A movie about the discovery of Richard III’s remains, starring Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan, will start filming next year, it has been revealed.

The comedian and actor told Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball he would be playing the husband of Philippa Langley, the woman who drove the project to find them.

The bones of the monarch were found under a Leicester car park in 2012.

Mr Coogan said filming should start in 2021 but did not reveal whether any other stars would be appearing.

Ms Langley’s dogged research, along with colleagues in the Richard III Society, persuaded archaeologists from the University of Leicester to excavate a city centre car park in August 2012.

Improbably, bones likely to be Richard’s were found on the first day but the news was not released until the month after. The identification was confirmed in February 2013.

Ms Langley was appointed MBE in 2015 for her work.

• Richard III remains return to city
• ‘The discovery of Richard III’s skeleton changed my life’

Speaking on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, Mr Coogan listed his upcoming projects.

He said: “Next year we are shooting a film about the woman who found the body of Richard III in a car park in Leicester. I’ll be playing her husband.”

Thought to be titled The Lost King, the movie has also been written by Mr Coogan and Jeff Pope, who were both Oscar-nominated for the screenplay for the 2014 film Philomena.

Rumours about the movie first circulated in 2017 when Mr Coogan visited the Richard III visitor centre, which was built on the site where the 15th Century king was originally buried.

At the time, Coogan remarked: “This Richard film is about the amateur versus the establishment, and intuition versus academia”.

Iain Gordon, general manager of the Richard III centre, said: “We have always said that the discovery and identification of the remains of King Richard III under a Leicester car park makes for an amazing, almost unbelievable, story.

“Having told that story over the years since the visitor centre opened in 2014, it’s no surprise to us that someone thought it worthy of a film and we are looking forward to its release.”

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• Film
• Leicester

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