Michael Emerson to join wife Carrie Preston in Elspeth

Michael Emerson - husband of Elsbeth star Carrie Preston - will join the hit TV show in a recurring role this season.

The Emmy-winning actor is set to take on a recurring role in the police comedy drama, starting in December.

The Lost star will appear as Judge Milton Crawford, described as a "haughty, soft-spoken and bespectacled man from an old New England family of public servants".

His character will serve as a foil to the quirky Elsbeth Tascioni, the character played by Preston, who is on a mission to help the NYPD catch well-heeled criminals.

Emerson has won Emmys for his roles on The Practice and Lost. Other credits include the mini-series The Name of the Rose and the movies The Legend of Zorro and Saw.

Preston, who won her own Emmy for The Good Wife in 2013, married Emerson in 1998.

Last month, she marked their anniversary with a post on social media: "26 years ago, we said I do. And we are still saying it every day. Happy anniversary to @officialmichaelemerson - my partner in all things life."

Preston has worked on numerous projects with her husband previously including the 2004 comedy film Straight-Jacket and the 2008 feature film, Ready? OK!. She also appeared in several episodes of Person of Interest as Grace Hendricks, the former fiancée of Emerson's character, Harold Finch.