The writer of BBC2's acclaimed Line of Duty will write a new adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover as part of a season of classic 20th century literature on BBC1 including Cider with Rosie and The Go-Between.

Jed Mercurio will tackle the DH Lawrence classic, promising to "dramatise its iconic themes in a fresh and original way".

It is 21 years since the BBC's adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover, starring Joely Richardson and Sean Bean.

The Go-Between by LP Hartley, made into a 1970 film starring Alan Bates and Julie Christie, will be adapted by Adrian Hodges who wrote recent BBC1 hit, The Musketeers.

The season of 90-minute films will also feature Laurie Lee's Cider With Rosie, adapted by Ben Vanstone, and JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls, adapted by Aisling Walsh.

BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore, who commissioned the dramas with BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson, said: "These four classic novels each represent a real moment in our recent history when Britain was on the cusp of great social and cultural change.

"This season of films aims to explore and contextualise the enormous changes in the way men and women lived and behaved in the 20th Century. They all tell uniquely intense and personal stories about people living in Britain 100 years ago."

Lady Chatterley's Lover will be made by Doctor Who and Sherlock producer Hartswood Films, in a co-production with Serena Cullen Productions, and Cider with Rosie by Origin Pictures, which was responsible for BBC1's controversial recent adaptation of Jamaica Inn.

Stephenson said: "Whilst each film will stand as a wonderful treat in its own right, themes about the role of women, class, sexuality and impact of the first world war will ebb and flow across them.  

"I hope that viewed together these four masterpieces will present an intelligent and involving picture of what it was like to live in Britain 100 years ago."

An Inspector Calls will be made by Drama Republic, with The Go-Between an in-house BBC drama production.

Hodges said: "Adapting The Go-Between has been a real labour of love.

"It's a book I've admired ever since I read it many years ago, and its subtle power and devastating emotional impact remains undiminished. Hartley's detailed portrait of class tensions, sexual betrayal and emotional devastation remains as powerful as ever.

"It has been a privilege to work on it and the fulfilment of a personal ambition."

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