Casanova in new light

Peter O'Toole is to play Casanova in a BBC drama. The veteran actor will appear alongside Little Britain star Matt Lucas.

The three-part drama is to be written by Russell T. Davies, creator of Queer As Folk and the new series of Dr Who.

Lawrence of Arabia star O'Toole, 72, will play Casanova as an old man, recounting his adventures to a maidservant.

Davies told mediaguardian.co.uk: "Our modern-day impression of a lascivious, misogynist man is hopelessly wrong. This man genuinely loved women and respected them with an astonishingly modern mentality."

"Outside his love life, Casanova was a wonderful, barmy, inventive man. And what a fraud. Like an 18th-century Jeffrey Archer, but funny. He wasn't born an aristocrat - he lied his way into jobs and positions of power with charm and cheek."