BBC Studios developing Marilyn Monroe drama series

BBC Studios is developing a new drama series based upon the last six months of Marilyn Monroe’s life.

Reportedly the series will explore the actress’s relationship with Hollywood studio bosses and US President John F Kennedy.

According to the BBC, it will be located “where the harsh glamour of 1960s Hollywood and the hard-edged politics of Washington intersect”.

BBC Studios announcing the series said “Marilyn Monroe died at just 36 years of age. One of the world’s most famous and enduring icons and the embodiment of the 1950s sex symbol, this last period of her life saw her seeking to assert herself with her Hollywood bosses. It also saw her increasingly erratic behaviour and dependence on alcohol and medication plunge her glittering film career into decline.”

The series, with the working title The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, is going to be based on parts of Keith Badman’s 2010 book The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe.

Series is being written by Dan Sefton, while Simon Lupton, of Seven Seas Films, will be producing it.

Dan Sefton has stated that “thrilled… to bring this incredible true story to the screen.”

“Marilyn’s desire to be taken seriously as an actress and her battle with the powerful men who control the studio system is sadly as relevant today as it ever was”, Sefton further added.

BBC Studios, executive producer, Anne Pivcevic,  said, “We are delighted to be developing this ambitious drama with Dan, which tackles big themes such as power, love, loyalty, and politics.

In the last few months of her life, Marilyn was sincerely loved, callously betrayed, cynically filled with hope and ultimately cruelly abandoned.”