David Tennant will play Jules Verne’s classic hero Phileas Fogg in a new TV adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days.

The eight-part drama follows Fogg and his valet, Passepartout, played by rising French actor Ibrahim Koma, as take on the legendary journey of circumnavigating the globe in just 80 days, swiftly joined by aspiring journalist Abigail Fix, played by Leonie Benesch, who seizes the chance to report on this extraordinary story.

Filming is set to start in February 2020 principally in South Africa and Romania ahead of the show’s launch at the end of 2020.

It will air on the BBC in the UK as well as France Télévisions, Germany’s ZDF and Italy’s RAI.