom grows up kind, handsome, free-spirited, and very popular with the ladies. But he cannot escape his lowly birth. So when he falls in love with wealthy heiress Sophia Western, and she falls in love with him, their families unite against the match. Tom is banished in disgrace, and Sophia runs aways from home to escape a forced marriage to William Blifil, the heir to Paradise Hall.

Sophia is prepared to give up everything for Tom – until she learns that he seems quite unable to say no to a series of adventurous flings with other women along the way. Eventually, they both end up in London, facing the wiles and whims of Sophia’s aunt, the beguiling but dangerous Lady Bellaston, who will stop at nothing to destroy their love. Sophia quickly learns that the life of a young woman in London’s high society can be cruel and dangerous.

Can Tom ever convince Sophia that he can be true to her? Can love really conquer all?

Tom Jones on ITVX / STV Player