Charles Dickens died half way through writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and ever since speculation has been rife as to how the tale might have unfolded.

For this intriguing two-part adaptation for BBC2, for prime-time January 2012, acclaimed screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes (Five Days, Miss Austen Regrets) scoured the text for clues indicating how the great author might have finished this masterpiece, and has drawn from those leads a seamless, compelling and surprisingly modern story of obsessive love, betrayal and murder.

This tie-in edition of Dickens's unfinished text will also include an Afterword by Gwyneth Hughes, offering her own conclusion, and revealing how she knitted the strands from the original plot and her own work together to bring the book to a satisfying close.

Key cast list: Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) as John Jasper; Rory Kinnear (Hamlet, Women In Love, Lennon Naked) as Reverend Septimus Crisparkle; Freddie Fox (Worried About The Boy, The Shadow Line) as Edwin Drood; Tamzin Merchant (Jane Eyre, Miranda, The Tudors) plays Rosa Bud; Alun Armstrong (New Tricks, Garrow's Law) as Hiram Grewgious, Rosa's guardian; Julia McKenzie (Cranford, Miss Marple) plays the Reverend's mother, Mrs Crisparkle; David Dawson (Luther, The Road To Coronation Street) as Bazzard; Ron Cook (Little Dorrit) as Durdles; Sacha Dhawan (Five Days 2) as Neville Landless; Amber Rose Revah (House Of Saddam) plays Helena Landless, Neville's twin sister; Ian McNeice (Doctor Who) as Mayor Sapsea; Janet Dale (Holby; Casualty) as Miss Twinkleton; Ellie Haddington (Luther) as Princess Puffer; and young Alfie Davis plays Deputy.