Here are some news about AM's new project:

BBC4 to dramatise life of Fonteyn

  • Published: 22 May 2009

Anne-Marie Duff, star of The Virgin Queen and Is Anybody There?, is to play late ballet icon Dame Margot Fonteyn in a BBC4 biopic.

The one-off 90-minute drama from Mammoth Screen is part of a season of films on the digital channel focusing on the careers of a number of British female icons.

Margot examines the complex relationship Fonteyn had with the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev when she was married to the Panamanian diplomat Roberto 'Tito' Arias. Their professional relationship propelled the pair to international stardom.

The screenplay was written by Amanda Coe, who wrote BBC4's Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story. Coe will also be a co-executive producer.

Filming is due to start in and around London in June 2009. It was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, the corporation's controller of drama commissioning. Celia Duval, who previously worked on Channel 4's Red Riding and The Long Walk to Finchley, will produce.

Mammoth Screen's joint managing diretors Michele Buck and Damien Timmer will also be executive producers along with Coe.

Mammoth's adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic Wuthering Heights is due to air on ITV1 later this year. The indie is also currently in production with a re-make of cult 60s classic The Prisoner for ITV1 and US channel AMC.

Timmer said: "Fonteyn's life was filled with drama and passion both on and off the stage and this is thrillingly captured by writer Amanda Coe. It's a great coup to have Anne-Marie Duff and Otto Bathurst on board to realise this brilliant script."

Buck added: "Margot is a fantastic addition to the Mammoth Screen portfolio, confirming our commitment to making distinctive, highly authored drama. We look forward to bringing Dame Margot Fonteyn's magnificent and moving story to life."