Daniel Mays will take the role of journalist Peter Wildeblood, in the dramatisation of the real-life story. Wildeblood's partner Eddie McNally (Richard Gadd) comes under pressure from the authorities to turn on him, in one of the most explosive court cases of the 1950s; the Montagu Trial.

With his career in disarray and private life exposed, Wildeblood began his jail sentence as a broken man, but emerged a year later determined to change the way the laws against homosexuality impacted on the lives of men just like him.

Taking place more than ten years before the decriminalisation of homsexuality, the story of the incarceration of Wildeblood and his friends Lord Montagu, and Michael Pitt-Rivers is emotive one which, says BBC's Patrick Holland, "melds drama and documentary testimony to tell the story of one man, and his wider generation, as they struggled to make society accept their sexuality as non-criminal."

Daniel Mays added:“I’m incredibly proud to be part of a drama that tells such an important real-life story. Peter Wildeblood is a fascinating, complex, yet flawed character from a time when being a gay man in Britain was incredibly difficult - I can’t wait to bring his tale to life.”

The factual drama will also feature Mark Gatiss (Taboo, Sherlock) as Wildeblood’s prison psychiatrist.

Against the Law will be broadcast on BBC Two later this year.