Dear England, the hit comedic stage play about Gareth Southgate and the England men's football team, is to become a BBC One series.

The four-part comic drama will be written by James Graham, who created the smash hit National Theatre play of the same name (pictured).

Joseph Fiennes will star as Southgate, with the play's director Rupert Goold on board to direct the TV series too.

The programme will be made by Left Bank Pictures, the production company behind The Crown and also comedies such as Pls Like and Cardinal Burns.

The blurb says: "It's time to change the game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can't the England team win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land."

Executive producer Andy Harries comments: "Dear England is a theatrical tour de force from one of the most exciting playwrights of our generation. Left Bank Pictures are thrilled to be working with James Graham once again and I'm certain that the TV adaptation of Dear England will be as ground-breaking as the play itself."

Dear England is one of 12 commissions announced by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama. Other shows include crime comedy Mint; the romcom Film Club; We Go Again, a show from Bruntwood Playwriting Prize winner Janice Okoh; a drama from Richard Gadd called Lions; an adaptation of conspiracy thriller book The Dream Lands by In My Skin writer Kayleigh Llewellyn; and two more series of police drama Blue Lights.

Lindsay Salt says: "Dear England was a back-of-the-net triumph on stage, and we could not be happier to work with James Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Rupert Goold and the team to give it the perfect home on the BBC. A story about the England team, football, national identity and so much more, this is hugely entertaining must-see television drama."