Billy Connolly has been signed to play a time-travelling archaeologist in a Michael Crichton adaptation. The Glaswegian comedian will play a 21st century professor who travels back to medieval France in Timeline, to be directed by Lethal Weapon's Richard Donner.

Ananova reports that Connolly is joining fellow Britons Anna Friel, David Thewlis and Michael Sheen in the film, which also re-unites him with Scotsman Gerry Butler, who played his brother in Mrs Brown.

The film is based on Michael Crichton's bestselling novel and is said to have a £60m budget. Friel will play the French heroine of the piece.

Fifty-nine year old Connolly had great success with the royal drama Mrs Brown, which garnered an Oscar nomination and Bafta award for its female lead, Judi Dench. Since then, he has made a number of other films, including Gentlemen's Relish and Everlasting Piece , but none of them have had the same sort of success. He has been in the news recently because of the success of his wife Pamela Stephenson's biography of him, entitled Billy.