The BBC has commissioned a drama based on The Diary Of Anne Frank. Due to be screened over five consecutive nights on BBC1, the adaptation sees young actress Ellie Kendrick in the title role, with Iain Glen and Tamsin Greig as her parents, Otto and Edith. The BBC said the new drama would "bring Anne alive to viewers of all generations". Executive producer John Smithson said: "The Diary Of Anne Frank is an intimate portrayal of a family living through the most horrifying times but yet managing to maintain a sense of hope. "We want audiences to identify with all the characters in the story - particularly Anne who, as a bright, funny, energetic teenager, still seems entirely modern today." The screenplay has been written by Deborah Moggach, who turned Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice into an Oscar-winning film with Keira Knightley. Anne began writing the diary on her 13th birthday in June 1942, two weeks before she and her family were forced into hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland. They spent two years in a secret annexe of her father's warehouse before they were discovered. Anne died from typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, weeks before it was liberated by the British. Her diary was published by her father after her death. The adaptation will be screened in early 2008 and is being made by the production company behind the award-winning docudrama Touching The Void.
