Sex & Betrayal on the Small Screen! Tony Winner Christopher Hampton to Pen Dangerous Liaisons TV Drama

The small screen is about to get a whole lot sexier: Christopher Hampton, who wrote the Tony-nominated play Les Liaisons Dangereuses and subsequent Oscar-winning screenplay Dangerous Liaisons, will adapt the story for the BBC, Deadline.com reports. Produced by Tony Krantz and Colin Callender, the project is also eyeing networks in the United States. No casting or air dates have been announced.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses tells the story of ex-lovers and rivals the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, who take pleasure from using sex as a game to degrade and humiliate their victims. Based on the 1782 French novel, Hampton adapted the work for the stage—it opened in the West End in 1986 and on Broadway in 1987. The production, starring Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan (both reprising their roles from the West End mounting) garnered a Tony nomination for Best Play.

The 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer, was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won three trophies: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.

Hampton is currently writing the book and lyrics with Don Black for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Stephen Ward. Hampton and Black won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard.

Click below to see Glenn Close and John Malkovich play games in Dangerous Liaisons!