Doctor Who and Being Human writer set to script YA adaptation Noughts and Crosses

Being Human creator and Doctor Who writer Toby Whithouse has joined the dystopian Young Adult drama to oversee scripting, Deadline has revealed, with filming set to begin later this year. Hurrah!

• BBC1 to dramatise Malorie Blackman’s young adult novel Noughts and Crosses
• 500 Words: Malorie Blackman - children are more honest in their writing than adults

Noughts and Crosses will be filmed as a six-part series, with each episode an hour long. UK filmmaker Kibwe Tavares will direct the first three episodes of the drama, and production company Mammoth Screen – known for hits such as Poldark and Victoria – is in discussions to team up with a "sizeable US partner" to make the show.

Blackman's Noughts & Crosses series, which began with the first novel in 2001, is set in an alternative version of 21st century Britain where the racial dynamics are turn on their head. Persephone ("Sephy") is a "cross", a member of the black ruling class and the daughter of a prominent politician. By contrast, her friend Callum is a white-skinned "nought" and has suffered a life of racial discrimination and segregation.

Noughts and Crosses tells the story of forbidden love between a cross and a nought in a world of prejudice.

Youngers writer Levi David Addai and Life on Mars co-creator Matthew Graham were originally announced as screenwriters for the project, but they have since moved on.

Instead, Whithouse will oversee the script-writing process, with the help of Riviera's Lydia Adetunji and Five By Five's Nathaniel Price.

Their task is to adapt the first novel in the series to the small screen – and fans will be eagerly waiting to see what they can do.