David Tennant is playing Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen in a new mini-series from ITV.

The drama is based on material from the book Killing for Company by Brian Masters, which focuses on one of the most infamous cases in UK criminal history.

Nilsen murdered boys and young men in his flat from 1978 to 1983. He was undetected for five years, and it was only when DCI Peter Jay was called to 23 Cranley Gardens on 9 February, 1983, to investigate human fragments of flesh and bone clogging the drains, that the police realised they had a serial killer on their hands.

Dennis Nilsen was arrested and convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, which was replaced by a whole life tariff in 1994. He died in May 2018.

The series will also star Daniel Mays as Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay and biographer Brian Masters who will be played by Jason Watkins.