Green Door Pictures

Writer Matthew Kirton won the competition, which bagged him a paid development option with Lionsgate and Idris Elba’s production company Green Door Pictures to develop his script into a full TV series.

Kirton was one of three finalists whose work made it past a panel of industry experts, including The Wire star and Green Door CEO Elba, Lionsgate UK’s Zygi Kamasa, literary agent Amanda Davis, and a number of others.

Kamasa, CEO of Lionsgate UK and Europe, told the RTS that the final three scripts had all shown originality beyond those of their competitors.

Olivier Award winner Rory Kinnear (Spectre, Penny Dreadful), Daniel Mays (Line of Duty) and Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat) have all been announced to be joining Golden Globe winner Idris Elba in the thriller.

The six-part series will air on Sky Atlantic next year, and Elba will co-star and executive produce the series through his company Green Door Pictures.

Set in the 1990s, Babs sees Windsor preparing to perform in the theatre that evening, where she talks us on a journey of the events and people that shaped her career, from her lonely childhood and complicated relationship with her father, to capturing the attention of Joan Littlewood and being cast in the Carry On films.