'Dorrit' to be BBC1's next Dickens drama

BBC Drama Productions is making a 15-part series of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit for BBC One.

It comes after serial adaptations of Bleak House and Oliver Twist and has been written by Andrew Davies who scripted the former.

The "rags to riches and back again" tale will star Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks) as Arthur Clennam while other casting is still to be announced.

There will be one 60 minute show and 14 half-hours in a similar pattern to Bleak House.

Filming will begin in April with Anne Pivcevic (Sense And Sensibility) executive producing. Lisa Osborne will produce and Dearbhla Walsh (The Tudors) and Adam Smith (Skins) will direct.

Kate Harwood, head of series and serials, said: "Following on from the success of Bleak House and Oliver Twist, BBC Drama Production is thrilled to be bringing Little Dorrit, Dickens' great tale of imprisonment and yearning to the screen."

BBC fiction controller Jane Tranter, who commissioned the series, added: "Making classic adaptations both accessible and relevant to a broad modern audience is one of the great privileges of working with BBC Drama Productions, and we anticipate that Little Dorrit will bring 19th century Victorian London to life with all the verve and impact of our very best drama."

Little Dorrit will air in the Autumn.