Dominic West's new role: Fred West

Dominic West, who starred in The Wire, is set to play serial killer Fred West in a new ITV drama.

Appropriate Adult will centre on the time between the Gloucester builder's arrest and his suicide in a prison cell on New Year's Day in 1995.

The role has been won by the murderer's 41-year-old English namesake, best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, the gritty HBO drama series.

The two-part ITV drama will focus on how Fred West, who was awaiting trial for killing 12 young women and girls, confided in Janet Leach, the voluntary worker who sat in on his police interviews. She will be played by Emily Watson, a star of Gosford Park and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Fred West's wife, Rosemary, who was convicted in 1995 of 10 of the murders, including that of her own daughter, will be played by Monica Dolan, who appeared in ITV's DCI Banks: Aftermath. Filming is to begin next month in Manchester.