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A four-part version of China Mieville’s The City & The City is coming from BBC Two.

The 2009 novel will be adapted for the screen by Tony Grisoni. It follows Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad, resident of the crumbling city of Besźel, who is assigned to investigate the mutilated body of a foreign student found dumped on some wasteland. Borlu is unfazed until he uncovers evidence that the dead girl had been involved in the political turmoil between Besźel and its prosperous twin city of Ul Qoma, which occupies the same physical space. Citizens of each city are forbidden from seeing each other, and the frontier between the cities is policed by ‘Breach’ which punishes all transgressions. Despite the violent deaths of those around him, and a growing realisation that he is personally implicated in the crimes, Borlú doggedly chases the truth. To solve the case he will have to embark on an odyssey of the mind, a journey across the border from one reality to another.

Polly Hill, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning noted: “The City and The City is an extraordinarily original novel which through Tony Grissoni’s wonderful adaptation, promises to be a truly distinct, surprising and compelling drama for BBC Two.”

Mammoth Screen are producing the serial. Managing Director Damien Timmer added: “We are thrilled to be bringing China’s dazzlingly inventive novel to BBC Two. It’s a 21st Century classic – a truly thrilling and imaginative work which asks big questions about how we perceive the world and how we interact with each other.”