Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter playing Taylor and Burton in BBC America series

US cable channel BBC America is making a TV movie about the turbulent relationship between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Dominic West (The Wire) and Helena Bonham Carter will play the stars in Burton and Taylor.

It is the second recent project about the couple following last year’s  Liz & Dick, the TV movie for Lifetime, which starred Lindsay Lohan as Taylor.

Written by William Ivory (Made in Dagenham), Burton and Taylor will be coproduced by BBC America, the cable channel run by BBC commercial arm BBC Worldwide, and the UK public broadcaster’s in-house drama division.

In the UK, it will air on arts and culture digital channel BBC Four. On BBC America it will be part of the Dramaville strand.

Perry Simon, general manager, channels, BBC Worldwide America said: “Burton and Taylor captures the final and complicated reunion on stage of two British and Hollywood icons. We’re excited to tell this story in the tradition of the great BBC dramas our audience has come to expect.”