Starz, BBC prep The Dresser

US cablenet Starz and the BBC are again linking up on a high profile drama, this time starring UK actors Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen.

The Dresser will be directed by Richard Eyre and produced by Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Sonia Friedman Productions.

The show, an adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s play of the same name, is set during the Second World War and is based on Harwood’s experiences as a dresser for UK actor and manager Sir Donald Wolfit.

It will be the first time Hopkins (Noah, Thor, Silence of the Lambs) and McKellen have starred together, with the former playing the dresser and the latter playing Wolfit.

Callender and Sonia Friedman will exec produce alongside Polly Hilly, BBC’s head of independent drama, and Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning.

Production on the show, which will air on BBC2 in the UK, will begin in London this year with Starz retaining all US multiplatform pay TV rights as well as worldwide multiplatform distribution rights. The BBC will retain UK rights.

The BBC and Starz signed a multi-year partnership to develop and produce shows in 2011 and have previously worked together on series including abduction drama The Missing, which was extended into a second season late last year.