Jeremy Piven encountered a rather strange case of ‘un-mistaken identity’ when he arrived in London to film the new ITV1 production Mr. Selfridge.

The Entourage actor revealed to Chorley Guardian “Someone asked what I was doing here in London and I told them I’m an actor and working on a TV show. The woman went, ‘That must be tough because you look so much like that guy Jeremy Piven. Is that weird for you?’ It was like an out-of-body experience.”

We may not be used to seeing the American actor on these shores (and admittedly, the beard that he had to grow may have added to the confusion) but he’ll be hitting UK screens very soon with the show about one of the most important figures in Britain’s retail industry – the man behind the iconic Selfridge’s store. Based on Lindy Woodhead’s book Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge, the show will reveal the story behind the rise of the store and the extravagant antics of the man who founded it. Selfridge was one of life’s risk-takers; he once persuaded Louis Bleriot to display his plane inside the store after he made history by making the first flight across the English Channel.

Selfridge had a darker side though and the show will not be shying away from that, as Piven explains: “If you’re going to celebrate someone’s life then you need to celebrate their whole life. We all have a shadow side and he lives in the light so much professionally but he loved to go out and gamble, it made him feel alive - and he was also susceptible to women… But you know, you can’t judge a man. When you’re playing him, you’ve just got to inhabit it.”

Mr. Selfridge begins Sunday, January 6, 2013 on ITV1