Fry pinches a role in latest Rankin show

STEPHEN Fry is to star in a TV adaptation of an Ian Rankin novel about an art heist in the Capital.

Filming of Doors Open, Rankin’s first post-Rebus book, is to begin in the city this month with Fry featuring alongside Dougie Henshall.

The two-hour film for ITV1 is set in Edinburgh’s corporate banking and fine art world.

It follows Mike Mackenzie (Henshall), who becomes bored by his millions and business and teams up with close friend Professor Gissing (Fry) to swap priceless masterpieces in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland for accurate forgeries.

Fry described Rankin’s novel as “breathless and ingenious”, revealing that he picked it up at an airport a year ago.

He said: “As I read I just knew it would make a thrilling, charming and original TV drama.”