Keira Knightley (“Misbehaviour”) will star in and executive produce series “The Essex Serpent,” directed by acclaimed filmmaker Clio Barnard (“The Selfish Giant”).

The series is an adaptation of Sarah Perry’s bestselling novel that won book of the year at the British Book Awards in 2016. It will follow a newly widowed woman, played by Knightley, who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to a small village in the county of Essex. She is intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area.

Anna Symon (“Deep Water”) is the lead writer. In addition to Knightley, Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Patrick Walters, Iain Canning, and Emile Sherman will executive produce the show alongside Barnard and Symon. Andrea Cornwell will serve as producer.