Sherlock co-creator and actor Mark Gatiss is adapting Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story Lot No. 249 for the BBC.

The one-off drama will star Kit Harington and Freddie Fox and be broadcast over Christmas.

The story revolves around a group of Oxford students, one of whom undertakes research into the secrets of Ancient Egypt which become the talk of the college.

Speaking about the project, Gatiss said: “It’s a serious delight for me to delve once again into the brilliant work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time for the Christmas Ghost story.

“Lot No.249 is a personal favourite and is the grand-daddy (or should that be Mummy?) of a particular kind of end of Empire chiller: a ripping yarn packed with ghastly scares and who-knows-what lurking in the Victorian closet…”