Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley to be Booker judge

Man Booker judges' panel to be chaired by Sir Peter Stothard

Actor Dan Stevens, best known as Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley – the war hero consigned to a wheelchair for life before making an abrupt recovery – is to be a judge for next year's Man Booker prize.

Stevens discussed this year's Booker shortlist on BBC2's Review Show and was a guest presenter on Have I Got News for You last month.

Stevens was named as a judge on a panel chaired by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement. The other judges are literary critic Dinah Birch, a specialist in Victorian literature; historian, writer and broadcaster Amanda Foreman; and academic and writer Bharat Tandon.