MUMBAI: The writers of the Bond film ?Skyfall? Neal Purvis and Robert Wade will write the script for television show Barbarella.

The show is being done by Gaumont International and Canal+.

Nicolas Refn who shot to fame with the film ?Drive? will direct and executive produce the series with Martha De Laurentiis. The new show will be based on the comic book by Jean-Claude Forest. There was a film made in 1968 with Jane Fonda in the title role.

Refn said, "I?m extremely excited that Neal and Robert have signed on to develop and write Barbarella with me. I?m certain that the combination of our creative forces will produce a show that is as enthralling as it is sexy."

MUMBAI: Some of literature?s most iconic figures will step into the light on US cable network Showtime in ?Penny Dreadful?. This is a psychosexual horror series created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by ?Skyfall? director Sam Mendes and Neal Street?s Pippa Harris.

The announcement was made by Showtime Networks president of entertainment David Nevins. ?Penny Dreadful? will begin production in London in the second half of the year.

This project marks Logan and Mendes? second major collaboration, following the Bond film ?Skyfall?, which Mendes directed and Logan co-wrote; and their first ever collaboration for television.

Nevins said, "John Logan and Sam Mendes are two of the great storytellers of our time. The visual spectacle combined with the psychological insight in their reimagining of these iconic literary characters seems totally mesmerizing to me. This promises to be a wholly original television show."