GEORGE Costigan will play the one professional role, as "the railway king" George Hudson, in the York community production of In Fog And Falling Snow this summer.

Co-produced by York Theatre Royal, the National Railway Museum and Pilot Theatre, the show follows in the footsteps of the 2012 York Mystery Plays in the Museum Gardens and 2013’s Blood + Chocolate on the city streets.

Running from June 26 to July 11 in the NRM after hours, it recounts York's railway story from the 1840s as audiences are taken on a journey through the museum’s collections before being seated in a 1,000-seat, purpose-built theatre for the second half.

Written by York playwrights Bridget Foreman and Mike Kenny, it will be performed by a cast of 200 led by Costigan, under the direction of Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden, associate director Juliet Forster and Pilot Theatre’s Katie Posner.

Costigan has latterly made television appearances in ITV’s Vera and as Nevison Gallagher, a businessman whose daughter is kidnapped, in BBC drama Happy Valley.

He is best known for playing Bob in Andrea Dunbar's 1987 working-class Bradford film drama Rita, Sue and Bob Too and had other film roles in Calendar Girls and Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter.

On the Theatre Royal stage, he has taken lead roles in Death Of A Salesman and Blackbird and starred alongside his son Niall in A Number. Earlier this year, he directed a rehearsed reading of Antony And Cleopatra, raising £4,726 for the theatre’s £4.1 million capital project.

Costigan said: "I’m thrilled to be returning to York Theatre Royal and to be working with Damian, Katie and Juliet again. York’s a very special place for me and I’m very pleased to be part of the team telling this important story of the city’s history."

Director Damian Cruden said: "It’s lovely to have George back with the company and I can’t think of anyone better to work with our community in this fantastic production."

Set in 1840s' York, In Fog And Falling Snow follows George Hudson as he sets forth on his journey to build the great East Coast network at any cost.

Investors, passengers and the people who built it are all played by the 200-strong cast that includes York College student Olivia Ledden and All Saints RC School sixth-form pupil Charlotte Wood, who jointly will play George Jenkins, a rail driver’s daughter who is the only one who foresees danger ahead. The community actors will be joined by a choir of 80.

Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk