The BBC has ordered a four-part adaptation of "The City & The City," the award-winning novel by China Miéville.

Published in 2009, the novel blends fantasy and police procedural for a story set in crumbling Besźel and prosperous Ul Qoma, twin cities that occupy the same physical location are perceived as separate cities. The citizens of each city are forbidden from seeing each other, and must dutifully wipe any accidental encounters from their memories, with the frontier between the two policed by "Breach."

It's in Besźel that Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad is assigned the case of a foreign student whose mutilated body is dumped on a wasteland. He soon uncovers evidence that the dead girl had been involved in the political turmoil between the two cities. Despite the violent deaths of those around him, and a realization that he's implicated in the crimes, Borlú continues his pursuit of the truth.

Tony Grisoni ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "The Red Riding Trilogy") will write the adaptation.