BOLTON actress Maxine Peake will take the lead role in a star studded new adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The Shameless and Silk star will play fairy queen Titania in a 90-minute adaptation of the classic Shakespeare play, which will be screened on BBC One.

The former Westhoughton High School pupil also recently revealed she will portray former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks in satirical comedy show The Comic Strip Presents...The Red Top!

Last year Maxine took on the role of Hamlet in a stage production of the Shakespeare play.

Filming for A Midsummer Night’s Dream will start next month in Cardiff, and the show will be broadcast next year as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare Season.

Also set to feature in the play include Little Britain star Matt Lucas, Rebus star John Hannah as Theseus, Eleanor Matsuura as Hippolyta and Hiran Abeysekera as Puck.

In addition, star of the stage Elaine Paige will return to television as Mistress Quince, One Foot in the Grave star Richard Wilson will appear as Starveling, with Bernard Cribbins featuring as Snout.

The adaptation is billed as "funny and exciting" with a BBC spokesman saying it will have "as much attitude and invention as any theatrical interpretation".

The play has been adapted for the television by Russell T Davies, who is best known for writing the revamped Doctor Who series.

Speaking about the cast, he said: "This is such an exciting range of actors from stage and screen, from wild comedy to high drama, and some making their first ever appearance on camera. The Dream is coming to life like never before."

The much loved play is set in the tyrannical court of Athens and the magical forest around the city, telling a story of love and magic.

The plot surrounds the marriage of Theseus, the duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, and the adventures of four lovers and a troupe of amateur actors led by Bottom, who fall pray to the magic of the fairies who run the forest.

The play starts with the two sets of lovers encountering the magical world run by Theseus and Hippolyta's other-worldly counterparts, Titiania and Oberon.