The BBC has announced a star-studded line up for Russell T Davies’ “bold and accessible” adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Maxine Peake will star as Titania, Matt Lucas will provide comic relief as Bottom and singer Elaine Paige will play Mistress Quince.

As the full line-up was released last night Lucas tweeted that he is “thrilled” to be playing Bottom.

John Hannah, who found fame in Four Weddings and a Funeral, will appear as Theseus. Newcomer Hiran Abeysekera will make his television debut as the mischievous Puck. Other big names to star include Richard Wilson as Starveling and Bernard Cribbins as Snout.

The adaptation will be brought to life by Russell T Davies, who was behind the successful return of Doctor Who, and will air on BBC One as part of the Shakespeare Season on the BBC in 2016.

Davies said: “This is such an exciting range of actors from stage and screen, from wild comedy to high drama, and some making their first ever appearance on camera. The dream is coming to life like never before.”

Last month at the Edinburgh TV festival, Davies promised the production will include “a riot of prosthetics, CGI, magic and action” and be made by the team behind Doctor Who.

The casting announcement came as BBC One Controller, Charlotte Moore, announced a series of new commissions at an event hosted by BBC Director-General Tony Hall last night.

Other new commissions include Troy: Fall of a City, described as a “visceral rendition of the 3000-year-old classic, told across multiple parts and for the first time from the Trojan point of view”. The series will look at the fall of Troy from the perspective of the Trojan family at the heart of the siege.

Filming has already begun for Dickensian, a 20-part drama series which will bring together some of the Charles Dicken’s best-loved characters. A re-imagined Victorian London, complete with the Old Curiosity Shop and Oliver Twist’s Three Cripples Pub, has been created by former EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan. It is hoped the series, which will air in December on BBC One, will bring Dickens to a new generation.

A one-off live episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys will launch a landmark sitcom season as 2016 marks 60 years since Hancock’s Half Hour launched the sitcom on BBC television. Mrs Brown’s Boys, which was created by and stars Brendan O’Carroll, has attracted criticism for its lewd language. O’Carroll said: “When I heard the BBC were letting us go fully live I thought, ‘They’ve lost their minds.’ As Mrs Brown’s Boys started in the theatre it gives us a chance to show the TV audience live what we really do.”