The BBC can’t get enough of Jed Mercurio; The Line of Duty creator is embarking on a third series of his popular crime drama, and he’s to start work on a Lady Chatterley’s Lover adaption for BBC 1.

Line of DutyLine of Duty was a hit for Mercurio

The book was last adapted for British television in 1993 with Joely Richardson as Lady Chatterley and Sean Bean as the gamekeeper, Mellors. It was a controversial novel when it when it was originally published in 1928, and was ban for almost 30 years shortly after its release. 

The project is 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. 

BBC One's Charlotte Moore called them "uniquely intense and personal stories about people living... 100 years ago. These four classic novels each represent a real moment in our recent history when Britain was on the cusp of great social and cultural change," added Moore.

Mercurio, who came to prominence with Line of Duty, says: "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."

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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."