Rufus Sewell leads cast of Art at Old Vic

Rufus Sewell has recently starred in ITV's Victoria

Actor Rufus Sewell is to follow his role as Lord Melbourne in ITV's royal drama Victoria by starring in the Old Vic's revival of Yasmina Reza's Art.

Sewell will appear alongside Tim Key and Paul Ritter in Matthew Warchus's production, which comes 20 years on from the play's London premiere.

Art - a comic drama about three friends who fall out over a painting - runs from 10 December to 18 February.

Albert Finney, Ken Stott and Sir Tom Courtenay were in its first UK staging.

Long-running show

Warchus also directed that inaugural production, which came two years on from the play's 1994 premiere in Paris.

Thanks in part to regular cast changes, the original West End production ran for eight years.

Sewell can be seen as Queen Victoria's first prime minister in ITV's dramatisation of her early years as monarch.

The 48-year-old was previously seen on stage in the first productions of Arcadia and Rock 'n' Roll, both by Sir Tom Stoppard.

Key is known for playing Alan Partridge's sidekick in Midmorning Matters and for his Late Night Poetry Programme on BBC Radio 4.

Ritter, whose theatre credits include playing John Major in The Audience, will soon be seen in Inferno, the latest film to be adapted from Dan Brown's best-selling Robert Langdon series.