Keira Knightley is set to star in a TV adaptation of the award-winning novel The Essex Serpent.

The Oscar-nominated actress will also serve as an executive producer on the period drama, which is based on Sarah Perry’s best-selling 2016 book.

The Essex Serpent follows the newly widowed Cora – played by Knightley – who relocates from Victorian London to a village in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature has returned to the area.

Perry’s Gothic tale is based on a legend of a serpent, once said to roam the marshes close by to the village of Henham, near Saffron Walden.

Weaving in religion and science, as well as tantalising references to various places in Essex, including Colchester and the Blackwater Estuary, it tells the story of widow Cora, who after moving to the Essex countryside investigates rumours of a serpent causing the deaths of a number of villagers.

The 2016 book went on to win the Waterstones Book of the Year 2016 beating competition from the likes of JK Rowling, and was shortlisted for perhaps the biggest prize in fiction, the Costa Book Award.

The TV adaption will air on the Apple TV+ streaming service.

It is the second TV series Knightley, 35, has recently signed up for, having been cast in Hulu’s The Other Typist earlier this year.

British star Knightley’s film credits include Pride & Prejudice, The Imitation Game and the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise.