A former Kingston College student will be starring in the BBC’s new swashbuckling drama series, which begins this weekend.

Howard Charles will be appearing as Porthos in The Musketeers, a 10-part adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ classic novel by Adrian Hodges.

The primetime drama starts its run this Sunday, January 19, and also stars former Skins actor Luke Pasqualino as D’Artagnan, The Full Monty’s Hugo Speer and Peter Capaldi, who made his bow as the 12th Doctor in last month’s Doctor Who Christmas special.

It will certainly be the biggest television role to date for Charles, a seasoned theatre actor with credits including The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Blackta at the Young Vic last year.

Peter Mayhew-Smith, Principal of Kingston College, said: “We’re enormously proud to see a talented and able young actor like Howard Charles progress from Kingston College and into a major role such as this.

“It’s a tribute both to Howard’s great skill as an actor and to the high quality drama training delivered by the performing arts team.

“I love the story of the Musketeers and I can’t wait to see what Howard’s done with the part.”

The Musketeers starts on Sunday, January 19, at 9pm on BBC One.