The man behind hit crime drama Line of Duty is adapting a new version of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover for TV.
Jed Mercurio is adapting the book as part of a new series of BBC dramas based on classic novels and plays of the last century that includes small screen versions of Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie and J B Priestley's An Inspector Calls.
Lawrence's sexually explicit tale of a love affair between the aristocratic Lady Chatterley and her gamekeeper was only published in the UK in full in 1960 following a landmark trial which saw publisher, Penguin, accused of breaking obscenity laws.
Jed said: "Lady Chatterley's Lover is a novel that constitutes a milestone of English literature. I'm immensely excited by this opportunity to dramatise its iconic themes in a fresh and original way."
The BBC made a version of the novel for TV in 1993 starring Sean Bean and Joely Richardson in the leading roles.
The four books, which also include LP Hartley's The Go-Between, which was famously made into a film in 1970 starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, will be a series of 90-minute films.
BBC drama boss Ben Stephenson said: "Whilst each film will stand as a wonderful treat in its own right, themes about the role of women, class, sexuality and impact of the First World War will ebb and flow across them. I hope that, viewed together, these four masterpieces will present an intelligent and involving picture of what it was like to live in Britain 100 years ago."
