Marilyn Monroe drama series in works

A drama series on the final months of screen icon Marilyn Monroe's life is in development at BBC Studios.

Tentatively titled, "The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe", the show will explore her relationship with Hollywood studios and with public figures such as former US President John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy.

The show will be based on parts of Keith Badman's book "The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story", the studio said in a statement.

Monroe, who died in 1962 at the age of 36 of a suspected suicide, is one of the most famous Hollywood icons ever.

It will also explore the delays in reporting her overdose on the night of her death.

BBC Studios, the network's production and commercial arm, has teamed up with Dan Sefton and Simon Lupton's UK indie producer Seven Seas Films to develop the show.

The producers said the series would cover a period in which her behaviour became increasingly erratic as her dependence on alcohol and medication caused her glittering film career to plunge.

Sefton, who is set to write the series, said, "Marilyn's desire to be taken seriously as an actress and her battle with the powerful men who control the studio system is sadly as relevant today as it ever was."