Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest gaming properties of all time, and indeed the latest game in the series, GTA V, was the most expensive video game ever, with a budget of $267 million - a sum that almost pales into insignificance compared with the enormous worldwide sales (and huge revenues) of the game.
Over the years, rumors have occasionally popped up suggesting that a GTA movie might be in the works, although such speculation was evidently nothing but the product of wishful thinking. But fans of the franchise may be pleased to hear that the BBC announced today that is making a TV show about GTA.
As part of its new "Make It Digital" season of programming and content across TV, radio and the web, the BBC promised "a new drama based on Grand Theft Auto", referring to it as "one of the most extraordinary creative and controversial success stories of our time".
But if you were hoping for a gritty, brutal TV dramatization of the violence, destruction and all-out mayhem that unfolds in the games, you may be disappointed.
As Engadget reports, the BBC show will in fact be a dramatized documentary following the creation and development of Grand Theft Auto, focusing on Sam and Dan Houser, co-founders of Rockstar, the games" developers.
The show will reportedly be a single 90-minute drama, and it will be broadcast on BBC Two in the UK later this year, but the corporation has not yet detailed its plans for international availability.
Source: BBC Media Centre
This article was updated shortly after publishing to clarify that the show will be a single standalone drama, not a series, as had previously been stated.