Heyday of Boy George to become BBC biopic

The film – Worried About the Boy – will look at the singer's transition from face about town to "gender bender" household name in the 1980s.

Horne will play Jon Moss, the drummer of George's band Culture Club, who famously had a relationship with the frontman in the band's early days.

Hustle's Marc Warren will play Visage singer and clubland legend Steve Strange, and League Of Gentleman star Mark Gatiss will play impresario Malcolm McLaren. McLaren had at one stage planned to add George to the line-up of Bow Wow Wow, whom he managed.

Newcomer Douglas Booth will play George, whose real name is George O'Dowd.

In the early 1980s Culture Club were one of the biggest bands of their day, with a string of hits including Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?.

But by the middle of the decade George's career was falling apart as he battled heroin addiction, although he went on to have solo hits and had further success as a DJ.

In recent years he has found himself in the spotlight for his brushes with the law, including serving four months in prison for assault and false imprisonment.