Polonium-210: The TV Movie

[Gilps]

You'd think they'd have wanted to know how the story ends before starting to write it

 

C4 commissions Litvinenko drama

 

Channel 4 has commissioned a television drama about the poisoning of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

 

The programme, to be written and directed by Peter Kosminsky, whose also directed army drama Warriors and The Project, about the rise of New Labour.

 

Kosminsky won two Batfa awards for The Government Inspector, his film about the death of scientist Dr David Kelly.

 

C4's Liza Marshall said he had "the unique experience needed" to develop a drama "around this complex affair".

 

"The extraordinary circumstances surrounding the death of Alexander Litvinenko are unprecedented in the UK and a focus of political and public attention," said Ms Marshall, commissioning editor of Channel 4 drama.

 

Kosminsky's other dramas include Warriors and The Project

The drama will be made by Daybreak Pictures, an offshoot of production company Mentorn.

 

It is currently producing Kosminsky's Britz, a two-part film described as "a revealing examination of British Muslim life lived under anti-terror legislation".

 

Daybreak is also producing satires about prime minister Tony Blair and his deputy John Prescott for the commercial channel.

 

Alexander Litvinenko's death of radiation poisoning on 23 November has been linked to the highly toxic isotope polonium-210.

 

Police have confirmed they are treating the death of the former KGB officer as murder.