Thurman, Ifans to star in BBC Two plays

BBC Two has signed up star-studded casts for two stage-play adaptations to air later this year.

A production of David Hare's My Zinc Bed will feature Uma Thurman as recovering alcoholic Elsa, Paddy Considine as penniless poet Paul Peplow and Jonathan Pryce in the role of Victor Quinn, an internet entrepreneur.

The second play - Caryl Churchill's A Number - stars Tom Wilkinson and Rhys Ifans in father and son roles. Bernard, played by Ifans, struggles to understand his identity after discovering he is a clone.

"We're delighted that this year plays from David Hare and Caryl Churchill, two of the UK's most prolific and significant playwrights, have found their home on BBC Two and are helping to shine a light on the BBC's overall commitment to the television single," said BBC fiction controller Jane Tranter.