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Welsh actor Matthew Rhys will star in a forthcoming Â鶹Éç adaptation of Charles Dickens' final novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Dickens' final work was left unfinished at the time of his death in 1870 but has been completed by writer Gwyneth Hughes for this two-part drama for Â鶹Éç Two. Alongside an adaptation of Great Expectations for Â鶹Éç One it forms part of the Â鶹Éç's celebration of Dickens, with 2012 marking the bicentenary of his birth.

Rhys will play the role of John Jasper in the psychological thriller, a choirmaster and the uncle of the eponymous Edwin Drood (who will be played by Freddie Fox). Jasper is a troubled man addicted to opium and with an obsession with his student Rosa Bud, the fiancée of his nephew Drood.

Having spent his life in the stifling and claustrophobic cathedral town of Cloisterham, Jasper's darker self has conceived a murderous hatred of his nephew who, he believes, stands between him and the lovely Rosa, to be played by Tamzin Merchant.

The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is currently in production for transmission later this year.