Wilson and Thaw reincarnated

John Thaw with new co-star Sarah Lancashire in The Glass

Actors John Thaw and Richard Wilson, whose most famous on-screen personas have been killed off, are heading the new ITV winter schedule.

Thaw, whose portrayal of Inspector Morse won him three Bafta awards, will return to screens in the ITV drama The Glass, alongside Sarah Lancashire.

Richard Wilson - whose BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave ended on Monday - will star in a new ITV sitcom about international banking, High Stakes.

Other highlights of winter on ITV include several ambitious new adaptations of classic British novels.

Elsewhere, plenty of popular favourite shows will make a return, particularly in the field of entertainment and drama series.

Wilson and Shepherd, formerly of Wycliffe, try their hand at city finance

David Liddiment, ITV Director of Programming said: "This winter ITV will deliver diversity across the schedule."

For Wilson the role in High Stakes was welcome but a surprise.

"I know absolutely nothing about banking," he told BBC News Online.

"The series is a rather rarefied animal with lots of industry terminology but then my character doesn't seem to know much about it either.

"I play the bank's managing director and Jack Shepherd plays the chairman but we rely on our aides and experts to get on."

As for John Thaw, he has, it seems, been particularly busy preparing for life without Morse.

Besides his role in The Glass, Thaw will also star in the TV movie Buried Treasure, in which he plays a man suddenly having to care for a grandchild he didn't know he had.

Favourites

Former EastEnders actor Ross Kemp spearheads the classic drama on offer.

He will star as a loan shark in a modern take on A Christmas Carol, alongside Warren Mitchell - TV's Alf Garnett.

Ross Kemp stars in a contemporary version of A Christmas Carol

Costume dramas include the Dickens classic, Nicholas Nickleby, and Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge.

Series returning to ITV include The Grimleys, starring Brian Conley and Amanda Holden, and the improvised chatshow Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned.

Heartbeat and The Bill are to have Christmas specials.

Prime Minister Tony Blair is also to appear as part of the new ITV schedule.

He is to appear on a live show to answer questions put to him by members of the public.

Ask The Prime Minister, on ITV, will be presented by Jonathan Dimbleby and will be screened in December.

Viewers will register questions in advance on a national phone line.

"This is a real chance for the voters to come head-to-head with the prime minister...putting to him questions uppermost in the public's mind," said Dimbleby.