London, Oct 30 (IANS): English actor Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star in the limited series 'Londongrad' currently in development at HBO.

Based on the book 'The Terminal Spy' by Alan Cowell, the series tells the true story of Alexander Litvinenko, the KGB agent and later defector killed by poisoning with the radioactive isotope polonium-210 in 2006 in England.

Cumberbatch will star as Litvinenko and will also serve as an executive producer on the project under his Sunnymarch banner, reports variety.con.

David Scarpa is writing 'Londongrad' and will also executive produce. Bryan Fogel will direct and executive produce via Orwell Productions.

Len Amato of Crash&Salvage will executive produce as well alongside Adam Ackland and Claire Marshall of Sunnymarch.

Cumberbatch has held multiple highly-regarded TV roles during his career. Perhaps most famously, he played the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes in the series 'Sherlock', for which he earned multiple Emmy and BAFTA nominations.

He also recently starred in the limited series 'Patrick Melrose', based on a series of semi-autobiographical novels written by Edward St Aubyn.

Cumberbatch is primarily known for his film work, earning an Oscar nomination for his role in the drama 'The Imitation Game'. He has also starred in films like 'Atonement', '1917', '12 Years a Slave', 'Star Trek Into Darkness', and two of 'The Hobbit' films.

He currently plays Dr. Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This is not the first announced project that will take on the Litvinenko. It was previously announced that David Tennant had signed on to star in the ITV drama 'Litvinenko' back in September.