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The great Colin Firth is returning to TV with a very complex and intriguing role – that of novelist turned suspected murderer Michael Peterson.

The Oscar-winning actor has signed up to star in The Staircase, a limited series based on the Netflix docuseries of the same name, plus other written reports on the Peterson case, according to Variety.

In 2001, Peterson was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, at their home in Forest Hills, North Carolina. He claimed she had fallen down the house's staircase, but police suspected this was simply a cover-up after he had bludgeoned her to death.

The Staircase, which has been commissioned by HBO Max, will be Firth's first small-screen role since the 2006 BBC TV movie Born Equal. It's being written and exec-produced by Maggie Cohn (American Crime Story) and Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time). Campos will also direct six of the eight episodes.

Firth's most recent movie, the romantic drama Supernova in which he co-stars opposite Stanley Tucci, opened in January. He's also due to star in the upcoming war movie Operation Mincemeat, a Netflix production expected to premiere later this year.

Do you think Colin Firth has been well cast as Michael Peterson?