Armando Iannucci has started work on his adaptation of David Copperfield.

The Veep creator is making a feature film offering a distinctive take on the Dickens classic, and is writing the script with Simon Blackwell.

Iannucci tweeted this morning: ‘Work starts today with @simonblackwell on the script of the next project’ – with an image of the book.

Blackwell and Iannucci on several projects, including he Thick Of It.

BBC Films, which is backing the movie as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations has promised a ‘fresh take’ on the novel.

When the project was first announced in 2015, the studios’s chief Christine Langan told trade website Deadline that Iannucci’s ‘sensibility usually runs very clearly through all his work. This won’t be a strange departure.’

Casting for David Copperfield has not yet been announced.

Meanwhile, Blackwell has also written the forthcoming Channel 4 comedy Back, which will star David Mitchell and Robert Webb as brothers dealing with their father’s legacy, a pub.

Last week he tweeted a photo of the two stars with junior doppelgangers:

#BackC4 @arobertwebb and @RealDMitchell with their stunt doubles. pic.twitter.com/jNoA9XtKrK

— Simon Blackwell (@simonblackwell) June 7, 2017

Published: 13 Jun 2017