Laurence Fishburne to help retell Rendlesham UFO mystery Published duration 8 November 2018

image copyright PA image caption Laurence Fishburne will star in and produce the series based on the Rendlesham UFO sightings

A Hollywood legend is to star in a television drama series inspired by an alien encounter in Suffolk.

Eleventh Hour Films said Laurence Fishburne will play the lead role in and produce the eight-part paranormal series Rendlesham.

The London-based firm said the series would tell the story of the claimed UFO landings near the US air base at Rendlesham in 1980.

It will be directed by Joe Ahearne who said the tale "pressed all my buttons".

Said to be one of the UK's biggest UFO mysteries , the "Rendlesham Incident" took place over three nights starting in the early hours of 26 December 1980.

Since then, many books and internet sites have been filled with conflicting theories about whether it was an alien visitation, a military aircraft, the beam from Orfordness Lighthouse or natural phenomena.

image caption A UFO model marks the spot where the alleged landing took place

Ahearne, who directed a number of Doctor Who episodes and the BBC series The Replacement, said: "When Eleventh Hour Films drew my attention to this extraordinary piece of British and American history it pressed all my buttons, and I think it will do the same for a wide audience."

A complex family drama will form the backdrop to his series, which will also fast-forward from the height of the Cold War to 2020, the 40th anniversary of the incidents.

Fishburne, known for playing Morpheus in The Matrix, will play Tyrone, a retired American airman previously stationed at the US air base during the height of the Cold War.

It is not yet known when the anthology will be screened but Eleventh Hour Films said it is hoped it will be a returning series.

It will be distributed by Sony Pictures Television.