The BBC is planning a drama based on the facts about Saddam Hussein’s political career.

Provisionally titled House of Saddam, the programme will cover Hussein’s rise to power in the 1970s through to the US invasion and his arrest in 2003.

Actors will play all the key figures in Iraqi politics; primarily the ruler’s family and military cohorts.

"I want to tell the story from the perspective of the people inside his inner circle and understand how they saw the world and why they did what they did," said writer Alex Holmes.

He intends to make four 60-minute episodes, which probably won’t be on our screens until late 2006.