Further casting announced for ITV's The Sound of Music Live!

Maria Friedman, Mel Giedroyc and Evelyn Hoskins have joined the cast of The Sound of Music Live!, set to air on ITV this Christmas.

Great British Bake Off host Giedroyc, who also returns to host the WhatsOnStage Awards this year, will play Frau Schmidt, whilst Olivier award-winning actress Friedman plays Mother Abbess.

They join the previously announced Kara Tointon as Maria and Julian Ovenden – last seen in the Donmar's My Night With Reg – as Captain Georg von Trapp. Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly (City of Angels) plays Baroness Elsa Schraeder while Alexander Armstrong will play Max Detweiler.

Further casting includes Evelyn Hoskins (Carrie: the Musical) as Liesl von Trapp, Paul Copley (Home), David Bamber (My Night With Reg – Olivier Award winner) and Jon Tarcy.

The production – which will be broadcast live from Three Mills Studios – is directed by Giedroyc's sister, Bafta-nominated Coky Giedroyc.

ITV’s Director of Entertainment and Comedy Elaine Bedell said :

"This is the first time in the UK that this type of project has been attempted – a musical drama both performed and broadcast live – but big ambitious live television events is what ITV does well.

"We've assembled some of the very best talent both in front of and behind the camera and I can't wait to see it all come together."

The two-and-a-half-hour TV show will be based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1959 stage musical, which tells the story of trainee nun Maria who becomes a governess to the musical von Trapp family in Austria. It features the classic songs "My Favourite Things", "Edelweiss" and, of course, "The Sound of Music".